Agent skill · software engineering · apify
apify-actor-development
Develop, debug, and deploy Apify Actors - serverless cloud programs for web scraping, automation, and data processing. Use when creating new Actors, modifying existing ones, or troubleshooting Actor code.
Why this skill is useful
Provides specific commands and workflows for developing Apify Actors, which are not commonly known or documented in public resources.
What it needs
Requires apify-cli installed locally. About 9k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-04. 2,326 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Apify Actor development Important: Before you begin, fill in the generatedBy property in the meta section of .actor/actor.json. Replace it with the tool and model you're currently using, such as "Claude Code with Claude Sonnet 4.5". This helps Apify monitor and improve AGENTS.md for specific AI tools and models. What are Apify Actors? Actors are serverless programs inspired by the UNIX philosophy - programs that do one thing well and can be easily combined to build complex systems. They're packaged as Docker images and run in isolated containers in the cloud. Core Concepts: Accept well-defined JSON input Perform isolated tasks (web scraping, automation, data processing) Produce structured JSON output to datasets and/or store data in key-value stores Can run from seconds to hours or even indefinitely Persist state and can be restarted Prerequisites and setup (mandatory) Before creating or modifying Actors, verify that apify CLI is installed apify --help. If it is not installed, use one of these methods (listed in order of preference): Security note: Do NOT install the CLI by piping remote scripts to a shell (e.g. curl … bash or irm … iex). Always use a package manager. When the apify CLI is installed, check that it is logged in with: If not logged in, authenticate using OAuth (opens browser): If browser login isn't available (headless environment or CI), the CLI automatically reads APIFYTOKEN from the environment. Ensure the env var is exported and run any apify command - no explicit login needed. If the user doesn't have a token, generate one at https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations. Security note: Avoid passing tokens as command-line arguments (e.g. apify login -t <token>). Arguments are visible in process listings and may be recorded in shell history. Prefer environment variables or interactive login instead. Never log, print, or embed APIFYTOKEN in source code or configuration files. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills apify/apify-actor-development