# Bulk HTTP Request Runner & API Scraper: Pagination, JSONPath (`steadyline/http-request-runner`) Actor

Run thousands of HTTP/API requests from a list or a template: auth (bearer, basic, API key), per-host rate limits, retries with Retry-After, pagination (Link header, cursor, page/offset), JSONPath/JMESPath extraction and HTML-to-Markdown. Secrets are never echoed. By Steadyline Data.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/steadyline/http-request-runner.md
- **Developed by:** [Steadyline Data](https://apify.com/steadyline) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation, Integrations
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 3 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.80 / 1,000 requests

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Bulk HTTP Request Runner: retries, pagination & JSONPath extraction

Run anything from a few to 100,000 HTTP/API requests from a plain list or from **one template plus a list of variables**. You get clean, structured results: status, the useful response headers, timing, the parsed JSON, values extracted with JSONPath or JMESPath, and HTML converted to Markdown. Retries, per-host rate limits and pagination are handled for you. Your credentials never appear in the output.

Use it for API backfills, enrichment jobs, health checks, polling endpoints, feeding LLM pipelines with Markdown, or any "call this URL for every row in my spreadsheet" task, without writing or hosting code.

### Use cases

- **Bulk API calls without code:** call a REST API for thousands of IDs from a URL template and variables.
- **Paginated API exports:** follow Link headers, cursors or page/offset until the end, with JSONPath extraction.
- **HTML to Markdown for LLMs:** fetch pages and get clean Markdown.
- **Uptime and status checks:** scheduled checks of endpoints with retries and status/latency in the output.
- **No-code glue:** a reliable HTTP step for Zapier/Make/n8n flows that need retries and rate limits.

### Features

- **Two ways to define requests:** a `requests` list (`method`, `url`, `headers`, `query`, `body`), or a `template` with `{{placeholders}}` plus `variables`. A placeholder that is the whole value keeps its type, so numbers stay numbers in JSON bodies.
- **Authentication:** Bearer, Basic, or an API-key header. These are entered in secret input fields, which the platform stores encrypted.
- **Secrets are never echoed:**
  - Values from the authentication fields are removed from URLs, headers, bodies, extracted values and Markdown.
  - Authorization and cookie headers, and headers or query parameters with names like `token`, `key`, `secret` or `signature`, show as `[redacted]`.
- **Politeness built in:** overall concurrency (hard cap 20) and requests per second per host (hard cap 10/s).
- **Retries:** on network errors, 408, 425, 429 and 5xx, up to 5 times. `Retry-After` is honored (capped at 120 s). Otherwise backoff is exponential with jitter.
- **Pagination:**
  - `linkHeader` (GitHub style `rel="next"`)
  - `jsonCursor` (a cursor value or next URL at a JSONPath)
  - `page` and `offset` parameters
  - `maxPages` up to 1000, with `itemsPath` to stop on an empty page
- **Parsing:** automatic JSON detection, `extract` rules (JSONPath or JMESPath), and an HTML→Markdown option that keeps main or article content and drops nav, scripts and footers. Raw body storage can be turned off, and `maxBodyBytes` caps the body size (hard cap 10 MB).

### Output (one row per request or page)

`id`, `pageIndex`, `request` (method, redacted URL, redacted headers, hasBody), `status`, `ok`, `finalUrl`, `durationMs`, `attempts`, `headers` (content-type, link, retry-after, rate-limit headers, etag, and others), `contentType`, `bodyBytes`, `bodyTruncated`, `extracted`, `json` or `body`, `markdown`, `error`.

### Output sample

Real output from a test run (GitHub issues with Link-header pagination and JMESPath `[].title` / `[].number`, plus example.com converted to Markdown). The `json` field is shortened here:

```json
[
  {
    "id": "gh-issues",
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "request": {
      "method": "GET",
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/apify/crawlee/issues?per_page=3&state=all",
      "headers": {
        "accept": "application/vnd.github+json"
      },
      "hasBody": false
    },
    "status": 200,
    "ok": true,
    "finalUrl": "https://api.github.com/repos/apify/crawlee/issues?per_page=3&state=all",
    "durationMs": 368,
    "attempts": 1,
    "headers": {
      "content-type": "application/json; charset=utf-8",
      "content-length": "2695",
      "content-encoding": "gzip",
      "link": "<https://api.github.com/repositories/66670819/issues?per_page=3&state=all&after=Y3Vyc29yOnYyOpLPAAABoYhLpAjPAAAAAWvFpZs%3D&page=2>; rel=\"next\"",
      "etag": "W/\"63eb12b0f4552d4469152ba3669f405daf6267d6f23ee575fa6d9c7a5bb7a816\"",
      "cache-control": "public, max-age=60, s-maxage=60",
      "x-ratelimit-limit": "60",
      "x-ratelimit-remaining": "51",
      "x-ratelimit-reset": "1793339689"
    },
    "contentType": "application/json; charset=utf-8",
    "bodyBytes": 14343,
    "bodyTruncated": false,
    "extracted": {
      "titles": [
        "fix(http)!: verify TLS certificates by default",
        "test(basic-crawler): pin that minConcurrency tasks keep running under overload",
        "`npx crawlee create` templates are broken"
      ],
      "numbers": [
        4317,
        4316,
        4315
      ]
    },
    "json": "[… 3 issue objects, omitted here …]",
    "body": null,
    "markdown": null,
    "error": null
  },
  {
    "id": "html-md",
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "request": {
      "method": "GET",
      "url": "https://example.com/",
      "headers": {},
      "hasBody": false
    },
    "status": 200,
    "ok": true,
    "finalUrl": "https://example.com/",
    "durationMs": 66,
    "attempts": 1,
    "headers": {
      "content-type": "text/html; charset=utf-8",
      "content-encoding": "br",
      "last-modified": "Thu, 29 Oct 2026 13:15:03 GMT"
    },
    "contentType": "text/html; charset=utf-8",
    "bodyBytes": 577,
    "bodyTruncated": false,
    "extracted": null,
    "json": null,
    "body": null,
    "markdown": "This domain is for use in documentation examples without needing permission. This is not a service; avoid relying on it for testing and monitoring purposes.",
    "error": null
  }
]
```

### Pricing (pay per event)

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| `request`: one successful response (2xx/3xx, or a code you list in `allowedStatusCodes`); each pagination page counts as one | $0.0008 |

**Failures are never charged.** Network errors, timeouts, 4xx/5xx after all retries, and invalid URLs are stored with an `error` but cost nothing. Retries of a request that finally succeeds count as one request.
**Cost example:** 10,000 API lookups via a template, with 2 pages each = 20,000 successful requests × $0.0008 = **$16**.

### Use it from AI agents (MCP), Zapier, Make, n8n or the API

**AI agents (Claude, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT and other MCP clients).** Add Apify's hosted MCP server with just this Actor as a tool:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=steadyline/http-request-runner"
    }
  }
}
```

Sign in with Apify (OAuth) on first connect, or add an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>` header. Then ask your agent, for example:

> Use steadyline/http-request-runner to fetch these 30 URLs, convert each page to Markdown and return the titles.

The agent sees this Actor's input schema and output fields, so it can call it without extra prompting. Agents that use the general Apify MCP server can also find it with `search-actors`.

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing with limited permissions, so it can also be run through Apify's agentic payments (no Apify account needed for the agent). See the [Apify docs](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp#agentic-payments).

**Zapier, Make and n8n.** Use the official Apify app: Zapier "Run Actor" action, Make "Run an Actor" module, or the n8n Apify node. Choose `steadyline/http-request-runner`, paste the input below, then use "Get dataset items" (or the run's dataset) to send results to Google Sheets, Slack, a CRM or a database.

**API (any language).** Run it and get the results in one call:

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/steadyline~http-request-runner/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"requests": [{"id": "crawlee-issues", "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/apify/crawlee/issues", "query": {"per_page": "5", "state": "all"}, "headers": {"Accept": "application/vnd.github+json"}}, {"id": "example-page", "url": "https://example.com/"}], "pagination": {"type": "linkHeader", "maxPages": 2}, "extract": {"titles": "$[*].title", "numbers": "$[*].number"}}'
```

Or with the Python client (`pip install apify-client`):

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient("<APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("steadyline/http-request-runner").call(run_input={"requests": [{"id": "crawlee-issues", "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/apify/crawlee/issues", "query": {"per_page": "5", "state": "all"}, "headers": {"Accept": "application/vnd.github+json"}}, {"id": "example-page", "url": "https://example.com/"}], "pagination": {"type": "linkHeader", "maxPages": 2}, "extract": {"titles": "$[*].title", "numbers": "$[*].number"}})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)
```

### Works well with other Steadyline Data tools

- **Website → RAG knowledge base:** get URLs from [Site Discovery](https://apify.com/steadyline/site-discovery), fetch HTML pages here with `outputMarkdown: true` and convert PDFs with [PDF to Markdown](https://apify.com/steadyline/pdf-document-to-markdown).
- **API monitoring:** schedule this Actor every hour and screenshot failing status pages with [Website Screenshot](https://apify.com/steadyline/website-screenshot).
- Related: [Site Discovery (sitemaps, robots.txt, llms.txt)](https://apify.com/steadyline/site-discovery), [PDF & Document to Markdown](https://apify.com/steadyline/pdf-document-to-markdown), [Website Screenshot API](https://apify.com/steadyline/website-screenshot).

### FAQ

**Are my API keys safe?**
Auth fields are secret inputs (encrypted by Apify), and the Actor redacts them from output, including keys echoed back in response bodies.

**Does it render JavaScript?**
No, it is a plain HTTP client. For rendered pages, use a browser-based Actor; for screenshots see Website Screenshot.

**What does it cost?**
$0.0008 per request or page fetched, so $0.80 per 1,000.

**Can I run it on a schedule?** Yes. Create an Apify Schedule (or a saved Task with a schedule) and connect a webhook or integration to receive results.

**Need a feature or found a bug?** Open an issue on the Issues tab of this page or email steadylinedata@proton.me. Built and maintained by **Steadyline Data**.

### Acceptable use

This tool sends the requests **you** define, so you are responsible for them. Only call APIs and websites you are allowed to use. Follow their terms of service, authentication rules and published rate limits. **Do not use it for denial of service, load or stress testing of systems you don't own, credential stuffing, or getting around access controls.** Concurrency and per-host rate have hard caps to prevent abuse. Don't send personal data you have no lawful basis to process. We may stop runs that break these rules.

Made by **Steadyline Data**.

# Actor input Schema

## `requests` (type: `array`):

List of {id?, method?, url, headers?, query?, body?}. Body objects are sent as JSON.

## `template` (type: `object`):

Optional template with {{placeholders}}, e.g. {"url": "https://api.example.com/users/{{id}}", "method": "GET"}. One request per item in Variables.

## `variables` (type: `array`):

List of objects, e.g. \[{"id": 1}, {"id": 2}]. Secrets are not available as variables; use the Authentication fields.

## `globalHeaders` (type: `object`):

Headers added to every request (request headers override).

## `authType` (type: `string`):

Added to every request. Secret values are redacted from all output.

## `bearerToken` (type: `string`):

For authType=bearer.

## `basicUsername` (type: `string`):

For authType=basic.

## `basicPassword` (type: `string`):

For authType=basic.

## `apiKeyHeaderName` (type: `string`):

For authType=apiKeyHeader.

## `apiKey` (type: `string`):

For authType=apiKeyHeader.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Parallel requests overall. Hard cap 20.

## `ratePerHostPerSec` (type: `number`):

Hard cap 10/s per host.

## `maxRetries` (type: `integer`):

Retries on network errors, 408, 425, 429 and 5xx (not 501). Honors Retry-After (capped at 120 s), else exponential backoff with jitter.

## `retryBaseMs` (type: `integer`):

First retry delay; doubles each attempt.

## `timeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Per attempt.

## `maxRequests` (type: `integer`):

Safety cap on recorded requests including pagination pages.

## `pagination` (type: `object`):

{type: none|linkHeader|jsonCursor|page|offset, maxPages (≤1000), cursorPath ($.next), cursorParam (cursor), pageParam (page), startPage (1), offsetParam (offset), startOffset (0), pageSize, sizeParam, itemsPath (stop on empty page)}. A full URL in the cursor is followed directly.

## `extract` (type: `object`):

Map of outputName → expression, evaluated on JSON responses.

## `extractLanguage` (type: `string`):

JSONPath ($.items\[\*].id) or JMESPath (items\[].id).

## `parseAs` (type: `string`):

auto = JSON when content-type says so or the body looks like JSON.

## `outputMarkdown` (type: `boolean`):

Add a markdown field for HTML responses (main/article content; nav, scripts and footers removed).

## `storeBody` (type: `boolean`):

Store the parsed JSON (json) or raw text (body). Turn off to keep only status, headers and extracted values.

## `maxBodyBytes` (type: `integer`):

Bodies are truncated beyond this (hard cap 10 MB). Truncated JSON is not parsed.

## `allowedStatusCodes` (type: `array`):

Extra status codes counted as success (and charged), e.g. \[404] when 'not found' is a valid answer.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "requests": [
    {
      "id": "crawlee-issues",
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/apify/crawlee/issues",
      "query": {
        "per_page": "5",
        "state": "all"
      },
      "headers": {
        "Accept": "application/vnd.github+json"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "example-page",
      "url": "https://example.com/"
    }
  ],
  "globalHeaders": {},
  "authType": "none",
  "apiKeyHeaderName": "x-api-key",
  "maxConcurrency": 5,
  "ratePerHostPerSec": 2,
  "maxRetries": 3,
  "retryBaseMs": 1000,
  "timeoutSecs": 30,
  "maxRequests": 1000,
  "pagination": {
    "type": "linkHeader",
    "maxPages": 2
  },
  "extract": {
    "titles": "$[*].title",
    "numbers": "$[*].number"
  },
  "extractLanguage": "jsonpath",
  "parseAs": "auto",
  "outputMarkdown": false,
  "storeBody": true,
  "maxBodyBytes": 1048576,
  "allowedStatusCodes": []
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One row per request / page.

## `markdown` (type: `string`):

HTML responses converted to markdown.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "requests": [
        {
            "id": "crawlee-issues",
            "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/apify/crawlee/issues",
            "query": {
                "per_page": "5",
                "state": "all"
            },
            "headers": {
                "Accept": "application/vnd.github+json"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "example-page",
            "url": "https://example.com/"
        }
    ],
    "pagination": {
        "type": "linkHeader",
        "maxPages": 2
    },
    "extract": {
        "titles": "$[*].title",
        "numbers": "$[*].number"
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("steadyline/http-request-runner").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "requests": [
        {
            "id": "crawlee-issues",
            "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/apify/crawlee/issues",
            "query": {
                "per_page": "5",
                "state": "all",
            },
            "headers": { "Accept": "application/vnd.github+json" },
        },
        {
            "id": "example-page",
            "url": "https://example.com/",
        },
    ],
    "pagination": {
        "type": "linkHeader",
        "maxPages": 2,
    },
    "extract": {
        "titles": "$[*].title",
        "numbers": "$[*].number",
    },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("steadyline/http-request-runner").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "requests": [
    {
      "id": "crawlee-issues",
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/apify/crawlee/issues",
      "query": {
        "per_page": "5",
        "state": "all"
      },
      "headers": {
        "Accept": "application/vnd.github+json"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "example-page",
      "url": "https://example.com/"
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "type": "linkHeader",
    "maxPages": 2
  },
  "extract": {
    "titles": "$[*].title",
    "numbers": "$[*].number"
  }
}' |
apify call steadyline/http-request-runner --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,steadyline/http-request-runner"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/DGNS1AbNgfarxOjR8/builds/Ghix1l84PlK4XZxmL/openapi.json