Maven Central Scraper — Java Artifact Metadata & Versions

Extract comprehensive metadata from Maven Central, the canonical repository for Java libraries and JVM artifacts. This Actor returns groupId, artifactId, latest version, packaging type, version counts, and complete version history for any Java package you need to track. Whether you are auditing a dependency supply chain, monitoring third-party libraries, or building a catalog of the Java ecosystem, this tool delivers structured data without writing a single line of Java.

Use Cases

• Dependency auditing — Pull metadata and version history for every library in your build.
• Supply-chain research — Track which versions of a library are published and when they were last updated.
• Java ecosystem mapping — Build searchable catalogs of artifacts with groupId, artifactId, and version data.
• Competitive analysis — Compare release cadence and popularity across JVM libraries.
• License and compliance checks — Gather artifact coordinates and version ranges for SBOM generation.
• Release monitoring — Watch for new versions of critical dependencies like Spring, Guava, or Jackson.

Input

Field	Type	Required	Description
searchQueries	Array	No	List of search queries for Maven Central (e.g., guava, spring boot). Leave empty to use groupId/artifactId or defaults.
groupId	String	No	Exact Maven groupId to filter. Use with artifactId for exact lookup.
artifactId	String	No	Exact Maven artifactId to filter. Use with groupId.
maxItems	Number	No	Maximum number of artifacts to extract (default: 10).
includeVersions	Boolean	No	Include the full version history for each artifact (default: true).
proxyConfiguration	Object	No	Proxy configuration. Apify proxy is included by default.

Output

The Actor outputs a dataset with one row per artifact:

{
  "groupId": "com.google.guava",
  "artifactId": "guava",
  "latestVersion": "33.4.8-jre",
  "packaging": "jar",
  "versionCount": 150,
  "timestamp": "2025-04-14T00:00:00.000Z",
  "versions": "33.4.8-jre, 33.4.8-android, 33.4.7-jre, ...",
  "sourceUrl": "https://central.sonatype.com/artifact/com.google.guava/guava",
  "error": ""
}

Pricing

Pay per event: $0.002 per artifact extracted.

How It Works

Exact lookups (groupId + artifactId) and the default popular-artifact list fetch metadata directly from the Maven Central repository (repo1.maven.org) via maven-metadata.xml. This endpoint is highly available and returns the complete version list in a single request.

Text search (searchQueries or groupId-only listing) uses the Maven Central Solr search API. When Solr is temporarily unavailable, the Actor logs a warning and returns empty results for those queries — exact GAV lookups continue to work normally.

Limitations

• Text search requires the Maven Central Solr API, which may occasionally be unavailable. Exact groupId + artifactId lookups are unaffected.
• Packaging type defaults to jar for metadata-based lookups. Most Maven Central artifacts are JARs; for precise packaging, check the artifact's POM.
• Snapshot versions are not included in the version list (release metadata only).
• Very large version histories include all published versions and can produce long output strings.

FAQ

Q: Can I search by exact coordinates? A: Yes. Set both groupId and artifactId for an exact lookup. This path uses the Maven metadata API and works even when the Solr search API is down.

Q: What if a search query returns many artifacts? A: Use maxItems to limit the total number of results returned.

Q: Why does the packaging field show "jar" for some artifacts? A: The Maven metadata API does not include packaging information. The Actor defaults to jar, which covers the vast majority of Maven Central artifacts.

Changelog

• v1.0.11 — Refreshed build, validated latest source and dependency tree on Apify cloud.
• v1.0.10 — Migrated primary data source from Solr search API to repo1.maven.org metadata API for exact GAV lookups and defaults. Solr retained for text search with timeout and graceful degradation. Reduces API calls per artifact from 2 to 1.
• v1.0.9 — Refreshed build, validated latest source and dependency tree on Apify cloud.
• v1.0.8 — Refreshed build, validated latest source and dependency tree on Apify cloud.
• v1.0.7 — Refreshed build, validated latest source and dependency tree on Apify cloud.
• v1.0.6 — Refreshed build, validated latest source and dependency tree on Apify cloud.
• v1.0.5 — Refreshed build, verified schemas and pricing alignment.
• v1.0.4 — Build refresh: added .dockerignore, cleaned up temporary test files, aligned README pricing with current PPE.
• v1.0.0 — Initial release.