Use Snapchat Topic Spotlight Feed & Content Tag Extractor with Python

Reads a Snapchat topic's public Spotlight feed and returns each video with creator, engagement counts, AI-generated title/keywords, and related content-classification tags.

1. Choose the data you need

Review the published README for supported collection modes, examples, and limits. The recipe below uses the current published input definition.

2. Prepare a source-based input

This JSON contains published prefills and required-field defaults. Review every value for your task before running it; it is not a promise of successful collection.

{
  "enrichVideos": false,
  "includeRelatedTags": false,
  "includeRelatedTopics": false,
  "maxItems": 3,
  "maxResultsPerTopic": 3,
  "maxTopicsPerQuery": 50,
  "mode": "topicFeed",
  "searchQueries": [],
  "topics": [
    "food"
  ]
}

Download input.example.json and save your reviewed copy as input.json.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`mode`	string	optional	Choose what to collect: videos for topics/tags, topics for search keywords, or the current Spotlight feed.
`topics`	array	optional	Topic names, hashtags, or Snapchat URLs. Examples: food, #travel, https://www.snapchat.com/tag/food, https://www.snapchat.com/topic/cappuccino-foam-technique.
`maxResultsPerTopic`	integer	optional	Maximum videos to keep for each topic after combining its topic/tag page with Explore results. Snapchat serves 19-32 videos per page and the combined pool is usually 40-54.
`includeRelatedTags`	boolean	optional	Include Snapchat's scene-to-interest (S2I) tags for each video when the page provides them. Coverage is partial, so the field is omitted when unavailable.
`searchQueries`	array	optional	Keywords or phrases used to discover topics, such as coffee, new york, or taylor swift.
`maxTopicsPerQuery`	integer	optional	Maximum topic rows to keep for each search query, including related topics when expansion is enabled.
`includeRelatedTopics`	boolean	optional	Add one hop of related topics found on each discovered topic's topic, tag, or Explore page. This follows public page links; it does not recurse further.
`enrichVideos`	boolean	optional	Visit each video's Spotlight page to fill missing AI title, comment/recommend counts, language, S2I tags and sound, and each creator's profile once for subscriberCount. Cached and bounded; failures keep the original row.
`maxItems`	integer	optional	Maximum rows to save across the whole run.

3. Start an Actor run

Set APIFY_TOKEN in your environment. Python 3.10 or newer is sufficient; this recipe uses no third-party packages.

Execution may incur charges. Review current pricing on Apify. The request asks for a 120-second timeout and a charge limit; these settings are subject to Apify’s pricing and do not guarantee an all-inclusive spending cap.

import json
import os
import urllib.request

# Save the schema-derived example as input.json; review and edit it first.
with open("input.json", encoding="utf-8") as stream:
    actor_input = json.load(stream)

token = os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"]
request = urllib.request.Request(
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/1pDXF7JRNIfGATKcB/runs?timeout=120&maxTotalChargeUsd=0.50",
    data=json.dumps(actor_input).encode("utf-8"),
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer " + token, "Content-Type": "application/json"},
    method="POST",
)
# This starts a potentially billable run. Do not automatically retry this POST.
with urllib.request.urlopen(request, timeout=40) as response:
    run = json.load(response)["data"]
print("Run ID:", run["id"])
print("Status:", run["status"])
# Inspect and download results in Apify Console once the run succeeds.

4. Inspect the actual results

Open the run in Apify Console and wait for a successful completion. Use the published output schema to locate results and the dataset schema to understand declared views. Missing or optional record fields must not be treated as guaranteed values.

Videos from Snapchat topic and hashtag pages plus the anonymous Spotlight feed, with creator, engagement, AI keywords, hashtags and S2I content tags; plus topic-discovery rows from keyword search.

Questions before you run

Which inputs are required?

No top-level fields are marked required in the published schema. Conditional requirements can still apply; check the README.

What does this guide verify?

The fields, prefills, and schema links are rendered from the published build. This is a usage recipe, not a paid live extraction test. Source availability and collection results can vary.

What if the run request times out?

Check Apify Console before retrying. The first request may already have created a run. Do not automatically repeat a run-creation POST.

Open on Apify Full Actor reference

Generated from source build 0B1WSna9PhB5LeHFe and its README and schemas. Source changes regenerate this guide; no third-party editorial claims are inferred.