apify-local-dev-loop

name	apify-local-dev-loop
description	Set up local Apify Actor development with Apify CLI and Crawlee. Use when creating Actors locally, testing with apify run, or establishing a fast develop-test-deploy cycle. Trigger: "apify dev setup", "apify local development", "develop actor locally", "apify run local".
allowed-tools	Read, Write, Edit, Bash(npm:*), Bash(npx:*), Bash(apify:*), Grep
version	1.0.0
license	MIT
author	Jeremy Longshore <[e-mail]>
tags	["saas","scraping","automation","apify"]
compatible-with	claude-code

Apify Local Dev Loop

Overview

Build and test Apify Actors on your local machine before deploying to the platform. Uses the Apify CLI (apify run) which emulates the platform environment locally, creating local storage directories for datasets, key-value stores, and request queues.

Prerequisites

• npm install -g apify-cli (global CLI)
• apify login completed with valid token
• Node.js 18+

Actor Project Structure

my-actor/
├── .actor/
│   ├── actor.json          # Actor metadata and config
│   └── INPUT_SCHEMA.json   # Input schema (auto-generates UI on platform)
├── src/
│   └── main.ts             # Entry point
├── storage/                # Created by apify run (git-ignored)
│   ├── datasets/default/
│   ├── key_value_stores/default/
│   └── request_queues/default/
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json

Instructions

Step 1: Create a New Actor Project

# Create from template (interactive)
apify create my-actor

# Or create from specific template
apify create my-actor --template project_cheerio_crawler_ts
# Templates: project_empty, project_cheerio_crawler_ts,
#   project_playwright_crawler_ts, project_puppeteer_crawler_ts

Step 2: Configure .actor/actor.json

{
  "actorSpecification": 1,
  "name": "my-actor",
  "title": "My Actor",
  "description": "Scrapes data from example.com",
  "version": "0.1",
  "meta": {
    "templateId"