# Unsplash Image Scraper (`codingfrontend/unsplash-image-scraper`) Actor

A robust, high-performance utility designed for developer automation, data integration, and AI training. Features built-in captcha bypass, headful/headless browser execution, and proxy support to scrape Unsplash data seamlessly, reliably, and at scale.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/codingfrontend/unsplash-image-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Coding Frontned](https://apify.com/codingfrontend) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation, AI
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 96.4% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $4.99 / 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.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Unsplash Image Scraper

Search the public Unsplash website in an ordinary Chrome session and collect source-backed photo metadata. The actor observes the search response generated by the page; it does not call an undocumented endpoint directly, mask browser automation, solve challenges, or bypass access controls. Visible search cards are used as a limited fallback.

### Input

```json
{
  "query": "mountain sunset",
  "maxItems": 20,
  "maxPages": 5,
  "orientation": "landscape",
  "color": "any",
  "orderBy": "relevant",
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": false }
}
```

`query` is required. `maxItems` accepts 1–100 and `maxPages` accepts 1–10. Supported orientations are `any`, `landscape`, `portrait`, and `squarish`; supported ordering is `relevant` or `latest`. Direct access is the default. A requested proxy must be usable or the run fails rather than silently falling back.

### Output

Every dataset item has a stable `recordId`, photo and image URLs, search context, extraction provenance, observation time, an attribution string, and the Unsplash license page. Available photographer, dimensions, descriptions, tags, topics, sponsorship, and popularity metadata are retained without fabricating missing values.

```json
{
  "recordId": "unsplash|abc123",
  "id": "abc123",
  "urlRegular": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-example",
  "pageUrl": "https://unsplash.com/photos/example-abc123",
  "photographerName": "Example Photographer",
  "attributionText": "Photo by Example Photographer on Unsplash",
  "licensePageUrl": "https://unsplash.com/license",
  "sourceDomain": "unsplash.com",
  "extractionMethod": "page_generated_napi_response",
  "position": 1
}
```

`OUTPUT_SUMMARY` records completion status, counts, filters, pages, proxy usage, and duration. Empty, challenged, and incomplete runs fail explicitly. Image binaries are not downloaded.

### Responsible use

Preserve photographer attribution and verify the current Unsplash license, terms, and any additional restrictions before reuse. The actor does not grant rights to download, reproduce, or republish images. Runtime and Apify charges depend on browser startup, page count, target response time, and optional proxy use.

# Actor input Schema

## `query` (type: `string`):

What to search for (e.g. 'mountain sunset', 'coffee', 'abstract')

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of images to scrape.

## `maxPages` (type: `integer`):

Safety cap for browser search pages.

## `maxRequestRetries` (type: `integer`):

Retries after an ordinary page failure; access challenges are never bypassed.

## `orientation` (type: `string`):

Filter photos by orientation.

## `color` (type: `string`):

Filter photos by color.

## `orderBy` (type: `string`):

How to sort results.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional Apify Proxy or custom proxy configuration used for the Chrome session. Direct access is the default.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "mountain",
  "maxItems": 20,
  "maxPages": 5,
  "maxRequestRetries": 1,
  "orientation": "any",
  "color": "any",
  "orderBy": "relevant",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

No description

## `keyValueStore` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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("codingfrontend/unsplash-image-scraper").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("codingfrontend/unsplash-image-scraper").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 codingfrontend/unsplash-image-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,codingfrontend/unsplash-image-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

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/Rk8fJBZ2xBYp9Acim/builds/HcMfHm0XtZjim2wMW/openapi.json