apify-sdk-patterns

name	apify-sdk-patterns
description	Production-ready patterns for Apify SDK and apify-client in TypeScript. Use when building Actors with Crawlee, managing datasets/KV stores, or implementing robust client wrappers with retry and validation. Trigger with "apify SDK patterns", "apify best practices", "apify client wrapper", "crawlee patterns", "idiomatic apify".
allowed-tools	Read, Write, Edit
version	1.5.0
license	MIT
author	Jeremy Longshore <[e-mail]>
tags	["saas","scraping","automation","apify"]
compatibility	Designed for Claude Code

Apify SDK Patterns

Overview

Production patterns for both the apify SDK (building Actors) and apify-client (calling Actors remotely). Covers Crawlee crawler selection, data storage, proxy configuration, and typed client wrappers. This skill gives you the essential skeletons inline; the full eight-pattern catalog and two worked scenarios live in references/ for progressive drill-down.

Prerequisites

• Install what you need: apify-client for calling Actors remotely, or apify + crawlee for building Actors. Both can coexist in one project.
• Set APIFY_TOKEN in the environment — read it via process.env.APIFY_TOKEN, never hard-code it. This is the only credential these patterns require (Apify uses a personal API token, not OAuth).
• TypeScript is recommended; every snippet here is typed and runs under ts-node or a compiled build.

Instructions

Use the two skeletons below to start, then reach into the reference catalog for the pattern that matches your task.

Pattern 1: Typed Client Singleton

Create one lazily-initialized, token-validated ApifyClient and reuse it everywhere. A resetClient() hook keeps it testable.

// src/apify/client.ts
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

let instance: ApifyClient | null = null;

export function getApifyClient(): ApifyClient {
  if (!instance) {
    const token = process.env.APIFY_TOKEN;
    if (!token) throw new Error('APIFY_TOKEN is required');
    instance =  ({ token });
  }
   instance;
}


  ():  {
  instance = ;
}