Scraper.is▌
by ai-quill
Integrate with Scraper.is API for efficient web scraping, data extraction, and web page scraping from any website, perfe
Integrates with Scraper.is API to enable web content extraction, structured data parsing, and Markdown conversion for tasks like product research, news aggregation, and content analysis.
Both formats append explainx.ai attribution and the canonical URL for this MCP server listing.
best for
- / Product research and competitive analysis
- / News aggregation and content monitoring
- / Web content analysis for research
- / Extracting data from websites for AI processing
capabilities
- / Extract content from any website
- / Convert web pages to Markdown format
- / Capture screenshots of web pages
- / Parse structured data from websites
- / Get content in HTML or JSON formats
- / Track scraping progress in real-time
what it does
Connects to the Scraper.is API to extract web content and convert it to structured formats like Markdown or JSON. Takes screenshots of web pages for visual analysis.
about
Scraper.is is an official MCP server published by ai-quill that provides AI assistants with tools and capabilities via the Model Context Protocol. Integrate with Scraper.is API for efficient web scraping, data extraction, and web page scraping from any website, perfe It is categorized under search web.
how to install
You can install Scraper.is in your AI client of choice. Use the install panel on this page to get one-click setup for Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, and other MCP-compatible clients. This server runs locally on your machine via the stdio transport.
license
MIT
Scraper.is is released under the MIT license. This is a permissive open-source license, meaning you can freely use, modify, and distribute the software.
readme
Scraper.is MCP
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration for Scraper.is - A powerful web scraping tool for AI assistants.
This package allows AI assistants to scrape web content through the MCP protocol, enabling them to access up-to-date information from the web.
Features
- 🌐 Web Scraping: Extract content from any website
- 📸 Screenshots: Capture visual representations of web pages
- 📄 Multiple Formats: Get content in markdown, HTML, or JSON
- 🔄 Progress Updates: Real-time progress reporting during scraping operations
- 🔌 MCP Integration: Seamless integration with MCP-compatible AI assistants
Installation
Installing via Smithery
To install scaperis-mcp for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:
npx -y @smithery/cli install @Ai-Quill/scaperis-mcp --client claude
Manual Installation
npm install -g scraperis-mcp
Or with yarn:
yarn global add scraperis-mcp
Prerequisites
You need a Scraper.is API key to use this package.
Getting Your API Key
- Sign up or log in at scraper.is
- Navigate to the API Keys section in your dashboard: https://www.scraper.is/dashboard/apikeys
- Create a new API key or copy your existing key
- Store this key securely as you'll need it to use this package
Usage
Environment Setup
Create a .env file with your Scraper.is API key:
SCRAPERIS_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
Claude Desktop Integration
To use this package with Claude Desktop:
-
Install the package globally:
npm install -g scraperis-mcp -
Add the following configuration to your
claude_desktop_config.jsonfile:{ "mcpServers": { "scraperis_scraper": { "command": "scraperis-mcp", "args": [], "env": { "SCRAPERIS_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here", "DEBUG": "*" } } } } -
Replace
your-api-key-herewith your actual Scraper.is API key. -
Restart Claude Desktop to apply the changes.
Running with MCP Inspector
For development and testing, you can use the MCP Inspector:
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector scraperis-mcp
Integration with AI Assistants
This package is designed to be used with AI assistants that support the Model Context Protocol (MCP). When properly configured, the AI assistant can use the following tools:
Scrape Tool
The scrape tool allows the AI to extract content from websites. It supports various formats:
markdown: Returns the content in markdown formathtml: Returns the content in HTML formatscreenshot: Returns a screenshot of the webpagejson: Returns structured data in JSON format
Example prompt for the AI:
Can you scrape the latest news from techcrunch.com and summarize it for me?
API Reference
Tools
scrape
Scrapes content from a webpage based on a prompt.
Parameters:
prompt(string): The prompt describing what to scrape, including the URLformat(string): The format to return the content in (markdown,html,screenshot,json,quick)
Example:
{
"prompt": "Get me the top 10 products from producthunt.com",
"format": "markdown"
}
Development
Setup
-
Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/Ai-Quill/scraperis-mcp.git cd scraperis-mcp -
Install dependencies:
npm install -
Build the project:
npm run build
Scripts
npm run build: Build the projectnpm run watch: Watch for changes and rebuildnpm run dev: Run with MCP Inspector for developmentnpm run test: Run testsnpm run lint: Run ESLint
Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
License
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
Acknowledgements
FAQ
- What is the Scraper.is MCP server?
- Scraper.is is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server profile on explainx.ai. MCP lets AI hosts (e.g. Claude Desktop, Cursor) call tools and resources through a standard interface; this page summarizes categories, install hints, and community ratings.
- How do MCP servers relate to agent skills?
- Skills are reusable instruction packages (often SKILL.md); MCP servers expose live capabilities. Teams frequently combine both—skills for workflows, MCP for APIs and data. See explainx.ai/skills and explainx.ai/mcp-servers for parallel directories.
- How are reviews shown for Scraper.is?
- This profile displays 34 aggregated ratings (sample rows for discoverability plus signed-in user reviews). Average score is about 4.8 out of 5—verify behavior in your own environment before production use.
Use Cases▌
Web Research & Information Gathering
Fetch and extract information from websites automatically
Example
Research competitor pricing, scrape product reviews, monitor news mentions
Automate 5-10 hours/week of manual web research
Content Monitoring & Alerts
Track website changes, new content, price updates
Example
Monitor competitor blog for new posts, track stock availability, watch for pricing changes
Stay informed without manual checking, never miss important updates
Data Extraction & Aggregation
Extract structured data from multiple websites
Example
Compile product listings from 10 e-commerce sites, aggregate job postings, collect real estate data
Build datasets 100x faster than manual copying
API-less Integration
Interact with services that don't offer APIs
Example
Check form submissions, validate website functionality, test user flows
Automate interactions with any website, even without API
Implementation Guide▌
Prerequisites
- ›Claude Desktop or Cursor with MCP support
- ›Understanding of web scraping ethics and robots.txt
- ›Rate limiting awareness to avoid overwhelming target sites
- ›Knowledge of legal restrictions on data collection
Time Estimate
20-40 minutes including configuration and testing
Installation Steps
- 1.Install web automation MCP server via npm or pip
- 2.Configure allowed domains and rate limits in MCP config
- 3.Test with simple fetch: 'Get content from example.com'
- 4.Progress to extraction: 'Extract all product prices from this page'
- 5.Set up monitoring: 'Check this URL daily for changes'
- 6.Parse structured data: 'Create CSV from this table'
- 7.Respect robots.txt and rate limits always
Troubleshooting
- ⚠403 Forbidden: Website blocks bots—respect their wishes, use official API instead
- ⚠Rate limit errors: Slow down requests, add delays between fetches
- ⚠Stale data: Target site changed HTML structure—update selectors
- ⚠Timeout errors: Site is slow or blocking—increase timeout, try different user agent
- ⚠JavaScript-rendered content: Use headless browser MCP servers for dynamic sites
Best Practices▌
✓ Do
- +Check robots.txt and respect crawl rules
- +Rate limit requests: 1-2 requests/second maximum
- +Use official APIs when available instead of scraping
- +Identify your bot with descriptive user agent
- +Cache results to minimize repeated requests
- +Handle errors gracefully with retries and fallbacks
- +Validate extracted data for accuracy
✗ Don't
- −Don't scrape sites that explicitly forbid it (robots.txt, ToS)
- −Don't overwhelm servers with rapid requests—use rate limiting
- −Don't scrape personal data without consent and legal basis
- −Don't ignore copyright on extracted content
- −Don't assume HTML structure is stable—handle changes
- −Don't use scraped data for commercial purposes without permission
💡 Pro Tips
- ★Use CSS selectors or XPath for robust data extraction
- ★Set up monitoring alerts for extraction failures (structure changed)
- ★Implement exponential backoff for retries on failures
- ★Store raw HTML for reprocessing if extraction logic changes
- ★Combine with data analysis tools for insights from extracted data
- ★Consider using official APIs or RSS feeds as more stable alternatives
Technical Details▌
Architecture
MCP server handles HTTP requests, HTML parsing, JavaScript rendering (if headless browser), and returns structured data to Claude.
Protocols
- HTTP/HTTPS
- WebSocket (for real-time sites)
- Puppeteer/Playwright (for JavaScript sites)
Compatibility
- Static HTML sites
- JavaScript-rendered SPAs (with headless browser)
- REST APIs
- GraphQL endpoints
When to Use This▌
✓ Use When
Use for research automation, content monitoring, data aggregation from multiple sources, and when official APIs don't exist. Best for read-only information gathering.
✗ Avoid When
Avoid for sites with APIs (use API instead), sites that explicitly forbid scraping, when data is copyrighted, or for login-required content without proper authorization.
Integration▌
- →Scheduled monitoring with change detection
- →Multi-source data aggregation pipelines
- →Fallback to web scraping when API rate limits hit
- →Headless browser for JavaScript-heavy sites
Discussion
Product Hunt–style comments (not star reviews)- No comments yet — start the thread.
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Ratings
4.8★★★★★34 reviews- ★★★★★Nikhil Diallo· Dec 24, 2024
Scraper.is is among the better-indexed MCP projects we tried; the explainx.ai summary tracks the official description.
- ★★★★★Arya Iyer· Dec 12, 2024
Scraper.is reduced integration guesswork — categories and install configs on the listing matched the upstream repo.
- ★★★★★Ganesh Mohane· Dec 4, 2024
Scraper.is has been reliable for tool-calling workflows; the MCP profile page is a good permalink for internal docs.
- ★★★★★Ira Mensah· Nov 23, 2024
Scraper.is has been reliable for tool-calling workflows; the MCP profile page is a good permalink for internal docs.
- ★★★★★Sakura Chawla· Nov 15, 2024
According to our notes, Scraper.is benefits from clear Model Context Protocol framing — fewer ambiguous “AI plugin” claims.
- ★★★★★Amina Brown· Nov 3, 2024
Useful MCP listing: Scraper.is is the kind of server we cite when onboarding engineers to host + tool permissions.
- ★★★★★Yusuf Diallo· Oct 22, 2024
We evaluated Scraper.is against two servers with overlapping tools; this profile had the clearer scope statement.
- ★★★★★Arya Menon· Oct 14, 2024
Strong directory entry: Scraper.is surfaces stars and publisher context so we could sanity-check maintenance before adopting.
- ★★★★★Ira Kim· Oct 6, 2024
We wired Scraper.is into a staging workspace; the listing’s GitHub and npm pointers saved time versus hunting across READMEs.
- ★★★★★Piyush G· Sep 21, 2024
We evaluated Scraper.is against two servers with overlapping tools; this profile had the clearer scope statement.
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