Protected Fetch

Retrieve pages that normal fetch, generic scrapers, or naive browser tools cannot. This is the core primitive — backed by Zenrows Fetch (GET https://api.zenrows.com/v1/).

When to use

• You have a known URL and want its content (HTML, Markdown, text, or a PDF).
• The target has anti-bot protection, needs JS rendering, or geo-specific access.

How to call

Auto mode is the answer for anti-bot targets, Cloudflare included. It escalates for you and bills only for the configuration that succeeds.

zenrows fetch <url>                       # Adaptive Stealth Mode. Start here, always
zenrows fetch <url> --output markdown     # convert to Markdown
zenrows fetch <url> --proxy-country us    # geo-target, works in auto mode
zenrows fetch <url> --wait-for ".price"   # wait for a selector

Manual mode exists for the rare case where auto mode has already failed and a trace shows why. It costs more and it makes the escalation your problem:

zenrows fetch <url> --manual --js-render --premium-proxy   # the most expensive path, see [[cost-control]]

Rules

• Start with auto mode. Enabling --js-render and --premium-proxy yourself is the most expensive configuration this API offers, by a wide margin, and auto mode reaches the same place only when the target actually needs it. The multipliers are in [[cost-control]].
• A hard target is not a reason to skip auto mode. It is the reason auto mode exists.
• In auto mode js_render and premium_proxy are managed for you. Passing them manually requires --manual, otherwise you get PARAM_CONFLICT_AUTO_MANUAL.
• --proxy-country works in auto mode on its own; in --manual mode it also needs --premium-proxy (else PARAM_PROXY_COUNTRY_REQUIRES_PREMIUM).
• You are billed only for the configuration that succeeds.
• On failure, read zenrows trace explain <run-id> before escalating.
• The CLI sends each request once. --retries <n> retries a 429, 502, 503 or 504 and a network error before the request reached the API, up to n times, within 90 s; prefer it to your own retry loop. It never retries a timeout, a connection closed after the request was sent, or a target status under --original-status.

Every run is saved under .zenrows/runs/<run-id>/ (no secrets). See [[extract]] for structured output and [[cost-control]] for the cost model.