Scrape Single URL with Apify API on Custom Interval from Schedule API

Pipedream makes it easy to connect APIs for Apify, Schedule and 2,400+ other apps remarkably fast.

Trigger workflow on

Custom Interval from the Schedule API

Next, do this

Scrape Single URL with the Apify API

No credit card required

▶

Watch us build a workflow

8 min

Watch now ➜

Trusted by 1,000,000+ developers from startups to Fortune 500 companies

Developers ♥ Pipedream

Getting Started#

This integration creates a workflow with a Schedule trigger and Apify action. When you configure and deploy the workflow, it will run on Pipedream's servers 24x7 for free.

Select this integration
Configure the Custom Interval trigger
1. Connect your Schedule account
2. Configure Cron Schedule
Configure the Scrape Single URL action
1. Connect your Apify account
2. Configure URL
3. Select a Crawler Type
Deploy the workflow
Send a test event to validate your setup
Turn on the trigger

Details#

This integration uses pre-built, source-available components from Pipedream's GitHub repo. These components are developed by Pipedream and the community, and verified and maintained by Pipedream.

To contribute an update to an existing component or create a new component, create a PR on GitHub. If you're new to Pipedream component development, you can start with quickstarts for trigger span and action development, and then review the component API reference.

Trigger#

Custom Interval on Schedule

Description:Trigger your workflow every N hours, minutes or seconds.

Version:0.0.2

Key:schedule-custom-interval

View on GitHub

Schedule Overview#

The Schedule app in Pipedream is a powerful tool that allows you to trigger workflows at regular intervals, ranging from every minute to once a year. This enables the automation of repetitive tasks and the scheduling of actions to occur without manual intervention. By leveraging this API, you can execute code, run integrations, and process data on a reliable schedule, all within Pipedream's serverless environment.

Trigger Code#

import schedule from "../../schedule.app.mjs";

export default {
  name: "Custom Interval",
  version: "0.0.2",
  key: "schedule-custom-interval",
  type: "source",
  description: "Trigger your workflow every N hours, minutes or seconds.",
  props: {
    schedule,
    cron: {
      propDefinition: [
        schedule,
        "cron",
      ],
    },
  },
};

Trigger Configuration#

This component may be configured based on the props defined in the component code. Pipedream automatically prompts for input values in the UI and CLI.

Label	Prop	Type	Description
Schedule	`schedule`	`app`	This component uses the Schedule app.
Cron Schedule	`cron`	`$.interface.timer`	Enter a cron expression

Trigger Authentication#

The Schedule API does not require authentication.

About Schedule#

Trigger workflows on an interval or cron schedule.

Action#

Scrape Single URL on Apify

Description:Executes a scraper on a specific website and returns its content as text. This action is perfect for extracting content from a single page.

Version:0.0.1

Key:apify-scrape-single-url

View on GitHub

Apify Overview#

The Apify API unleashes the power to automate web scraping, process data, and orchestrate web automation workflows. By utilizing Apify on Pipedream, you can create dynamic serverless workflows to manage tasks like extracting data from websites, running browser automation, and scheduling these jobs to run autonomously. It integrates smoothly with Pipedream's capabilities to trigger actions on various other apps, store the results, and manage complex data flow with minimal setup.

Action Code#

import apify from "../../apify.app.mjs";
import { ACTOR_ID } from "../../common/constants.mjs";

export default {
  key: "apify-scrape-single-url",
  name: "Scrape Single URL",
  description: "Executes a scraper on a specific website and returns its content as text. This action is perfect for extracting content from a single page.",
  version: "0.0.1",
  type: "action",
  props: {
    apify,
    url: {
      type: "string",
      label: "URL",
      description: "The URL of the web page to scrape.",
      optional: false,
    },
    crawlerType: {
      type: "string",
      label: "Crawler Type",
      description: "Select the crawling engine:\n- **Headless web browser** - Useful for modern websites with anti-scraping protections and JavaScript rendering. It recognizes common blocking patterns like CAPTCHAs and automatically retries blocked requests through new sessions. However, running web browsers is more expensive as it requires more computing resources and is slower. It is recommended to use at least 8 GB of RAM.\n- **Stealthy web browser** (default) - Another headless web browser with anti-blocking measures enabled. Try this if you encounter bot protection while scraping. For best performance, use with Apify Proxy residential IPs. \n- **Raw HTTP client** - High-performance crawling mode that uses raw HTTP requests to fetch the pages. It is faster and cheaper, but it might not work on all websites.",
      options: [
        {
          label: "Headless browser (stealthy Firefox+Playwright) - Very reliable, best in avoiding blocking, but might be slow",
          value: "playwright:firefox",
        },
        {
          label: "Headless browser (Chrome+Playwright) - Reliable, but might be slow",
          value: "playwright:chrome",
        },
        {
          label: "Raw HTTP client (Cheerio) - Extremely fast, but cannot handle dynamic content",
          value: "cheerio",
        },
      ],
    },
  },
  async run({ $ }) {
    const response = await this.apify.runActor({
      $,
      actorId: ACTOR_ID,
      data: {
        crawlerType: this.crawlerType,
        maxCrawlDepth: 0,
        maxCrawlPages: 1,
        maxResults: 1,
        startUrls: [
          {
            url: this.url,
          },
        ],
      },
    });
    $.export("$summary", `Successfully scraped content from ${this.url}`);
    return response;
  },
};

Action Configuration#

This component may be configured based on the props defined in the component code. Pipedream automatically prompts for input values in the UI.

Label	Prop	Type	Description
Apify	`apify`	`app`	This component uses the Apify app.
URL	`url`	`string`	The URL of the web page to scrape.
Crawler Type	`crawlerType`	`string`	Select a value from the drop down menu:`{ "label": "Headless browser (stealthy Firefox+Playwright) - Very reliable, best in avoiding blocking, but might be slow", "value": "playwright:firefox" }{ "label": "Headless browser (Chrome+Playwright) - Reliable, but might be slow", "value": "playwright:chrome" }{ "label": "Raw HTTP client (Cheerio) - Extremely fast, but cannot handle dynamic content", "value": "cheerio" }`