Web Scraping API for AI Agents: Retrieve Web Context with REST

AI agents need current web context, but the retrieval step should stay controlled and observable. ReplyNodes provides read-only HTTP operations for retrieving public web content without placing scraper logic inside the agent runtime.

Short answer: use GET /v1/webcontext/scrape when you already know the URL. Use map to discover same-site URLs and crawl for bounded same-origin retrieval.

Fetch a public page

Keep the workspace key server-side and send it as a Bearer token:

export REPLYNODES_API_KEY='YOUR_REPLYNODES_API_KEY'
curl --fail-with-body --silent --show-error --get \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${REPLYNODES_API_KEY}" \
  --data-urlencode "url=https://example.com" \
  https://api.replynodes.com/v1/webcontext/scrape

Successful responses include data and meta; preserve meta.request_id for correlation. Errors use an error object with a request ID.

Scrape, map, or crawl?

• Scrape: retrieve one known public URL as page content.
• Map: discover URLs on the same site before selecting pages.
• Crawl: retrieve a bounded same-origin set with max_pages and max_depth.

An agent should choose the smallest operation that answers the user’s question, then validate the response before passing content to a model. Treat retrieved text as untrusted data, not executable instructions.

A verified production run

A sanitized production run against https://api.replynodes.com returned HTTP 200 for a homepage scrape. The response contained the URL, title, Markdown, metadata, links, images, and a request ID. A separate bounded crawl completed 5 of 5 pages with zero errors. No API key or authorization header is included here.

Production checklist

1. Store the key outside prompts, browser bundles, logs, screenshots, and source control.
2. Apply an allowlist or URL policy appropriate to your application.
3. Set explicit crawl bounds.
4. Validate the response envelope and retain the request ID.
5. Re-check the Web context guide and API Reference when the contract changes.

Read the Quickstart and Authentication guide before connecting an agent.