Apify Local Dev Loop

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Creating Actors locally
• Testing with the apify run command
• Inspecting local storage
• Establishing a fast develop-test-deploy cycle before pushing to the platform

Example prompts

• “apify dev setup”
• “apify local development”
• “develop actor locally”
• “/apify-local-dev-loop”

Requirements

• Node.js
• A credential in APIFY_TOKEN
• Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Designed for Claude Code
• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Read, Write, Edit, Bash(npm:*), Bash(npx:*), Bash(apify:*)

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

1. 1Create a New Actor Project
2. 2Configure and code
3. 3Run Locally
4. 4Provide Local Input

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:

  • Read
  • Write
  • Edit
  • Bash(npm:*)
  • Bash(npx:*)
  • Bash(apify:*)

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • npm
  • jq
  • tsx

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

• Network

  Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

  • docs.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 Local Dev Loop loads about 1.6k tokens when it runs, and up to ~3k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 92 tokens; SKILL.md has 521 words of instructions outside code blocks.

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

~92

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

~1.6k

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

~3k

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

• NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:39

  plaintext `.env` containing it.

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). 521 words, ~1,587 tokens.

name

apify-local-dev-loop

description

Set up local Apify Actor development with the Apify CLI and Crawlee. Use when creating Actors locally, testing with the apify run command, inspecting local storage, or establishing a fast develop-test-deploy cycle before pushing to the platform. Trigger with "apify dev setup", "apify local development", "develop actor locally", "apify run local".

allowed-tools

Read, Write, Edit, Bash(npm:*), Bash(npx:*), Bash(apify:*)

compatibility

Designed for Claude Code

version

1.5.0

license

MIT

author

Jeremy Longshore <jeremy@intentsolutions.io>

tags

saas, scraping, automation, apify

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

# 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

# Run with default input from storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json
apify run

# Run with input from command line
apify run --input='{"startUrls":[{"url":"https://example.com"}],"maxPages":5}'

# View results
cat storage/datasets/default/*.json | jq '.'

{
  "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://example.com" }],
  "maxPages": 5
}

mkdir -p storage/key_value_stores/default
echo '{"startUrls":[{"url":"https://example.com"}],"maxPages":5}' \
  > storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json
apify run
cat storage/datasets/default/*.json | jq '.'

© 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 2 other files (references) in skills/.curated/apify-local-dev-loop of jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace.

• SKILL.md
• references/examples.md
• references/implementation.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 80f86df