apify-cli
Advanced tools
Apify command line client to help you create, develop, build and run Apify actors.
Apify command line client (CLI) helps you to create, develop, build and run Apify actors from a local computer.
Apify actors enable the execution of arbitrary web scraping and automation jobs in the Apify cloud.
While you can develop actors in a code editor directly in the Apify web application, for more complex projects it is more convenient to develop actors locally using the Apify SDK and only push them to the Apify cloud for execution. This is where the CLI comes in.
Note that actors running on the Apify platform are executed in Docker containers, so with an appropriate Dockerfile
you can build your actors in any programming language.
However, we recommend using JavaScript / Node.js, for which we provide most libraries and support.
First, make sure you have Node.js version 8 or higher installed on your computer:
node --version
Install Apify CLI by running:
npm -g install apify-cli
Finally, you can test that the CLI was installed correctly:
apify info
The following examples show basic usage of the CLI.
apify create my-hello-world
First, you will be prompted to select a template with the boilerplate for the actor, to help you get started quickly.
The command will create a directory called my-hello-world that contains a Node.js project
for the actor and a few configuration files.
cd ./my/awesome/project
apify init
This command will only set up local actor development environment in an existing directory,
i.e. it will create the apify.json file and apify_storage directory.
Before you can run your project using apify run, you have to set up the right start command in package.json under scripts.start. For example:
{
...
"scripts": {
"start": "node your_main_file.js",
},
...
}
You can find more information about by running apify help run.
cd my-hello-world
apify run
This command runs the actor on your local machine. Now's your chance to develop the logic - or magic :smirk:
apify login
Before you can interact with the Apify cloud, you need to create an Apify account
and log in to it using the above command. You will be prompted for
your Apify API token.
Note that the command will store the API token and other sensitive information to ~/.apify.
apify push
This command creates a ZIP archive with your project, uploads it to the Apify cloud and builds an actor from it.
apify call
Runs the actor corresponding to the current directory on the Apify platform.
This command can also be used to run other actors, for example:
apify call apify/hello-world
apify.json file?This file associates your local development project with an actor on the Apify platform. It contains information such as actor name, version, build tag and environment variables. Make sure you commit this file to the Git repository.
For example, apify.json file can look as follows:
{
"name": "dataset-to-mysql",
"version": "0.1",
"buildTag": "latest",
"env": {
"MYSQL_USER": "my_username",
"MYSQL_PASSWORD": "@mySecretPassword"
},
"template": "basic"
}
There are two options how you can set up environment variables for actors.
apify.jsonAll keys from env will be set as environment variables into Apify platform after you push actor to Apify. Current values on Apify will be overridden.
{
"name": "dataset-to-mysql",
"version": "0.1",
"buildTag": "latest",
"env": {
"MYSQL_USER": "my_username",
"MYSQL_PASSWORD": "@mySecretPassword"
},
"template": "basic"
}
In Apify app select your actor, you can set up variables into Source tab.
After setting up variables in the app, set up env to null apify.json. Otherwise, variables from apify.json will override variables in the app.
{
"name": "dataset-to-mysql",
"version": "0.1",
"buildTag": "latest",
"env": null,
"template": "basic"
}
apify.jsonCLI provides commands to manage secrets environment variables. Secrets are stored to the ~/.apify directory. Adds a new secret using command:
apify secrets:add mySecretPassword pwd1234
After adding a new secret you can use the secret in apify.json
{
"name": "dataset-to-mysql",
...
"env": {
"MYSQL_PASSWORD": "@mySecretPassword"
},
...
}
To see all CLI commands simply run:
apify help
To get information about a specific command run:
apify help COMMAND
Still haven't found what you were looking for? Please go to Apify Help center or contact us.
This section contains printouts of apify help for all commands.
Apify command line client to help you create, develop, build and run Apify actors.
VERSION
apify-cli/0.3.2 darwin-x64 node-v11.2.0
USAGE
$ apify [COMMAND]
COMMANDS
call Runs the actor remotely on the Apify platform.
create Creates a new actor project directory from a selected boilerplate
template.
info Displays information about current Apify settings.
init Initializes an actor project in an existing directory.
login Logs in to the Apify platform using the API token.
logout Logs out of the Apify platform.
push Uploads the actor to the Apify platform and builds it there.
run Runs the actor locally in the current directory by executing "npm
start".
secrets Manages secret values for actor environment variables.
Runs the actor remotely on the Apify platform.
USAGE
$ apify call [ACTID]
ARGUMENTS
ACTID Name or ID of the actor to run (e.g. "apify/hello-world" or
"E2jjCZBezvAZnX8Rb"). If not provided, the command runs the remote
actor specified in the "apify.json" file.
OPTIONS
-b, --build=build Tag or number of the build to run (e.g.
"latest" or "1.2.34").
-m, --memory=memory Amount of memory allocated for the
actor run, in megabytes.
-t, --timeout=timeout Timeout for the actor run in seconds.
Zero value means there is no timeout.
-w, --wait-for-finish=wait-for-finish Seconds for waiting to run to finish,
if no value passed, it waits forever.
DESCRIPTION
The actor is run under your current Apify account, therefore you need to be
logged in by calling "apify login". It takes input for the actor from the
default local key-value store by default.
Creates a new actor project directory from a selected boilerplate template.
USAGE
$ apify create ACTORNAME
ARGUMENTS
ACTORNAME Name of the actor and its directory
OPTIONS
-t, --template=puppeteer_crawler|puppeteer|basic|hello_word
Boilerplate template for the actor. If not provided, the command will prompt
for it.
Displays information about current Apify settings.
USAGE
$ apify info
DESCRIPTION
This command prints information about Apify to the console.
Initializes an actor project in an existing directory.
USAGE
$ apify init [ACTNAME]
ARGUMENTS
ACTNAME Name of the actor. If not provided, you will be prompted for it.
DESCRIPTION
The command only creates the "apify.json" file and the "apify_storage"
directory in the current directory, but will not touch anything else.
WARNING: If the files already exist, they will be overwritten!
Logs in to the Apify platform using the API token.
USAGE
$ apify login
OPTIONS
-t, --token=token [Optional] Apify API token
DESCRIPTION
The token and other account information is stored to the ~/.apify directory,
from where it is read by all other "apify" commands. To log out, call "apify
logout".
Logs out of the Apify platform.
USAGE
$ apify logout
DESCRIPTION
The command deletes the API token and all other account information stored in
the ~/.apify directory. To log in again, call "apify login".
Uploads the actor to the Apify platform and builds it there.
USAGE
$ apify push [ACTORID]
ARGUMENTS
ACTORID ID of an existing actor on the Apify platform where the files will be
pushed. If not provided, the command will create or modify the actor
with the name specified in "apify.json" file.
OPTIONS
-b, --build-tag=build-tag Build tag to be applied to the
successful actor build. By default, it
is taken from the "apify.json" file
-v, --version=version Actor version number to which the files
should be pushed. By default, it is
taken from the "apify.json" file.
-w, --wait-for-finish=wait-for-finish Seconds for waiting to build to finish,
if no value passed, it waits forever.
--version-number=version-number DEPRECATED: Use flag version instead.
Actor version number to which the files
should be pushed. By default, it is
taken from the "apify.json" file.
DESCRIPTION
The command creates a ZIP with files of the actor from the current directory,
uploads it to the Apify platform and builds it. The actor settings are read
from the "apify.json" file in the current directory, but they can be
overridden using command-line options.
WARNING: If the target actor already exists in your Apify account, it will be
overwritten!
Runs the actor locally in the current directory by executing "npm start".
USAGE
$ apify run
OPTIONS
-p, --purge Shortcut that combines the --purge-queue,
--purge-dataset and --purge-key-value-store options.
--purge-dataset Deletes the local directory containing the default
dataset before the run starts.
--purge-key-value-store Deletes all records from the default key-value store
in the local directory before the run starts, except
for the "INPUT" key.
--purge-queue Deletes the local directory containing the default
request queue before the run starts.
DESCRIPTION
It sets various APIFY_XYZ environment variables in order to provide a working
execution environment for the actor. For example, this causes the actor input,
as well as all other data in key-value stores, datasets or request queues to
be stored in the "apify_storage" directory, rather than on the Apify platform.
NOTE: You can override the default behaviour of command overriding npm start
script value in a package.json file. You can set up your own main file or
environment variables by changing it.
Manages secret values for actor environment variables.
USAGE
$ apify secrets
DESCRIPTION
Example:
$ apify secrets:add mySecret TopSecretValue123
Now the "mySecret" value can be used in an environment variable defined in
"apify.json" file by adding the "@" prefix:
{
"name": "my_actor",
"env": { "SECRET_ENV_VAR": "@mySecret" },
"version": "0.1
}
When the actor is pushed to Apify cloud, the "SECRET_ENV_VAR" and its value is
stored as a secret environment variable of the actor.
COMMANDS
secrets:add Adds a new secret value.
secrets:rm Removes the secret.
FAQs
Apify command-line interface (CLI) helps you manage the Apify cloud platform and develop, build, and deploy Apify Actors.
The npm package apify-cli receives a total of 1,434 weekly downloads. As such, apify-cli popularity was classified as popular.
We found that apify-cli demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 0 open source maintainers collaborating on the project.
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