feat: apify create --from-url <website> — AI generates Actor scaffold from a target URL

[kuntal1461]

Problem

Building a new Apify Actor today requires the developer to:

1. Know how to scrape (CSS selectors, Playwright/Cheerio, pagination patterns)
2. Know how to structure an Apify Actor (file layout, INPUT_SCHEMA.json, apify.json)
3. Pick the right template manually

This is a high skill floor. Most users who want to scrape a specific website don't know where to start.

Proposal

Add an AI-powered flag to apify create:

apify create --from-url <website-url>

What it does

1. Fetches the target URL (or uses a headless browser for JS-heavy sites)
2. Sends the page structure to an LLM with a prompt that asks: "What data is on this page? How would you scrape it?"
3. Generates a complete, working Actor scaffold:
   • src/main.js (or main.py) with working scraper code
   • INPUT_SCHEMA.json with inferred inputs (startUrl, maxPages, selectors, etc.)
   • .actor/actor.json with name and description
4. Runs apify run locally to verify it works before handing off to the developer

Example

$ apify create --from-url https://news.ycombinator.com

Analyzing https://news.ycombinator.com...
  Detected: News listing page, 30 items per page, paginated
  Stack suggestion: Cheerio (static HTML, no JS required)

Generating Actor scaffold...
  ✓ src/main.js
  ✓ .actor/INPUT_SCHEMA.json
  ✓ .actor/actor.json

Running locally to verify...
  ✓ Scraped 30 items on first page

Actor "hacker-news-scraper" is ready.
Next: apify push

Generated INPUT_SCHEMA.json (example)

{
  "title": "Hacker News Scraper",
  "description": "Scrapes stories from Hacker News",
  "properties": {
    "startUrl": { "type": "string", "default": "https://news.ycombinator.com" },
    "maxPages": { "type": "integer", "default": 5 }
  }
}

Why it matters

• Lowers the skill floor from "know web scraping" to "have a URL"
• Dramatically accelerates the path from idea to published Actor
• Grows the Actor Store catalog: more contributors = more supply = more users
• Positions Apify CLI as an AI-native developer tool, not just a deploy tool

Open questions

• Which LLM / API to use (Apify-hosted vs user brings their own key)?
• Should it be interactive (wizard-style) or fully automatic?
• How to handle JS-heavy sites that require Playwright?

Related

• Guided Actor creation flow in apify create (parity with Console wizard) #1153 — Guided Actor creation flow (wizard, no AI)
• feat: expose any Actor as an MCP tool — apify actors expose-as-mcp #1439 — expose Actor as MCP tool (natural next step after creating)