ZenRows

Fetch web content through the ZenRows Universal Scraper API. ZenRows handles proxy rotation, headless browsers, anti-bot bypasses, and CAPTCHAs automatically.

Quick Start

Use the bundled helper script for common fetches:

# Basic fetch (returns HTML)
scripts/zenrows.sh "https://example.com"

# Markdown output (ideal for LLM consumption)
scripts/zenrows.sh "https://example.com" --markdown

# Plaintext output
scripts/zenrows.sh "https://example.com" --text

# Auto mode (let ZenRows pick optimal config)
scripts/zenrows.sh "https://example.com" --auto

Direct API Usage (curl)

The API endpoint is https://api.zenrows.com/v1/. All parameters go as query strings.

# Minimal request
curl -s "https://api.zenrows.com/v1/?apikey=$ZENROWS_API_KEY&url=https://example.com"

# With JS rendering (5 credits)
curl -s "https://api.zenrows.com/v1/?apikey=$ZENROWS_API_KEY&url=https://example.com&js_render=true"

# Auto mode — ZenRows picks optimal anti-bot config (variable credits)
curl -s "https://api.zenrows.com/v1/?apikey=$ZENROWS_API_KEY&url=https://example.com&mode=auto"

# Markdown output
curl -s "https://api.zenrows.com/v1/?apikey=$ZENROWS_API_KEY&url=https://example.com&response_type=markdown"

# Plaintext output
curl -s "https://api.zenrows.com/v1/?apikey=$ZENROWS_API_KEY&url=https://example.com&response_type=plaintext"

API Parameters Reference

Core Parameters

Output Control

Anti-Bot & Rendering

JS Rendering Options (require js_render=true)

Data Extraction

Session & Headers

JS Instructions (require js_render=true)

Pass as js_instructions parameter (URL-encoded JSON array):

[
  {"action": "click", "selector": "#load-more"},
  {"action": "wait", "timeout": 2000},
  {"action": "fill", "selector": "#search", "value": "query"},
  {"action": "evaluate", "code": "document.title"},
  {"action": "scroll_y", "value": 500},
  {"action": "wait_for_selector", "selector": ".results"}
]

Available actions: click, fill, check, uncheck, select_option, wait, wait_for_selector, scroll_x, scroll_y, evaluate, solve_captcha.

POST Requests

Send POST data by making a POST request to the API with body content:

curl -X POST "https://api.zenrows.com/v1/?apikey=$ZENROWS_API_KEY&url=https://httpbin.org/post" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"key": "value"}'

Credit Costs

Decision Guide

Need web content?
├── Try web_fetch first (free, no credits)
├── web_fetch blocked/empty?
│   ├── Static site with basic protection
│   │   └── zenrows basic (1 credit)
│   ├── JS-heavy SPA or moderate anti-bot
│   │   └── zenrows --js (5 credits)
│   ├── Strong anti-bot (Cloudflare, DataDome)
│   │   └── zenrows --auto (variable credits, auto-optimized)
│   └── Need structured data extraction
│       └── zenrows --autoparse or --css-extract (+ applicable rendering credits)
└── Need markdown/text for LLM context?
    └── zenrows --markdown or --text

Common Patterns

Fetch page as markdown for LLM context

scripts/zenrows.sh "https://docs.example.com/api" --markdown

Scrape with anti-bot bypass

scripts/zenrows.sh "https://protected-site.com" --auto

Extract specific data with CSS selectors

scripts/zenrows.sh "https://news.site.com/article" \
  --css '{"title":"h1","body":".article-body","author":".byline"}'

JS-rendered page with wait

scripts/zenrows.sh "https://spa-app.com/dashboard" --js --wait-for ".data-loaded"

Get page from specific country

scripts/zenrows.sh "https://geo-restricted.com" --premium --country us