Twitter/X scraper with Apify actors

Twitter/X Apify Actors

Overview

This skill runs a reliable actor-based pipeline for Twitter/X lead collection using Apify. It extracts a username from an X/Twitter link, runs a follower/following actor, optionally runs an email actor, and returns normalized rows for outreach workflows.

Use this skill when a user asks to:

• collect followers/following from X via Apify actors
• enrich collected usernames with emails
• convert profile links to actor-ready usernames
• build JSON/webhook payloads for n8n or API endpoints

Default actor IDs in this skill:

• Followers actor: bIYXeMcKISYGnHhBG
• Email actor: mSaHt2tt3Z7Fcwf0o

Quick Workflow

1. Parse input target (https://x.com/..., https://twitter.com/..., or @username).
2. Build follower actor payload using collectType and limit.
3. Run follower actor and normalize usernames.
4. If enrichment is enabled, run email actor and merge results.
5. Return final rows + summary metrics.

Execution Rules

• Prefer script execution for reliability: use scripts/apify_twitter_actors.py.
• Keep actor IDs configurable, but default to the IDs above.
• Always validate collectType (followers, following, both) and positive limit.
• If email enrichment is disabled, skip email actor entirely.
• Never hardcode the Apify token in outputs. Use env APIFY_TOKEN or explicit CLI argument.

Authentication (Apify token)

Users can provide the Apify API token in two supported ways.

Option A: Environment variable (recommended)

export APIFY_TOKEN='apify_api_xxx'
python3 scripts/apify_twitter_actors.py run-pipeline \
  --target 'https://x.com/elonmusk' \
  --collect-type followers \
  --limit 1000 \
  --include-emails

Option B: CLI argument

python3 scripts/apify_twitter_actors.py run-pipeline \
  --apify-token 'apify_api_xxx' \
  --target 'https://x.com/elonmusk' \
  --collect-type followers \
  --limit 1000 \
  --include-emails

If both are provided, --apify-token is used. If neither is provided, the script returns an explicit authentication error.

Script Usage

Run with Python 3.10+.

python3 scripts/apify_twitter_actors.py parse-username --target 'https://x.com/elonmusk'

APIFY_TOKEN='apify_api_xxx' \
python3 scripts/apify_twitter_actors.py run-followers \
  --target 'https://x.com/elonmusk' \
  --collect-type followers \
  --limit 1000

APIFY_TOKEN='apify_api_xxx' \
python3 scripts/apify_twitter_actors.py run-pipeline \
  --target 'https://x.com/elonmusk' \
  --collect-type followers \
  --limit 1000 \
  --include-emails

Quick auth check:

APIFY_TOKEN='apify_api_xxx' \
python3 scripts/apify_twitter_actors.py run-followers \
  --target 'https://x.com/elonmusk' \
  --collect-type followers \
  --limit 10

For contracts and payload details, read:

• references/actor-contracts.md
• references/troubleshooting.md

Output Contract

The pipeline returns JSON with:

• targetUsername
• collectType
• totalCollected
• emailsFound
• rows[] with username, name, email, sourceType, collectedAt

Use this output directly in n8n Code/HTTP nodes or export to CSV/Google Sheets.