actor/runAndGetDatasetItems

When to Use

• Synchronous product data extraction: A workflow triggered by a user request scrapes a product page, waits for completion, and immediately enriches the result into a database — all in one pass without intermediate state management.
• Real-time competitive intelligence: On a webhook trigger (e.g. a competitor price change alert), run a targeted scraper and process the output in the same workflow execution, feeding results into pricing decision logic.
• Data aggregation pipelines: Combine results from multiple sequential runAndGetDatasetItems calls (each targeting a different actor or input) using a CollectionOperation node to merge extracted datasets before loading into a data warehouse.
• SEO batch analysis: For each URL in a list, run an SEO metadata actor and collect structured output (title, meta description, canonical, heading counts) in a single pass, avoiding the polling complexity of the async pattern.
• Lead enrichment: Given a list of company domains, run a web scraper actor with contact-extraction logic and return structured lead records directly into a CRM upsert workflow without intermediate storage.

Configuration

Connection

Operation

Sample Configuration

{
  "resource": "actor",
  "operation": "run-and-get-dataset-items",
  "credentialId": "apify-prod-token",
  "actorId": "apify~google-search-scraper",
  "customBody": "{\"queries\":[\"best CRM software 2026\",\"top project management tools\"],\"maxPagesPerQuery\":3,\"resultsPerPage\":10}",
  "timeout": "180",
  "memory": "1024",
  "build": "latest",
  "datasetOffset": "0",
  "datasetLimit": "50",
  "datasetFields": "title,url,description,position",
  "datasetOmit": ""
}

Validation Errors

Output

Success Port

Error Port

Routes here when the actor run fails (FAILED or TIMED-OUT status), the actor ID is invalid, API authentication fails, or the dataset fetch fails after a successful run. Output contains errorCode ("APIFY_ERROR") and message.

Sample Output

{
  "items": [
    {
      "title": "Best CRM Software of 2026",
      "url": "https://www.g2.com/categories/crm",
      "description": "Find and compare the best CRM software solutions for businesses of all sizes.",
      "position": 1
    },
    {
      "title": "Top 10 CRM Platforms Compared — Forbes Advisor",
      "url": "https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/best-crm-software/",
      "description": "Our experts have tested and ranked the top CRM systems available in 2026.",
      "position": 2
    }
  ],
  "itemCount": 2
}

Expression Reference

Node Policies & GuardRails

Examples

Google Search Results — SEO Competitive Analysis

{
  "resource": "actor",
  "operation": "run-and-get-dataset-items",
  "credentialId": "apify-seo-token",
  "actorId": "apify~google-search-scraper",
  "customBody": "{\"queries\":[\"{{ $input.keyword }}\"],\"maxPagesPerQuery\":5,\"resultsPerPage\":10,\"countryCode\":\"us\",\"languageCode\":\"en\"}",
  "timeout": "240",
  "memory": "1024",
  "datasetLimit": "50",
  "datasetFields": "title,url,description,position,domain"
}

The search keyword is dynamically injected from the workflow input. The node returns the top 50 search results with only the fields needed for competitive analysis, then passes the items array to a DataMapping node for enrichment.

E-Commerce Product Price Scrape

{
  "resource": "actor",
  "operation": "run-and-get-dataset-items",
  "credentialId": "apify-prod-token",
  "actorId": "apify~cheerio-scraper",
  "customBody": "{\"startUrls\":[{\"url\":\"https://shop.competitor.com/electronics\"}],\"pseudoUrls\":[{\"purl\":\"https://shop.competitor.com/product/[.*]\"}],\"maxPagesPerCrawl\":100,\"pageFunction\":\"async ({$, request}) => ({url: request.url, name: $('h1').text().trim(), price: $('.price-now').text().trim(), inStock: !$('.out-of-stock').length})\"}",
  "timeout": "600",
  "memory": "2048",
  "datasetLimit": "500",
  "datasetFields": "url,name,price,inStock",
  "datasetOmit": ""
}

Crawls a competitor product catalogue with a Cheerio scraper. The custom page function extracts name, price, and stock status. Returns up to 500 products using field projection to keep the payload lean before loading into a pricing database.

Paginated Dataset via Loop

// First call — get items 0-99
{
  "resource": "actor",
  "operation": "run-and-get-dataset-items",
  "credentialId": "apify-prod-token",
  "actorId": "apify~web-scraper",
  "customBody": "{ \"startUrls\": [{\"url\": \"https://data-source.com\"}] }",
  "timeout": "300",
  "memory": "1024",
  "datasetOffset": "0",
  "datasetLimit": "100"
}
// If itemCount === 100, continue pagination with dataset/getItems
// using defaultDatasetId from actor/run output and offset 100, 200, etc.

When itemCount equals datasetLimit, assume there are more pages. Use dataset/getItems with the dataset ID (obtainable via actor/run) and incrementing offset values to retrieve subsequent pages inside a Loop node.