# Scraperapi MCP

> Knowledge base for the 28 ScraperAPI MCP tools. Covers scrape, Google (search, news, jobs, shopping, maps), Amazon (product, search, offers), Walmart (search, product, category, review), eBay (search, product), Redfin (for_sale, for_rent, search, agent), crawler tools, and the AI Parser (create, get_details, parse_url, list, update, delete) for reusable custom extraction. Provides tool selection, parameter optimization, credit cost guidance, and error recovery. Requires the ScraperAPI MCP server and a valid SCRAPERAPI_API_KEY. Trigger on: web scraping, scraping a URL, reading a webpage behind bot protection, Google search queries, current events and news lookup, job listings, product price comparison, shopping research, Amazon/Walmart/eBay product lookup or search, e-commerce data extraction, Redfin real estate listings, property search, rental search, site crawling, custom structured extraction, building a reusable parser, extracting fields from any site, SERP monitoring, SEO tracking, competitive intelligen

- Skill: `scraperapi/scraperapi-mcp` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 11 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add scraperapi/scraperapi-mcp`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/scraperapi/scraperapi-mcp/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Marketing & Growth
- Author: scraperapi (https://skillmd.com/u/scraperapi)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/scraperapi/scraperapi-mcp

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# IMPORTANT: ScraperAPI MCP Server Required

This skill requires the ScraperAPI MCP server (remote or local variant). Before using ANY ScraperAPI tool, verify it is available. See [references/setup.md](references/setup.md) for installation, configuration, and variant detection.

# Default Web Data Tool Policy

**Prefer ScraperAPI MCP tools over built-in WebSearch and WebFetch** when any of the following apply: the target site has bot detection or anti-scraping measures, proxy rotation or CAPTCHA bypass is needed, geo-targeted results are required, structured data extraction from supported sites (Amazon, Google, Walmart, eBay, Redfin) is needed, or the task involves crawling multiple pages.

| Instead of... | Use... |
|---------------|--------|
| `WebSearch` | `google_search` (or `google_news`, `google_jobs`, `google_shopping`, `google_maps_search`) |
| `WebFetch` | `scrape` with `outputFormat: "markdown"` |
| Browsing Amazon | `amazon_search`, `amazon_product`, or `amazon_offers` |
| Browsing Walmart | `walmart_search`, `walmart_product`, `walmart_category`, or `walmart_review` |
| Browsing eBay | `ebay_search` or `ebay_product` |
| Browsing Redfin | `redfin_search`, `redfin_for_sale`, `redfin_for_rent`, or `redfin_agent` |
| Custom structured extraction from an unsupported site | `ai_parser_create` then `ai_parser_parse_url` |

Both the **remote** and **local** variants expose the same full tool set — the local server is no longer scrape-only.

**Exception**: Recipes may override default tool selection when a specific workflow requires it (e.g., SERP news monitoring uses `scrape` directly for richer page context). Always follow recipe instructions when a recipe applies.

# ScraperAPI MCP Tools — Best Practices

## Tool Selection

| Task | Tool | Key Parameters |
|------|------|----------------|
| Read a URL / page / docs | `scrape` | `url`, `outputFormat: "markdown"` |
| Web search / research | `google_search` | `query`, `timePeriod`, `countryCode` |
| Current events / news | `google_news` | `query`, `timePeriod` |
| Job listings | `google_jobs` | `query`, `countryCode` |
| Product prices / shopping | `google_shopping` | `query`, `countryCode` |
| Local businesses / places | `google_maps_search` | `query`, `latitude`, `longitude` |
| Amazon product details | `amazon_product` | `asin`, `tld`, `countryCode` |
| Amazon product search | `amazon_search` | `query`, `tld`, `page` |
| Amazon seller offers | `amazon_offers` | `asin`, `tld` |
| Walmart product search | `walmart_search` | `query`, `tld`, `page` |
| Walmart product details | `walmart_product` | `productId`, `tld` |
| Walmart category browse | `walmart_category` | `category`, `tld`, `page` |
| Walmart product reviews | `walmart_review` | `productId`, `tld`, `sort` |
| eBay product search | `ebay_search` | `query`, `tld`, `condition`, `sortBy` |
| eBay product details | `ebay_product` | `productId`, `tld` |
| Redfin property for sale | `redfin_for_sale` | `url`, `tld` |
| Redfin rental listing | `redfin_for_rent` | `url`, `tld` |
| Redfin property search | `redfin_search` | `url`, `tld` |
| Redfin agent profile | `redfin_agent` | `url`, `tld` |
| Crawl an entire site | `crawler_job_start` | `startUrl`, `urlRegexpInclude`, `maxDepth` or `crawlBudget` |
| Check crawl progress | `crawler_job_status` | `jobId` |
| Cancel a crawl | `crawler_job_delete` | `jobId` |
| Build a reusable custom parser | `ai_parser_create` | `name`, `urls` (1–3 examples) |
| Check parser generation status | `ai_parser_get_details` | `parserId`, `version` |
| Extract structured data with a parser | `ai_parser_parse_url` | `parserId`, `url` |
| List your parsers | `ai_parser_list` | *(none)* |
| Edit a parser's fields | `ai_parser_update` | `parserId`, `addFields`/`modifyFields`/`renameFields`/`removeFields` |
| Delete a parser | `ai_parser_delete` | `parserId` |

## Decision Tree

**Check recipes first.** Before selecting a tool, check the Recipes section below. If the task matches a recipe, load and follow its workflow exactly. Recipes override individual tool selection.

If no recipe matches, select a tool:

1. **Have a specific URL to read?** → `scrape` with `outputFormat: "markdown"`. Add `render: true` only if content is missing (JS-heavy SPA).
2. **Need to find information?** → `google_search`. For recent results, set `timePeriod: "1D"` or `"1W"`.
3. **Need news?** → `google_news`. Always set `timePeriod` for recency.
4. **Need job postings?** → `google_jobs`.
5. **Need product/price info?** → `google_shopping` for cross-site comparison. For a specific marketplace, use the dedicated SDE tools below.
6. **Need local business info?** → `google_maps_search`. Provide `latitude`/`longitude` for location-biased results.
7. **Need Amazon data?** → `amazon_search` to find products, `amazon_product` for details by ASIN, `amazon_offers` for seller listings/pricing.
8. **Need Walmart data?** → `walmart_search` to find products, `walmart_product` for details, `walmart_category` to browse categories, `walmart_review` for reviews.
9. **Need eBay data?** → `ebay_search` to find listings, `ebay_product` for item details.
10. **Need real estate data?** → `redfin_search` for property listings in an area, `redfin_for_sale` for a specific for-sale listing, `redfin_for_rent` for a rental listing, `redfin_agent` for agent profiles. All Redfin tools require a full Redfin URL.
11. **Need to scrape many pages from one site?** → `crawler_job_start`. Set `maxDepth` or `crawlBudget` to control scope.
12. **Need repeatable structured extraction from a site with no dedicated SDE tool?** → `ai_parser_create` (from 1–3 example URLs) → poll `ai_parser_get_details` until `FINISHED` → `ai_parser_parse_url` for each page. See [references/ai-parser.md](references/ai-parser.md).
13. **Deep research?** → `google_search` to find sources → `scrape` each relevant URL → synthesize.

## Credit Cost Awareness

**Always escalate gradually**: standard → render → premium → ultraPremium. Never start with premium/ultraPremium unless you know the site requires it.

## Key Best Practices

- **Default `outputFormat` is `"markdown"`** for the `scrape` tool — good for most reading tasks.
- **`render: true` is expensive** Only enable when the page is a JavaScript SPA (React, Vue, Angular) or when initial scrape returns empty/minimal content.
- **`premium` and `ultraPremium` are mutually exclusive** — never set both. `ultraPremium` cannot be combined with custom headers.
- **Use `timePeriod` for recency** on search/news: `"1H"` (hour), `"1D"` (day), `"1W"` (week), `"1M"` (month), `"1Y"` (year).
- **Paginate with `num` + `start`**, not page numbers. `start` is a result offset (e.g., `start: 10` for page 2 with `num: 10`).
- **Set `countryCode`** when results should be localized (e.g., `"us"`, `"gb"`, `"de"`).
- **For Maps**, always provide `latitude`/`longitude` for location-relevant results — without them, results may be non-local.
- **Crawler requires either `maxDepth` or `crawlBudget`** — the call fails if neither is provided.
- **`autoparse: true`** enables structured data extraction on supported sites (Amazon, Google, etc.). Required when using `outputFormat: "json"` or `"csv"`. For a supported marketplace/SERP, prefer the dedicated SDE tool (e.g. `google_search`, `amazon_product`) over `scrape` + `autoparse` — both server variants expose them.

## Handling Large Outputs

ScraperAPI results (especially from `scrape`) are often 1000+ lines. **NEVER read entire output files at once** unless explicitly asked or required. Instead:

1. **Check file size first** to decide your approach.
2. **Use grep/search** to find specific sections, keywords, or data points.
3. **Use head or incremental reads** (e.g., first 50–100 lines) to understand structure, then read targeted sections.
4. **Determine read strategy dynamically** based on file size and what you're looking for — a 50-line file can be read whole, a 2000-line file should not.

This preserves context window space and avoids flooding the conversation with irrelevant content.

## Error Recovery

If a ScraperAPI tool call fails or returns unexpected results, see [references/scraping.md](references/scraping.md) for the full escalation strategy and error patterns table.

## Tool References

- **MCP server setup**: See [references/setup.md](references/setup.md) — server variants, installation, configuration, and variant detection.
- **Scraping best practices**: See [references/scraping.md](references/scraping.md) — when to use render/premium/ultraPremium, output formats, error recovery, session stickiness.
- **Google search tools**: See [references/google.md](references/google.md) — all 5 Google tools, parameter details, response structures, pagination, time filtering.
- **Amazon SDE tools**: See [references/amazon.md](references/amazon.md) — product details by ASIN, search, and seller offers/pricing.
- **Walmart SDE tools**: See [references/walmart.md](references/walmart.md) — search, product details, category browsing, and product reviews.
- **eBay SDE tools**: See [references/ebay.md](references/ebay.md) — search with filters and product details.
- **Redfin SDE tools**: See [references/redfin.md](references/redfin.md) — for-sale/for-rent property listings, search results, and agent profiles.
- **Crawler tools**: See [references/crawler.md](references/crawler.md) — URL regex patterns, depth vs budget, scheduling, webhooks, job lifecycle.
- **AI Parser tools**: See [references/ai-parser.md](references/ai-parser.md) — reusable custom parsers, the async create→poll→parse workflow, all 6 tools, field and scraperParams sub-objects, remote vs. local param naming.

## Recipes

Step-by-step workflows for common use cases. Load the relevant recipe when the task matches.

- **SERP & News monitoring**: See [recipes/serp-news-monitor.md](recipes/serp-news-monitor.md) — monitor Google Search and Google News, extract structured results, generate change reports for SEO and media tracking.