Apify — Web Scraping

What is it?

Apify is a cloud-based web scraping tool that lets Yukkai collect public data from social media platforms — Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn — at scale. It uses residential proxies and anti-ban technology, so it can scrape hundreds or thousands of profiles without getting blocked.

Think of it as a power-up for data collection: instead of manually browsing profiles one by one, you ask Yukkai to fetch data from dozens or hundreds of accounts automatically.

How it works

When you ask Yukkai to scrape social media data, the Apify tool:

1. Sends your request to Apify's cloud infrastructure
2. Apify uses its network of residential proxies (real IP addresses from around the world) to fetch the data without triggering anti-bot blocks
3. Yukkai polls for results until the job completes (up to 5 minutes)
4. Results are returned directly in the chat, and large exports in CSV or JSON format are saved to ~/YukkaiDocs/

All you need is an Apify API key stored in your Vault (Settings → Vault → Apify).

Apify vs. Web Browse

Yukkai has two scraping approaches. Here's when to use each:

Feature	Web Browse	Apify
Scale	1–5 pages	10–1,000+ profiles
Anti-bot protection	No	Yes (residential proxies)
Best for	Public sites, quick lookups	Social media, mass scraping
Speed	Fast (instant)	Slower (async, up to 5 min)

Rule of thumb: Use Web Browse for a quick lookup on a public page. Use Apify when you need to scrape social media or large batches of profiles.

How to use it

Just ask Yukkai in natural language what you want to scrape. For example:

• "Scrape the Instagram profiles of nike, adidas, and puma"
• "Get the last 30 TikTok posts from charlidamelio"
• "Find LinkedIn company info for Apple"
• "Scrape Instagram posts with the hashtag travel"

Yukkai will automatically use the Apify tool and return the results.

Available actions

Action	What it does	Key parameters
instagram_profiles	Scrape Instagram profile metadata (followers, bio, etc.)	usernames (comma-separated)
instagram_posts	Get recent posts from an Instagram account	username, max_results
instagram_hashtag	Find posts matching a hashtag	hashtag (without #), max_results
tiktok_profile	Get recent videos from a TikTok user	username, max_results
tiktok_hashtag	Find videos matching a hashtag	hashtag (without #), max_results
linkedin_profile	Scrape a LinkedIn personal profile	profile_url
linkedin_company	Scrape a LinkedIn company page	profile_url
custom_actor	Run any Apify actor by ID	actor_id, input_json

Output formats

You can choose how results are returned:

• Markdown (default) — clean, readable text directly in the chat
• CSV — spreadsheet-friendly format, saved to ~/YukkaiDocs/
• JSON — structured data, saved to ~/YukkaiDocs/

Examples

Scrape multiple Instagram profiles

Get profile data (followers, bio, engagement) for several brands at once:

Scrape Instagram profiles for nike, adidas, puma in CSV format

This triggers instagram_profiles with usernames: "nike,adidas,puma" and output_format: "csv".

Get recent TikTok posts

Pull the latest 30 videos from a creator:

Get the last 30 TikTok posts from charlidamelio

This triggers tiktok_profile with username: "charlidamelio" and max_results: 30.

Scrape a LinkedIn company page

Fetch company information (size, industry, description):

Scrape the LinkedIn company page for Apple

This triggers linkedin_company with profile_url: "https://linkedin.com/company/apple".

Find Instagram posts by hashtag

Discover content around a specific topic:

Find 50 Instagram posts with the hashtag travel

This triggers instagram_hashtag with hashtag: "travel" and max_results: 50.

Tips & best practices

• Start with profiles-only for Instagram. Scraping profile metadata (no posts) is the fastest and cheapest option. Add max_results: 0 or simply don't request posts.
• Batch large scrapes. If you're scraping 50+ Instagram profiles, Yukkai automatically splits them into smaller batches (default: 10 per run) with delays between runs to avoid rate limits.
• Don't include the # symbol. When scraping hashtags, provide the word without the # — e.g., travel not #travel.
• Use CSV for spreadsheets. If you plan to analyze the data in Excel or Numbers, request CSV format. The file will be saved to ~/YukkaiDocs/ automatically.
• Mind the timeout. Apify runs are asynchronous and poll for up to 5 minutes. Very large scrapes may need to be split into multiple smaller requests.
• Check your Apify credits. Apify is a paid service. Large scrapes consume more credits. Check your Apify dashboard for usage and limits.
• Respect platform terms of service. Only scrape publicly available data and ensure your use complies with each platform's terms of service and applicable laws.