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] and html2text dependencies; includes built-in script at scripts/fetch.py for manual Scrapling extraction

INSTALLATION
npx skills add https://github.com/shirenchuang/web-content-fetcher --skill web-content-fetcher
Run in your project or agent environment. Adjust flags if your CLI version differs.

SKILL.md

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
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