n8n Nodes - Apify Actor Template

This template converts Apify Actors into n8n community nodes. The generation script reads your Actor's input schema and creates the node package structure, which you can then customize and publish. Simply provide an Actor ID, and the script generates a complete n8n community node package using your Actor's input schema—ready to customize and publish.

Apify is a platform for building, deploying, and publishing web automation tools called Actors, while n8n is a fair-code licensed workflow automation platform that connects various services and APIs.

Table of Contents

• Setup
  • Prerequisites
  • 1. Generate Your Node
  • 2. Customize Your Node
    • Actor schema constants
    • Node icon
    • Subtitle
    • Node description
    • AI tool result filtering
    • Node discoverability
• Development
• Getting help

Setup

⚙️ Prerequisites

• Node.js v23.11.1 or higher
• A valid Apify Actor ID from the Apify Store

1. Generate Your Node

Install dependencies:

npm install

Run the generation script:

npm run create-actor-app

When prompted, enter your Actor ID. Find this in your Actor's console URL, for example, if your Actor page is https://console.apify.com/actors/aYG0l9s7dbB7j3gbS/input, the Actor ID is aYG0l9s7dbB7j3gbS.

The script fetches your Actor's metadata and input schema, generates node files with proper naming, converts Actor input fields into n8n node parameters, and creates all necessary boilerplate code.

Test the generated node:

npm run build
npm run dev

2. Customize Your Node

After generation, your node files will be located in:

nodes/Apify<YourActorName>/

For example, if you converted the Website Content Crawler Actor, the folder will be:

nodes/ApifyWebsiteContentCrawler/

Customization

The generated code includes five sections labeled with SNIPPET comments. Search for SNIPPET in your IDE to locate them quickly.

Actor schema constants

Location: nodes/Apify{YourActorName}/Apify{YourActorName}.node.ts

The script generates these constants from your Actor's metadata:

export const ACTOR_ID = 'aYG0l9s7dbB7j3gbS'
export const CLASS_NAME = 'ApifyWebsiteContentCrawler'
export const DISPLAY_NAME = 'Apify Website Content Crawler'
export const DESCRIPTION = ''

Tip: Change DISPLAY_NAME or DESCRIPTION to adjust how your node appears in the n8n interface.

Node icon

Location: nodes/Apify{YourActorName}/Apify{YourActorName}.node.ts

The default configuration uses the Apify logo:

icon: 'file:logo.svg'

Replace the SVG files in the node directory with your own branding.

Subtitle

Location: nodes/Apify{YourActorName}/Apify{YourActorName}.node.ts

The subtitle appears beneath your node in n8n workflows:

subtitle: 'Run Scraper',

Node description

Location: nodes/Apify{YourActorName}/Apify{YourActorName}.node.ts

This description appears in n8n's node browser:

description: DESCRIPTION,

AI tool result filtering

Location: nodes/Apify{YourActorName}/helpers/genericFunctions.ts

When your node runs in AI agent workflows, reduce token usage by filtering the returned data:

if (isUsedAsAiTool(this.getNode().type)) {
  results = results.map((item: any) => ({ markdown: item.markdown }));
}

AI agents perform better with clean, focused data that takes up less context.

Node discoverability

The Apify{YourActorName}.node.json file controls where your node appears in n8n:

{
  "categories": ["Data & Storage", "Marketing & Content"],
  "alias": ["crawler", "scraper", "website", "content"]
}

Adjust categories to match your Actor's purpose and add relevant search keywords to alias.

The template includes pre-configured authentication in the credentials/ directory. Users running n8n locally provide their Apify API token. Users on n8n cloud can authenticate via OAuth2.

Development

Start n8n with your custom node:

npm run dev

This launches n8n at http://localhost:5678 with hot reloading enabled. Changes to your node files automatically refresh.

Getting help

• Apify API documentation
• n8n Community Nodes documentation
• n8n community

Before publishing: Update placeholder values in package.json (AUTHOR_NAME, AUTHOR_EMAIL, PACKAGE_DESCRIPTION) with your information.

Published Nodes

Community nodes built with this template:

| Node | npm Package | Creator | |------|-------------|---------| | Facebook Search | n8n-nodes-facebook-search-ppr | danek | | LinkedIn Profile Enrichment | n8n-nodes-linkedin-profile-enrichment | anchor | | Google Ads Scraper | n8n-nodes-google-ads-scraper | silva95gustavo | | Skip Trace Scraper | n8n-nodes-skip-trace | one-api | | Google Search | n8n-nodes-google-search-scraper | compass | | Google Maps Scraper | n8n-nodes-crawler-google-places | apify | | Hypebridge Actors | n8n-nodes-hypebridge-actors | hypebridge |

Built a node with this template? Open a PR to add it to the list!