# Web Scraper

> Web scraper with SPA/JavaScript rendering, page interaction, and JS execution. Two-tier engine (HTTP → Playwright browser). Smart discovery, batch fetch, interactive content extraction, OpenAPI parsing. Use when read_url_content fails, SPA rendering needed, or page interaction required.

- Skill: `northseadl/web-scraper` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 8 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add northseadl/web-scraper`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/northseadl/web-scraper/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Product & Planning
- Author: northseadl (https://skillmd.com/u/northseadl)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/northseadl/web-scraper

---


# Web Scraper

> `./scrape <command> [options]` — Run `./scrape help` for full option reference.

## Content Precision Levels

The `fetch` command outputs filtered content by default. Three precision levels:

| Level | Flag | Behavior | When to use |
|-------|------|----------|-------------|
| **Default** | *(none)* | PruningContentFilter removes boilerplate | Most scenarios — good enough |
| **Precision** | `--selector ".css"` | Extract only the matched container | Production-quality docs, zero noise |
| **Raw** | `--raw` | Full page, no filtering | Debugging, page structure analysis |

Precision workflow: fetch a sample page → inspect remaining noise → identify content container via CSS selector → re-fetch all pages with `--selector`.

## Engine Architecture

```
L0: Pure HTTP (httpx + selectolax + markdownify)
    fetch → strip boilerplate → markdownify → clean content

L1: Browser (crawl4ai + Playwright, networkidle wait)
    fetch → [JS interaction] → PruningContentFilter → fit_markdown → clean content
    Handles: SPAs, anti-bot, JS-rendered content, folded/lazy content

Auto mode: L0 probe → detect SPA/empty → fallback to L1

Smart Discovery (3-tier):
    1. sitemap.xml → 2. Nav DOM extraction → 3. Browser deep crawl
```

## Workflow Patterns

### Single page fetch

```bash
# Auto-detects if browser needed
./scrape fetch https://docs.example.com/api/create

# Force browser for known SPA sites
./scrape fetch https://open.feishu.cn/document/... --engine cdp

# Precision extraction with CSS selector
./scrape fetch https://developer.work.weixin.qq.com/document/path/90196 --engine cdp --selector ".ep-doc-area"
```

### Interactive content extraction (SPA/folded content)

```bash
# Auto-expand all collapsed/folded sections (universal preset)
./scrape fetch https://open.feishu.cn/document/... --expand-all --wait 5000

# Scroll through entire page to trigger lazy loading
./scrape fetch https://example.com/infinite-scroll --scroll-full

# Custom JavaScript before extraction
./scrape fetch URL --js "document.querySelectorAll('.expand-btn').forEach(e => e.click())"

# JS from file (for complex interactions)
./scrape fetch URL --js-file /path/to/interact.js --wait 5000

# Wait for specific element before extraction
./scrape fetch URL --wait-for ".api-response-table"

# Combine: expand + custom JS + wait
./scrape fetch URL --expand-all --js "extraAction()" --wait-for ".loaded" -o /tmp/docs/
```

### Execute JavaScript on a page

```bash
# Execute JS and return metadata (no markdown conversion)
./scrape exec URL --js "return document.title"

# Extract data from page's JavaScript state
./scrape exec URL --js "return JSON.stringify(window.__NEXT_DATA__)"

# Execute JS then fetch page as markdown
./scrape exec URL --js "expandAll()" --then-fetch -o /tmp/result.md
```

### Batch-download documentation

```bash
./scrape fetch https://docs.example.com --auto -o /tmp/docs/
./scrape fetch --from-file urls.txt -o /tmp/docs/
./scrape fetch --from-file urls.txt --merge -o /tmp/docs/all.md
```

Files are automatically named by page title (e.g., `读取成员.md`, `Getting_Started.md`).

### Build organized local documentation

1. **Discover** site structure: `./scrape discover <url> --json` → get URLs + titles
2. **Filter** relevant URLs (Agent selects subset based on user's needs)
3. **Write** filtered URLs to a file
4. **Fetch** to output directory: `./scrape fetch --from-file urls.txt -o /path/to/docs/`
5. **Organize** (Agent moves/renames files into logical folder structure)

### Analyze site structure

```bash
./scrape discover https://docs.example.com
./scrape discover https://docs.example.com --engine cdp --deep --max-pages 100
```

### Extract OpenAPI specs

```bash
./scrape openapi https://api.example.com/v3/api-docs -o /tmp/api.md
./scrape openapi https://api.example.com/swagger-ui/ -o /tmp/api.md
```

## Key Options

| Option | Commands | Description |
|--------|----------|-------------|
| `--engine MODE` | discover, fetch | `auto` (default), `http` (L0 only), `cdp` (L1 only) |
| `--selector CSS` | fetch, exec | CSS selector for content area (precision mode) |
| `--raw` | fetch, exec | Output full page (skip content filtering) |
| `--js CODE` | fetch, exec | JavaScript to execute before extraction |
| `--js-file PATH` | fetch, exec | JavaScript file to execute before extraction |
| `--wait-for CSS` | fetch | Wait for CSS selector to appear before extraction |
| `--expand-all` | fetch | Auto-expand collapsed/folded sections (universal preset) |
| `--scroll-full` | fetch | Scroll entire page to trigger lazy loading |
| `--then-fetch` | exec | After JS execution, also fetch page as markdown |
| `--session ID` | exec | Reuse browser session for multi-step interactions |
| `--js-only` | exec | Skip navigation, execute JS on existing session |
| `--auto` | fetch | Auto-discover pages then fetch all |
| `--from-file FILE` | fetch | Read URLs from file (one per line) |
| `-o PATH` | fetch, exec, openapi | Output directory or file path |
| `--merge` | fetch | Merge all pages into single markdown |
| `--json` | discover, fetch | Machine-readable JSON output |
| `--summary-only` | fetch | Only show URL, title, char count |
| `--max-pages N` | discover, fetch | Limit pages (discover: 200, fetch: 50) |
| `--deep` | discover | Follow links for browser-based BFS crawl |

## Requirements

- **uv**: `curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh`
- Dependencies and Playwright Chromium auto-installed on first run