Yelp Business Search & Review Scraper: MCP config, n8n workflow and API

{
  "mode": "direct",
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.yelp.com/biz/prince-street-pizza-new-york-2"
  ],
  "sortBy": "recommended",
  "minRating": 0,
  "maxItems": 1,
  "maxReviewsPerBusiness": 5,
  "includeReviews": true,
  "reviewSort": "DATE_DESC",
  "reviewRatings": [
    "5",
    "4",
    "3",
    "2",
    "1"
  ],
  "reviewLanguage": "en"
}

---
name: yelp-business-search-and-review-scraper
description: "Yelp business profiles with nested review rows, ratings, hours, contact details, and explicit status records for blocked or missing businesses. Runs the Apify Actor nimbryxo-studio/yelp-business-search-and-review-scraper. Use when the user needs Yelp data with fields such as name, rating, reviewCount, price, phone, city and an Apify token is available."
compatibility: "Needs network access, curl, and an APIFY_TOKEN environment variable. Runs are billed to the token owner's Apify account."
metadata:
  actor: "nimbryxo-studio/yelp-business-search-and-review-scraper"
  store-url: "https://apify.com/nimbryxo-studio/yelp-business-search-and-review-scraper"
---

# Yelp Business Search & Review Scraper

Use this skill to fetch Yelp data with the Apify Actor `nimbryxo-studio/yelp-business-search-and-review-scraper` and work with the returned rows.

## Before running

1. Check that `APIFY_TOKEN` is set in the environment. Never print it or write it to a file.
2. Build `input.json` from the user's request using the fields below. Keep limits small for a first run.
3. Confirm the search terms or URLs with the user if the request is ambiguous.

## Input fields

| Field | Type | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `mode` | one of `search`, `direct`, required | Search Yelp by keyword and location, or look up specific business URLs, aliases, or 22-character business IDs. |
| `searchQuery` | string | Keyword to search for in mode=search, for example 'pizza', 'plumber', or 'coffee shop'. |
| `location` | string | City, neighborhood, or ZIP code to search in mode=search, for example 'New York, NY' or '10012'. |
| `startUrls` | array | In mode=search, paste Yelp search URLs. In mode=direct, paste business URLs, aliases, or 22-character business IDs. |
| `categories` | array | Optional Yelp category aliases or names used to narrow search results, for example 'pizza', 'coffee', or 'home_services'. They are combined with the search query. |
| `sortBy` | one of `recommended`, `rating`, `reviewCount` | Ordering for mode=search result pages. |
| `price` | array | Optional price levels for mode=search. Leave empty for every price level. |
| `minRating` | number | Drop businesses rated below this value. Set to 0 to keep every rating. |
| `maxItems` | integer | Hard cap on business records in the dataset. Search is limited to Yelp's 240-result ceiling per query. |
| `maxReviewsPerBusiness` | integer | Maximum reviews collected for each business. Reviews are paged 49 at a time from Yelp's public review feed. |
| `includeReviews` | boolean | Turn off to collect only business profiles and skip the review feed. |
| `reviewSort` | one of `DATE_DESC`, `DATE_ASC`, `RATING_DESC`, `RATING_ASC`, `RELEVANCE_DESC`, `ELITES_DESC` | Ordering applied to each business's review feed. |
| `reviewRatings` | array | Only collect reviews with these star ratings. Choose one or more values. |
| `reviewLanguage` | string | Language for the review feed. Choose 'all' to page through every language Yelp reports for the business. |

Example `input.json` (the Actor's published prefill):

```json
{
  "mode": "direct",
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.yelp.com/biz/prince-street-pizza-new-york-2"
  ],
  "sortBy": "recommended",
  "minRating": 0,
  "maxItems": 1,
  "maxReviewsPerBusiness": 5,
  "includeReviews": true,
  "reviewSort": "DATE_DESC",
  "reviewRatings": [
    "5",
    "4",
    "3",
    "2",
    "1"
  ],
  "reviewLanguage": "en"
}
```

## Run

```bash
curl -sS -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/nimbryxo-studio~yelp-business-search-and-review-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d @input.json > results.json
```

The call waits for the run to finish and returns the dataset items as a JSON array. If the run needs more than 300 seconds the API answers with HTTP 408; then start the run with `POST /v2/acts/nimbryxo-studio~yelp-business-search-and-review-scraper/runs`, poll `GET /v2/actor-runs/{runId}` until `SUCCEEDED`, and read `GET /v2/datasets/{defaultDatasetId}/items`.

## Output

Each item is one record. Published fields include: `name`, `rating`, `reviewCount`, `price`, `phone`, `city`, `state`, `categories`, `url`, `searchRank`, `sponsored`, `recordType`, `businessId`, `encId`, `alias`, `address`, `zip`, `country`, `lat`, `lng`.

Summarise what was found, cite the record URLs when present, and say how many items came back. Do not invent values for empty fields.