# Scrape a page

`POST https://api.crawl4ai.com/scrape`

Fetch a page and return clean Markdown (and/or HTML). Handles JS-heavy pages and bot walls automatically — you don't pick an engine. A PDF URL returns the text of the PDF, at the plain page price.


> **Tip**
>
> For many URLs, use [/scrape/batch](https://crawl4ai.com/docs/scrape-batch/) (up to 50, each result streams back when its page is ready) or [/scrape/jobs](https://crawl4ai.com/docs/scrape-jobs/) (up to 10,000, runs in the background while you poll, so no connection waits on a slow page).

## Request

curl:

```bash
curl https://api.crawl4ai.com/scrape \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "format": "both",
    "proxy": "extra",
    "country": "us",
    "parse": { "links": true, "media": true, "metadata": true, "tables": true }
  }'
```

Python:

```python
import requests

r = requests.post(
    "https://api.crawl4ai.com/scrape",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer sk_live_..."},
    json={"url": "https://example.com", "format": "md"},
    timeout=120,
)
print(r.json()["markdown"])
```

Node:

```javascript
const r = await fetch("https://api.crawl4ai.com/scrape", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { Authorization: "Bearer sk_live_...", "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({ url: "https://example.com", format: "md" }),
  signal: AbortSignal.timeout(120_000),
});
console.log((await r.json()).markdown);
```

MCP:

```bash
# in Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client
claude mcp add crawl4ai --transport http https://api.crawl4ai.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..."

# then ask your agent: "scrape https://example.com as Markdown"
```

## Parameters

Send them as a JSON body. Only `url` is required.

| Name | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| url* | string | - | The page to scrape. Must be a public http/https URL. |
| format | string | both | `both` · `md` · `html` — what content comes back. |
| proxy | string | standard | `standard` · `extra` — `extra` tries harder when a site refuses the standard request. A page served that way costs 4× the standard page price. Other pages cost the standard price. |
| country | string | - | Two-letter country the page is fetched from (e.g. `us`, `gb`), with or without `proxy`. A country with no addresses of ours is fetched through residential addresses and costs 4×. |
| parse | bool \| object | - | Also return structured page data. `true` for all, or pick: `{"links":true,"media":true,"metadata":true,"tables":true}`. |
| engine | string | auto | `auto`, `browser-light` or `browser`. `browser-light` starts at our light browser, `browser` at a real Chrome. Always a fresh fetch, slower, and priced at the engine that serves it (a real Chrome costs more than a plain fetch). Use it only when the auto result misses content a browser shows. |

## Response

A real answer for `https://example.com` with `"format": "md"`, the Markdown cut short here.

200 OK:

```json
{
  "bytes": 2373,
  "cache": "archive",
  "content_hash": "351cd22b2ce0970b10890dcca83951f04d7e52860450bcf13d434ec40a81fb83",
  "engine": "archive",
  "markdown": "This domain is for use in documentation examples without needing permission. This is not a service; avoid relying on it for testing and monitoring pur…",
  "ms": 4,
  "ok": true,
  "reason": "archive",
  "text_len": 958,
  "usage": {
    "boxes": [
      "crawl"
    ],
    "units": 1
  }
}
```

403 blocked:

```json
{
  "ok": false,
  "reason": "blocked"
}
```



| Name | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| ok | boolean | - | `true` when the page came back. |
| markdown | string | - | The page as clean Markdown (with `format` `md` or `both`). |
| html | string | - | The page's HTML (with `format` `html` or `both`). |
| engine | string | - | What served the page, for example `archive` or a browser. |
| cache | string | - | Where the answer came from when it was not fetched fresh, for example `archive`. |
| ms | integer | - | Time we took, in milliseconds. |
| bytes | integer | - | Size of the page we read. |
| text_len | integer | - | Characters of text on the page. |
| content_hash | string | - | SHA-256 of the content: the same page gives the same hash. |
| usage.units | integer | - | Units this call was billed. |

## How long it takes

Most pages come back in 1 to 2 seconds. A page that needs a real browser usually takes 10 to 60 seconds, and the slowest up to 90.

> **Warning: Set your client's timeout to 120 seconds**
>
> Wait for the answer. A call you cancel early is not charged, but you lose the page.

## Status codes

None of these is charged.

| Status | Reason | What it means | Billed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | | The page, as asked. | Charged |
| 403 | `blocked` | Every step got the site's block page. | Free |
| 403 | `login-wall` | The page asks for a login or a payment, which no browser of ours can pass. | Free |
| 502 | `no-answer` | The site did not answer, or gave an empty page on every road we tried (`no-answer:empty-render`), so a retry rarely helps. | Free |
| 502 | `origin-error:<n>` | The site itself answered an error (its own code is in the reason and in `origin_status`; a 4xx the site gives, like a 404, reaches you as the site gave it). | Free |
| 503 | `busy` | No browser was free for a moment, so send the same request again in a few seconds. | Free |
| 500 | | A 500 is our own fault. | Free |



**Try it with your key**

Run this call in the playground and see the real answer, the time and the units.
[Open the playground](https://crawl4ai.com/#playground)



---
Source: https://crawl4ai.com/docs/scrape/