Apify hello-world → jq field extract
The smallest possible Apify run — proves your CLI works and the pipe is clean. Free. Finishes in ~2 seconds.
Setup
- → brew install apify-cli
- → apify login (free $5 credit, hello-world is $0)
Cost per run
free
The one-liner
$ apify call apify/hello-world -s -o | jq -r '.[0].url'What each stage does
- [01] apify
apify call apify/hello-worldRun the actor named 'apify/hello-world' on Apify's cloud. The free hello-world actor finishes in seconds and writes a tiny dataset. - [02] apify
-s -o-s = silent (no log spam on stdout). -o = print the default dataset items instead of run summary. Together: a clean JSON faucet. - [03] jq
jq -r '.[0].url'Take the first dataset item and pluck .url. -r emits raw text (no quotes).
Expected output (sample)
https://www.example.com/
Caveats & tips
- Without `apify login` you'll get an auth error. The login is interactive (browser-based) once; token then lives in ~/.apify/auth.json.
- Real actors cost credits — always read `apify actors info <name> --json | jq '.pricingInfos'` before fanning out.