---
name: apify-sdk-patterns-441cb066b604
description: 'Production-ready patterns for Apify SDK and apify-client in TypeScript.

  Use when building Actors with Crawlee, managing datasets/KV stores,
  or implementing robust client wrappers with retry and validation.

  Trigger with "apify SDK patterns", "apify best practices",
  "apify client wrapper", "crawlee patterns", "idiomatic apify".

  '
allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit
version: 1.5.0
license: MIT
author: Jeremy Longshore <jeremy@intentsolutions.io>
tags:
- saas
- scraping
- automation
- apify
compatibility: Designed for Claude Code
---
# Apify SDK Patterns

## Overview

Production patterns for both the `apify` SDK (building Actors) and `apify-client` (calling Actors remotely). Covers Crawlee crawler selection, data storage, proxy configuration, and typed client wrappers. This skill gives you the essential skeletons inline; the full eight-pattern catalog and two worked scenarios live in `references/` for progressive drill-down.

## Prerequisites

- Install what you need: `apify-client` for calling Actors remotely, or `apify` + `crawlee` for building Actors. Both can coexist in one project.
- Set `APIFY_TOKEN` in the environment — read it via `process.env.APIFY_TOKEN`, never hard-code it. This is the only credential these patterns require (Apify uses a personal API token, not OAuth).
- TypeScript is recommended; every snippet here is typed and runs under `ts-node` or a compiled build.

## Instructions

Use the two skeletons below to start, then reach into the reference catalog for the pattern that matches your task.

### Pattern 1: Typed Client Singleton

Create one lazily-initialized, token-validated `ApifyClient` and reuse it everywhere. A `resetClient()` hook keeps it testable.

```typescript
// src/apify/client.ts
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

let instance: ApifyClient | null = null;

export function getApifyClient(): ApifyClient {
  if (!instance) {
    const token = process.env.APIFY_TOKEN;
    if (!token) throw new Error('APIFY_TOKEN is required');
    instance = new ApifyClient({ token });
  }
  return instance;
}

// Reset for testing
export function resetClient(): void {
  instance = null;
}
```

### Pattern 2: Crawlee Crawler Selection

Choose the crawler that matches the page, not the other way around:

```typescript
import { CheerioCrawler, PlaywrightCrawler, PuppeteerCrawler } from 'crawlee';

// CHEERIO — Fast, lightweight, no JavaScript rendering
// Use for: static HTML, server-rendered pages, APIs
// PLAYWRIGHT — Full browser, all engines, modern API
// Use for: SPAs, JavaScript-heavy pages, complex interactions
// PUPPETEER — Chromium-only browser automation
// Use for: when you need Chromium specifically or legacy Puppeteer code
```

### Patterns 3–8: Full catalog

The remaining six patterns are moved verbatim into [patterns.md](references/patterns.md) so this file stays scannable. Pick the one you need:

- **Pattern 3 — Actor lifecycle with error handling:** `Actor.main()` wrapping input validation, conditional proxy, and a `failedRequestHandler`.
- **Pattern 4 — Dataset operations:** push from inside an Actor; list/create/download from an external app.
- **Pattern 5 — Key-value store operations:** JSON config and binary artifacts by content type.
- **Pattern 6 — Proxy configuration:** datacenter vs residential vs SERP tiers.
- **Pattern 7 — Router for multi-page Actors:** labeled listing/detail handlers.
- **Pattern 8 — Safe result wrapper:** discriminated-union `Result<T>` around remote calls.

See [patterns.md](references/patterns.md) for the complete code of all six.

## Output

Applying these patterns yields:

- A single reusable `ApifyClient` instance with fail-fast token validation.
- Actors that store structured records in the default dataset (downloadable as CSV/JSON) and named config/artifacts in key-value stores.
- Remote Actor calls that resolve to a typed `Result<T>` — callers branch on `error` instead of catching exceptions.
- Failed requests captured as `{ url, error, '#isFailed': true }` rows rather than aborting the crawl.

## Error Handling

| Pattern | Use Case | Benefit |
|---------|----------|---------|
| `Actor.main()` | Actor entry point | Auto init/exit + error reporting |
| `failedRequestHandler` | Per-request failures | Log failures without stopping crawl |
| Safe wrapper | External calls | Prevents uncaught exceptions |
| Router | Multi-page scrapes | Clean separation of page types |
| Proxy rotation | Anti-bot sites | Higher success rate |

## Examples

Two runnable end-to-end scenarios live in [examples.md](references/examples.md):

- **Example A — Call a remote Actor safely from an app:** composes the client singleton (Pattern 1) with the safe result wrapper (Pattern 8) to run `apify/web-scraper` and read its dataset without ever throwing.
- **Example B — A two-tier product scraper Actor:** composes crawler selection (Pattern 2), the router (Pattern 7), and dataset writes (Pattern 4) into a listing → detail → structured-record flow.

## Resources

- [Full pattern catalog](references/patterns.md) — Patterns 3–8 with complete code
- [Worked examples](references/examples.md) — two end-to-end scenarios
- [Apify SDK Reference](https://docs.apify.com/sdk/js/reference)
- [Crawlee Documentation](https://crawlee.dev/js/docs/quick-start)
- [Apify JS Client Reference](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/reference)
- [Proxy Management Guide](https://docs.apify.com/sdk/js/docs/guides/proxy-management)

## Next Steps

Apply these patterns in `apify-core-workflow-a` for a complete build-and-deploy web scraping workflow, or pair them with `apify-common-errors` when hardening an Actor for production.


---
Source attribution: jeremylongshore
Original project: https://github.com/jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills/blob/ab85a061f7bcc039dac13ee193de7a4cd4388571/plugins/saas-packs/apify-pack/skills/apify-sdk-patterns/SKILL.md
License: MIT
License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit
Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Mega AI Hub.

## Upstream license notice

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 Jeremy Longshore

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.



# Mega AI Hub resource metadata

Creator / publisher: jeremylongshore
Original project: https://github.com/jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills/blob/ab85a061f7bcc039dac13ee193de7a4cd4388571/plugins/saas-packs/apify-pack/skills/apify-sdk-patterns/SKILL.md
Attribution basis: Source repository record

Fields of work: Development & Engineering, Marketing, Product Management
Roles: Backend Developer, Data Engineer, Growth Marketer, ML / AI Engineer, Product Manager
Specialties: API, Backend
Tools: Apify
Country applicability: Country not specified
Classification basis: Source catalog labels
Instruction SHA-256: 11721aba06ee9582aadd9a71161840e859d925515b3872f1a084780b9c7f1e41