Apify local dev loop

Apify Local Dev Loop

Overview

Build and test Apify Actors on your local machine before deploying to the platform. Uses the Apify CLI (apify run) which emulates the platform environment locally, creating local storage directories for datasets, key-value stores, and request queues.

Prerequisites

• npm install -g apify-cli (global CLI)
• apify login completed with valid token
• Node.js 18+

Actor Project Structure

my-actor/
├── .actor/
│   ├── actor.json          # Actor metadata and config
│   └── INPUT_SCHEMA.json   # Input schema (auto-generates UI on platform)
├── src/
│   └── main.ts             # Entry point
├── storage/                # Created by apify run (git-ignored)
│   ├── datasets/default/
│   ├── key_value_stores/default/
│   └── request_queues/default/
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json

Instructions

Step 1: Create a New Actor Project

# Create from template (interactive)
apify create my-actor

# Or create from specific template
apify create my-actor --template project_cheerio_crawler_ts
# Templates: project_empty, project_cheerio_crawler_ts,
#   project_playwright_crawler_ts, project_puppeteer_crawler_ts

Step 2: Configure .actor/actor.json

{
  "actorSpecification": 1,
  "name": "my-actor",
  "title": "My Actor",
  "description": "Scrapes data from example.com",
  "version": "0.1",
  "meta": {
    "templateId": "project_cheerio_crawler_ts"
  },
  "input": "./INPUT_SCHEMA.json",
  "dockerfile": "./Dockerfile",
  "storages": {
    "dataset": {
      "actorSpecification": 1,
      "title": "Scraped items",
      "views": {
        "overview": {
          "title": "Overview",
          "transformation": { "fields": ["url", "title", "text"] },
          "display": {
            "component": "table",
            "properties": {
              "url": { "label": "URL", "format": "link" },
              "title": { "label": "Title" },
              "text": { "label": "Content" }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Define Input Schema

{
  "title": "My Actor Input",
  "type": "object",
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "properties": {
    "startUrls": {
      "title": "Start URLs",
      "type": "array",
      "description": "URLs to crawl",
      "editor": "requestListSources",
      "prefill": [{ "url": "https://example.com" }]
    },
    "maxPages": {
      "title": "Max pages",
      "type": "integer",
      "description": "Maximum number of pages to crawl",
      "default": 10,
      "minimum": 1,
      "maximum": 1000
    }
  },
  "required": ["startUrls"]
}

Step 4: Write the Actor

// src/main.ts
import { Actor } from 'apify';
import { CheerioCrawler } from 'crawlee';

await Actor.init();

const input = await Actor.getInput<{
  startUrls: { url: string }[];
  maxPages?: number;
}>();

if (!input?.startUrls?.length) {
  throw new Error('startUrls is required');
}

const crawler = new CheerioCrawler({
  maxRequestsPerCrawl: input.maxPages ?? 10,
  async requestHandler({ request, $, enqueueLinks }) {
    const title = $('title').text().trim();
    const h1 = $('h1').first().text().trim();

    await Actor.pushData({
      url: request.url,
      title,
      h1,
      timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
    });

    // Enqueue links on the same domain
    await enqueueLinks({ strategy: 'same-domain' });
  },
});

await crawler.run(input.startUrls.map(s => s.url));
await Actor.exit();

Step 5: Run Locally

# Run with default input from storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json
apify run

# Run with input from command line
apify run --input='{"startUrls":[{"url":"https://example.com"}],"maxPages":5}'

# View results
cat storage/datasets/default/*.json | jq '.'

# Or list dataset files
ls storage/datasets/default/

Step 6: Provide Local Input

Create storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json:

{
  "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://example.com" }],
  "maxPages": 5
}

Local Storage Emulation

apify run creates a storage/ directory that mirrors platform storage:

Platform Storage	Local Path	Access via SDK
Default dataset	storage/datasets/default/	Actor.pushData()
Default KV store	storage/key_value_stores/default/	Actor.setValue() / Actor.getValue()
Default request queue	storage/request_queues/default/	Managed by crawler

Hot Reload Development

{
  "scripts": {
    "start": "tsx src/main.ts",
    "dev": "tsx watch src/main.ts",
    "test": "vitest"
  }
}

# Direct tsx execution (faster iteration than apify run)
npx tsx src/main.ts

# With environment variables emulating platform
APIFY_IS_AT_HOME=0 APIFY_LOCAL_STORAGE_DIR=./storage npx tsx src/main.ts

Testing Actors

// tests/main.test.ts
import { describe, it, expect, vi } from 'vitest';
import { Actor } from 'apify';

describe('Actor', () => {
  it('should process input correctly', async () => {
    vi.spyOn(Actor, 'getInput').mockResolvedValue({
      startUrls: [{ url: 'https://example.com' }],
      maxPages: 1,
    });

    const pushSpy = vi.spyOn(Actor, 'pushData').mockResolvedValue(undefined);

    // Run actor logic...
    // Assert pushData was called with expected shape
    expect(pushSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
      expect.objectContaining({ url: 'https://example.com' })
    );
  });
});

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
apify: command not found	CLI not installed	npm i -g apify-cli
INPUT.json not found	No input provided	Create storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json
Cannot find module 'apify'	SDK not installed	npm install apify crawlee
Dockerfile not found	Missing actor config	Run apify create or create .actor/actor.json

Resources

• Local Actor Development
• Apify CLI Reference
• Actor Templates

Next Steps

See apify-sdk-patterns for production-ready Actor code patterns.