# Universal News Scraper (`xtracto/smart-news-loader`) Actor

Fetch any news article URL and extract its full content

- **URL**: https://apify.com/xtracto/smart-news-loader.md
- **Developed by:** [Farhan Febrian Nauval](https://apify.com/xtracto) (community)
- **Categories:** News
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.50 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## Smart News Loader

Fetch any news article URL and extract its full content using **adaptive, rotating HTTP methods**. Automatically escalates from lightweight standard requests to advanced TLS impersonation, then reports exactly why a page failed if it cannot be loaded.

### How It Works

For each URL, the actor tries HTTP methods in order from fastest/lightest to most capable

The first method that returns HTTP 200 with usable content wins. Once HTML is retrieved, content is extracted using **trafilatura** (best-in-class article extractor) with an HTML fallback using Open Graph tags and `<p>` text.

If all methods fail, the actor reports the exact reason - anti-bot protection, authentication, rate limits, network errors, and more.

### Input

```json
{
  "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2026/...",
  "urls": [
    "https://apnews.com/article/...",
    "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/..."
  ],
  "timeout": 20
}
```

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|-----------|------|---------|-------------|
| `url` | string | - | Single article URL to fetch. |
| `urls` | array | `[]` | Multiple article URLs to process in sequence. |
| `timeout` | integer | `20` | Per-method request timeout in seconds (5–60). |

### Output

#### Successful extraction

```json
{
  "url": "https://apnews.com/article/...",
  "status": "ok",
  "method_used": "httpx",
  "http_status": 200,
  "title": "Pope Leo XIV holds first public Mass at St. Peter's Square",
  "author": "Nicole Winfield",
  "date": "2026-04-19",
  "description": "Thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square...",
  "content": "VATICAN CITY (AP) - Thousands of faithful gathered...",
  "word_count": 742,
  "error": null
}
```

#### Blocked / protected page

```json
{
  "url": "https://www.ft.com/content/...",
  "status": "blocked",
  "method_used": null,
  "http_status": 403,
  "title": "",
  "author": "",
  "date": "",
  "description": "",
  "content": "",
  "word_count": 0,
  "error": "Access blocked (HTTP 403) - anti-bot protection active (e.g. Cloudflare, DataDome, PerimeterX). All HTTP methods exhausted; browser automation (Playwright/Camoufox) may be required."
}
```

#### Other error states

| `status` | Cause | Example `error` |
|----------|-------|-----------------|
| `ok` | Successfully fetched and extracted | `null` |
| `blocked` | Anti-bot / auth protection on all methods | `"Access blocked (HTTP 403) - ..."` |
| `error` | URL gone, network failure, timeout | `"Not found (HTTP 404) - URL may be invalid..."` |

### Supported Failure Reasons

The actor identifies and explains these failure modes:

- **HTTP 403** - Cloudflare, DataDome, PerimeterX, or other WAF; browser required
- **HTTP 401** - Login / subscription paywall
- **HTTP 429** - Rate limiting; back off before retrying
- **HTTP 404** - Article deleted or URL invalid
- **HTTP 410** - Article permanently removed
- **SSL/TLS error** - Certificate failure or TLS handshake rejection
- **Timeout** - Server unresponsive within the timeout window
- **Connection failed** - DNS failure, network unreachable, or domain offline

### Notes

- Works on any publicly accessible news URL
- For hard-paywalled or JS-rendered sites, consider using a dedicated scraper with browser support
- `word_count` reflects the extracted article body, not the full page HTML

# Actor input Schema

## `url` (type: `string`):

Single news article URL to fetch and extract.

## `urls` (type: `array`):

List of news article URLs to fetch and extract in sequence.

## `timeout` (type: `integer`):

HTTP request timeout per method attempt. Default 20s.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "url": "",
  "urls": [],
  "timeout": 20
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Fetched Articles - one row per scraped record, stored in the run's default dataset.

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("xtracto/smart-news-loader").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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("xtracto/smart-news-loader").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 '{}' |
apify call xtracto/smart-news-loader --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,xtracto/smart-news-loader"
        }
    }
}
```

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/cDLGsYfWuvFKILsJ4/builds/XDpdATL795483ZiV5/openapi.json