web-content-fetcher
Extract clean Markdown article content from URLs with three-tier fallback strategies.
- Implements cascading extraction methods: Jina Reader (fast, 200 requests/day free), Scrapling + html2text (unlimited, handles paywalled content), and direct web_fetch (static pages fallback)
- Preserves Markdown structure including headings, links, images, lists, code blocks, and blockquotes
- Domain-aware routing skips Jina for WeChat articles, Zhihu, Juejin, and CSDN to conserve quota and improve success rates
- Requires
scrapling[fetchers]andhtml2textdependencies; includes built-in script atscripts/fetch.pyfor manual Scrapling extraction
Web Content Fetcher
Given a URL, return its main content as clean Markdown — headings, links, images, lists, code blocks all preserved.
Extraction Strategy
Always try one method per URL — don't cascade blindly. Pick the right one upfront.
URL
│
├─ 1. Scrapling script (preferred)
│ Run fetch.py — check the domain routing table to decide fast vs --stealth.
│ Works for most sites. Returns clean Markdown directly.
│
└─ 2. Jina Reader (fallback — only if Scrapling fails or dependencies not installed)
web_fetch("https://r.jina.ai/<url>")
Free tier: 200 req/day. Fast (~1-2s), good Markdown output.
Does NOT work for: WeChat (403), some Chinese platforms.
Scrapling script
python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/fetch.py "<url>" [max_chars] [--stealth]
<SKILL_DIR> is the directory where this SKILL.md lives. Resolve it before calling the script.
The script has two modes built in:
- Default (fast): HTTP fetch, ~1-3s, works for most sites
--stealth: Headless browser, ~5-15s, for JS-rendered or anti-scraping sites
When run without --stealth, the script automatically falls back to stealth if the fast result has too little content. So you rarely need to specify --stealth manually — the only reason to force it is when you already know the site needs it (see routing table), which saves the initial fast attempt.
Domain Routing
Use this table to pick the right mode on the first call:
| Domain | Command | Why |
|---|---|---|
mp.weixin.qq.com |
fetch.py <url> --stealth |
JS-rendered content |
zhuanlan.zhihu.com |
fetch.py <url> --stealth |
Anti-scraping + JS |
juejin.cn |
fetch.py <url> --stealth |
JS-rendered SPA |
sspai.com |
fetch.py <url> |
Static HTML |
blog.csdn.net |
fetch.py <url> |
Static HTML |
ruanyifeng.com |
fetch.py <url> |
Static blog |
openai.com |
fetch.py <url> |
Static HTML |
blog.google |
fetch.py <url> |
Static HTML |
| Everything else | fetch.py <url> |
Auto-fallback handles it |
Script Options
# Basic — auto-selects fast or stealth
python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/fetch.py "https://sspai.com/post/73145"
# Force stealth for known JS-heavy sites
python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/fetch.py "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/xxx" --stealth
# Limit output to 15000 characters (default: 30000)
python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/fetch.py "https://example.com/article" 15000
# JSON output with metadata (url, mode, selector, content_length)
python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/fetch.py "https://example.com" --json
Install Dependencies
First use only — the script checks and tells you if anything is missing:
pip install scrapling html2text
If on system-managed Python (macOS/Linux), add --break-system-packages or use a venv.
Failure Rules
- Same URL fails once → give up, tell the user "unable to extract content from this URL"
- Do not retry — each failed call wastes context tokens