santifer/career-ops · error · Error

apify: entry missing 'actor' (e.g. misceres/indeed-scraper)

Error message

apify: entry ${entry.name} missing 'actor' (e.g. misceres/indeed-scraper)

What it means

Config validation in the Apify keyed provider's fetch hook: a job_boards/portals entry is routed to the apify provider but lacks the `actor` field that names which Apify actor to run (e.g. misceres/indeed-scraper). The interpolated name identifies the offending entry. The token check has already passed, so this is purely a missing config key, not a credentials problem.

Solutions

Add the actor identifier to the entry: actor: misceres/indeed-scraper.
Copy the actor path exactly from its Apify store page (org/name format).
Validate the whole config with the plugin's example entry as a reference.

Example fix

// config before
- name: indeed
  field_map: { title: positionName, url: url }
// after
- name: indeed
  actor: misceres/indeed-scraper
  field_map: { title: positionName, url: url }

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

for (const entry of apifyEntries) {
  if (!entry.actor) throw new Error(`entry ${entry.name} missing actor`);
}

Type guard

const hasActor = (e) => typeof e?.actor === 'string' && e.actor.includes('/');

Try / catch

try {
  await scanner.run(config);
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e.message).includes("missing 'actor'")) {
    console.error('Fix config: each apify entry needs actor: org/name');
  }
  throw e;
}

Prevention

Copy the full example entry from plugin docs when adding new entries.
Validate config at startup with a schema validator (e.g. zod).
Use the actor path copied verbatim from the Apify store page.
Lint YAML config for required keys before committing.

When it happens

Trigger: A config entry in the apify plugin config that lacks the 'actor' key, or has it as an empty string/null — e.g. { name: 'indeed', field_map: {...} } with no actor.

Common situations: Hand-editing config/plugins.yml and forgetting the actor field; copying an entry template that lists other fields first; renaming 'actor' to something like 'actorId' by mistake.

Understand the failure class

Background: "is required", "must be set", "missing required field": configuration validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 36 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of santifer/career-ops@aac998c7ed (2026-09-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f0aaf1bde4024ede. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/apify/index.mjs:185

    if (!out[k]) out[k] = String(v);
  }
  return out;
}

/** The keyed provider hook. Reads APIFY_TOKEN from the plugin's scoped ctx.env. */
export default {
  provider: {
    id: 'apify',
    // Keyed providers never auto-detect (the engine also forces this to null).
    detect() { return null; },

    async fetch(entry, ctx) {
      const token = ctx?.env?.APIFY_TOKEN || process.env.APIFY_TOKEN;
      if (!hasToken(token)) {
        throw new Error('APIFY_TOKEN not set — enable apify in config/plugins.yml and add the token to .env');
      }
      if (!entry.actor) {
        throw new Error(`apify: entry ${entry.name} missing 'actor' (e.g. misceres/indeed-scraper)`);
      }
      if (
        !entry.field_map ||
        !isFieldSpec(entry.field_map.title) ||
        !isFieldSpec(entry.field_map.url) ||
        (entry.field_map.company != null && !isFieldSpec(entry.field_map.company)) ||
        (entry.field_map.location != null && !isFieldSpec(entry.field_map.location)) ||
        (entry.field_map.description != null && !isFieldSpec(entry.field_map.description))
      ) {
        throw new Error(
          `apify: entry ${entry.name} has invalid field_map. Each of title, url, company, ` +
          `location, description must be a string or a non-empty array of strings. title and url are required.`
        );
      }

      const opts = { token };
      if (entry.timeout_ms != null) opts.timeoutMs = entry.timeout_ms;
      const items = await runActor(entry.actor, entry.input || {}, opts);

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