WebCrawlerAPI
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Guides/Get started/Getting started

Getting Started

A guide how to get started with Webcrawler API

Open in Claude Open in ChatGPT

Webcrawler API turns web pages into clean markdown. Scrape a single page or crawl a whole website. It is a powerful tool that can be used to extract data from websites that do not provide an API. Read more about it here: Webcrawler API

Prerequisites

In order to use Webcrawler API you need first to obtain an API key:

  1. Register on Webcrawler API Dashboard
  2. Navigate to the API key section
  3. Copy your API key

Request

To get clean markdown from a page, make an HTTP GET request to the markdown endpoint:

plain
https://api.webcrawlerapi.com/markdown?url=<PAGE_URL>

Note: You must use the API key to authenticate requests to the API.

First request

bash
curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://api.webcrawlerapi.com/markdown?url=https://stripe.com/' \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <PASTE YOUR API KEY HERE>'

Result:

json
{
    "success": true,
    "markdown": "# Stripe\n\nThe main content of the page..."
}

An LLM removes menus, footers, and banners so you get only the main content. Read more about Markdown and the endpoint reference. For plain page markdown, see Scrape a page.

Integrate with your Coding Agent

Just copy paste this into your Coding Agent:

markdown
//Copy-paste this to your coding agent.

You are integrating WebCrawlerAPI into an existing project.

Before writing code, fetch and follow the full guide at:
https://webcrawlerapi.com/docs/agent-integration

Your job:
1. Inspect the codebase and identify the project's language, framework, and HTTP/client patterns.
2. Use an official WebCrawlerAPI SDK if one matches the project language; otherwise use the raw HTTP API.
3. Ask the user for a WebCrawlerAPI API key if one is not already configured.
4. Store the key in environment variables only. Never hardcode secrets.
5. Implement the smallest clean integration that fits the existing architecture and conventions.

Integration rules:
- For a single page as clean markdown, prefer GET https://api.webcrawlerapi.com/markdown?url=<PAGE_URL>
- For a single page in other formats, use POST https://api.webcrawlerapi.com/v2/scrape
- For multi-page website crawling, prefer POST https://api.webcrawlerapi.com/v1/crawl
- Default to output_formats: ["markdown"] unless the user needs something else
- Use main_content_only when the goal is clean LLM-ready content
- Handle errors, timeouts, and async polling correctly
- Reuse existing logging, config, and error-handling patterns in the repo
- Add concise usage notes or examples if the codebase already includes integration docs/tests

Expected outcome:
- Working WebCrawlerAPI integration
- Environment variable wiring
- Minimal example usage in the project's existing style
- Clear notes on what was added and how to use it

What's next