Apify Common Errors

What it does

When your agent uses it

• An Apify run fails
• An API call returns 401/403/404/413/429
• A proxy connection drops
• An Actor build breaks

Example prompts

• “apify error”
• “fix apify”
• “actor failed”
• “/apify-common-errors”

Requirements

• A credential in APIFY_TOKEN
• Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Designed for Claude Code
• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Bash(curl:*), Bash(apify:*), Bash(npm:*)

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Capture the exact error. Grab the Status / StatusMessage from the
2. 2Match the signature. Find the matching entry in the table below, then
3. 3Diagnose before changing code. For run failures, pull the log via the
4. 4Apply the fix from the reference, re-run, and confirm with the

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 80f86df. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

  • Bash(curl:*)
  • Bash(apify:*)
  • Bash(npm:*)

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • curl
  • jq
  • npm

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

  • api.apify.com

  Also links to:

  • docs.apify.com
  • console.apify.com
  • status.apify.com

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names these keys or tokens, usually read from environment variables:

  • APIFY_TOKEN

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

• Compatibility

  Designed for Claude Code

  From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

Apify Common Errors loads about 1.3k tokens when it runs, and up to ~2.9k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 95 tokens; SKILL.md has 497 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~95

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1.3k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~2.9k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace at commit 80f86df, republished under its MIT licence (© jeremylongshore). 497 words, ~1,294 tokens.

name

apify-common-errors

description

Diagnose and fix common Apify Actor and API errors. Use when an Apify run fails, an API call returns 401/403/404/413/429, a proxy connection drops, an Actor build breaks, or a scrape hits an anti-bot block, and you need the cause plus a copy-paste fix. Trigger with "apify error", "fix apify", "actor failed", "apify not working", "debug apify", "apify 429".

allowed-tools

Bash(curl:*), Bash(apify:*), Bash(npm:*)

compatibility

Designed for Claude Code

version

1.5.0

license

MIT

author

Jeremy Longshore <jeremy@intentsolutions.io>

tags

saas, scraping, automation, apify

# Check Apify platform status
curl -s https://api.apify.com/v2/health | jq '.'

# Verify your auth (fixes 401 diagnosis)
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  https://api.apify.com/v2/users/me | jq '.data.username'

# Check installed package versions
npm list apify-client apify crawlee 2>/dev/null

# Get last run status (find why a run FAILED / TIMED-OUT)
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/USER~ACTOR/runs?limit=1&desc=true" | \
  jq '.data.items[0] | {status, statusMessage, startedAt, finishedAt}'

© jeremylongshore, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file (references) in skills/.curated/apify-common-errors of jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace.

• SKILL.md
• references/error-reference.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 80f86df