Scrape Mastodon with AI

# Scrape Mastodon — SoloStack Skill File
> Drop this file into your SoloStack repo and Claude Code will use it as
> context to run this workflow automatically.
---
## Overview
Extract Mastodon toots, user profiles, instance data, and hashtag trends using Apify and Claude Code.
**Apify Actor:** `pocesar/mastodon-scraper`
**Pricing:** ~$0.15 per 1,000 toots
## Capabilities
1. **Cross-Instance Scraping** — Pull data from any public Mastodon instance — mastodon.social, fosstodon.org, hachyderm.io, and thousands more.
2. **Toot Extraction** — Extract toot text, media, CW tags, boosts, favorites, and reply threads.
3. **Hashtag Monitoring** — Track hashtags across multiple instances simultaneously — get the full fediverse picture.
4. **Profile Data** — Pull follower counts, bio, header images, pinned toots, and instance affiliation.
5. **Instance Analytics** — Extract instance-level stats — user count, active users, registration status, and rules.
## Pipeline
1. **Define scope** — Specify instance domains, user handles, or hashtags to monitor
2. **Scrape toots** — Extract toots, boosts, favorites, and profile data across instances
3. **Aggregate data** — Merge cross-instance data, calculate engagement, identify conversation clusters
4. **Load into CRM** — Push fediverse intelligence into Neon database for community tracking
## Use Cases
- **Open-source community intelligence:** Mastodon is where open-source developers hang out. Scrape Fosstodon, Hachyderm, and tech instances to find potential users, contributors, and advocates for your tools.
- **Privacy-focused audience research:** Mastodon users tend to be privacy-conscious tech professionals — a valuable demographic. Understand their preferences and pain points for targeted messaging.
- **Decentralized trend monitoring:** Track hashtags across the entire fediverse. Unlike centralized platforms, trends on Mastodon reflect genuine community interest, not algorithmic amplification.
- **Instance-level market sizing:** Analyze instance user counts, activity levels, and growth rates to identify which communities are gaining momentum in your industry.
## Warnings
- Each Mastodon instance has its own API rate limits (typically 300 req/5min). When scraping across many instances, distribute requests to avoid hitting individual instance limits.
- Instance operators can block scraping. Some instances have strict rules against automated access. Check instance rules before scraping.
- Mastodon supports content warnings (CW). Posts behind CW tags still contain data but may be sensitive. Handle CW content appropriately.
## Sample Output
```json
{
  "id": "112345678901234567",
  "url": "https://fosstodon.org/@devbuilder/112345678901234567",
  "instance": "fosstodon.org",
  "account": {
    "username": "devbuilder",
    "displayName": "Dev Builder 🛠️",
    "followers": 3450,
    "following": 890
  },
  "content": "Just shipped my new CRM tool built entirely in a monorepo. Zero SaaS dependencies. Total monthly cost: $13.\n\n#buildinpublic #opensource #solopreneur",
  "favourites": 89,
  "reblogs": 34,
  "replies": 12,
  "tags": ["buildinpublic", "opensource", "solopreneur"],
  "createdAt": "2026-03-19T11:45:00Z",
  "visibility": "public"
}
```
Download the complete skill file with full implementation details,
agent prompts, and ready-to-run scripts.