I have fields in my actor that I can no longer scrape, is there a way to mark them deprecated?
🖥️Platform
I have fields in my actor that I can no longer scrape, is there a way to mark them deprecated for the users
Solution
Two patterns I've used for this. First, keep the field in the schema but populate it as null on every record, and bump a top-level version field in the dataset (e.g.
_schemaVersion: 3_schemaVersion: 3). Consumers that rely on the field still get a stable shape, just empty. Second, add a deprecated marker via a side-channel field like _deprecatedFields: ["companyEmail", "phoneNumber"]_deprecatedFields: ["companyEmail", "phoneNumber"] so downstream consumers can branch on it instead of guessing from missing values. Apify's dataset.pushData() doesn't enforce schema, so neither pattern requires an Apify-side change. Hit the same problem on a physician directory actor last week when a state license source dropped a field. Went with option 1 because it was the lowest-friction for paying users, then announced the deprecation in the next release note.
