Web Automation Apify

Web Automation & Form Interaction Skill

Overview

This skill enables Claude to automate web interactions — filling forms, testing UIs, scraping data, and running repetitive web workflows — using the Apify platform and its REST API.

🔗 Sign up for Apify here: https://www.apify.com/?fpr=dx06p

What This Skill Does

• Automatically fill and submit web forms
• Automate repetitive browser interactions (login flows, checkout, data entry)
• Scrape and extract structured data from web pages
• Run and monitor web automation actors via the Apify API
• Test UI flows programmatically across different browsers

Step 1 — Get Your Apify API Token

1. Go to https://www.apify.com/?fpr=dx06p and create a free account
2. Once logged in, go to Settings → Integrations
   • Direct link: https://console.apify.com/account/integrations
3. Copy your Personal API Token — it looks like: apify_api_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
4. Store it safely:

   export APIFY_TOKEN=apify_api_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
   

Free tier includes $5/month of free compute — enough for testing and moderate automation.

Step 2 — Install the Apify Client (Optional)

npm install apify-client

Or use the REST API directly from any language (Python, curl, etc.)

Apify REST API — Core Endpoints

Base URL: https://api.apify.com/v2

All requests require the header:

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN

Run an Actor (start an automation task)

POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/{actorId}/runs
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer {APIFY_TOKEN}

Fetch Run Results

GET https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/{actorId}/runs/last/dataset/items
Authorization: Bearer {APIFY_TOKEN}

List Available Actors

GET https://api.apify.com/v2/store?search=form
Authorization: Bearer {APIFY_TOKEN}

Useful Pre-built Actors for Automation

How Claude Uses This Skill

When a user asks to automate a web form or workflow, Claude will:

1. Identify the target URL and required form fields
2. Select the right Apify actor based on complexity
3. Build the API call payload with field mappings
4. Execute the run via POST /acts/{actorId}/runs
5. Poll for results via GET /runs/last/dataset/items
6. Return a success confirmation, extracted data, or error details

Example: Fill and Submit a Contact Form

import ApifyClient from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });

const run = await client.actor("apify/puppeteer-scraper").call({
  startUrls: [{ url: "https://target-site.com/contact" }],
  pageFunction: async function pageFunction(context) {
    const { page } = context;

    // Wait for form to load
    await page.waitForSelector('#name');

    // Fill in form fields
    await page.type('#name', 'Jane Smith');
    await page.type('#email', 'jane@example.com');
    await page.type('#message', 'Hello from automation!');

    // Submit the form
    await page.click('button[type="submit"]');
    await page.waitForNavigation();

    return { success: true, finalUrl: page.url() };
  }
});

const { items } = await run.dataset().getData();
console.log(items);

Example: Using the REST API Directly

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.APIFY_TOKEN}`
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      startUrls: [{ url: "https://example.com/form" }],
      pageFunction: `async function pageFunction(context) {
        const { page } = context;
        await page.type('#email', 'test@example.com');
        await page.click('#submit');
        return { done: true };
      }`
    })
  }
);

const data = await response.json();
console.log("Run ID:", data.data.id);

Best Practices

• Always use page.waitForSelector(...) before interacting with any element
• Use page.waitForNavigation() after any form submission
• For login-protected forms, save session cookies using page.cookies()
• Set maxRequestRetries: 3 to gracefully handle flaky pages
• Use page.screenshot() to debug failed automations
• For CAPTCHAs, Apify integrates natively with 2Captcha and AntiCaptcha

Error Handling

try {
  const run = await client.actor("apify/puppeteer-scraper").call(input);
  const dataset = await run.dataset().getData();
  return dataset.items;
} catch (error) {
  if (error.statusCode === 401) throw new Error("Invalid Apify token — check your credentials");
  if (error.statusCode === 429) throw new Error("Rate limit hit — wait before retrying");
  if (error.statusCode === 404) throw new Error("Actor not found — verify the actor ID");
  throw error;
}

Requirements

• An Apify account → https://www.apify.com/?fpr=dx06p
• A valid Personal API Token from your Apify settings
• Node.js 18+ (if using the apify-client npm package)
• OR any HTTP client (curl, Python requests, fetch) to call the REST API directly