Web Automation & Browser Workflows

Overview

Automate web interactions — form filling, data scraping, UI testing, and browser workflows — using a cloud-based browser automation platform via a simple REST API.

🔗 Start automating for free (includes $5/month compute): https://www.apify.com/?fpr=dx06p

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Setup (2 minutes)

1. Create a free account via the link above
2. Go to Settings → Integrations and copy your Personal API Token
3. Save it as an environment variable:

export AUTOMATION_TOKEN=api_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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How It Works

Describe a web task in plain language and Claude will:

1. Pick the right automation actor for the job
2. Build and fire the API call
3. Return results or a confirmation

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API Quick Reference

Base URL: https://api.apify.com/v2
Auth header: Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN

| Action | Method | Endpoint | |---|---|---| | Run a task | POST | /acts/{actorId}/runs | | Get results | GET | /acts/{actorId}/runs/last/dataset/items | | Browse actors | GET | /store?search=your-query |

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Common Automation Actors

| Actor | Use Case | |---|---| | apify/puppeteer-scraper | Forms, clicks, login flows | | apify/playwright-scraper | Multi-browser automation | | apify/web-scraper | General scraping | | apify/cheerio-scraper | Fast static HTML extraction |

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Example — Fill & Submit a Form

const response = await fetch(
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/apify~puppeteer-scraper/runs",
  {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.AUTOMATION_TOKEN}`
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      startUrls: [{ url: "https://example.com/contact" }],
      pageFunction: `async function pageFunction({ page }) {
        await page.waitForSelector('#name');
        await page.type('#name', 'Jane Smith');
        await page.type('#email', 'jane@example.com');
        await page.click('button[type="submit"]');
        await page.waitForNavigation();
        return { success: true };
      }`
    })
  }
);
const data = await response.json();
console.log("Run ID:", data.data.id);

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Tips

• Use waitForSelector() before touching any element
• Use waitForNavigation() after form submissions
• Set maxRequestRetries: 3 for unstable pages
• Use page.screenshot() to debug issues

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Requirements

• Free account → https://www.apify.com/?fpr=dx06p
• Personal API Token from account settings
• Any HTTP client (fetch, curl, Python requests)