Implement web page content extraction capabilities using the z-ai-web-dev-sdk. Use this skill when the user needs to scrape web pages, extract article content, retrieve page metadata, or build applications that process web content. Supports automatic content extraction with title, HTML, and publication time retrieval.
67
Does it follow best practices?
If you maintain this skill, you can automatically optimize it using the tessl CLI to improve its score:
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./path/to/skillValidation for skill structure
This skill guides the implementation of web page reading and content extraction functionality using the z-ai-web-dev-sdk package, enabling applications to fetch and process web page content programmatically.
Skill Location: {project_path}/skills/web-reader
This skill is located at the above path in your project.
Reference Scripts: Example test scripts are available in the {Skill Location}/scripts/ directory for quick testing and reference. See {Skill Location}/scripts/web-reader.ts for a working example.
Web Reader allows you to build applications that can extract content from web pages, retrieve article metadata, and process HTML content. The API automatically handles content extraction, providing clean, structured data from any web URL.
IMPORTANT: z-ai-web-dev-sdk MUST be used in backend code only. Never use it in client-side code.
The z-ai-web-dev-sdk package is already installed. Import it as shown in the examples below.
For simple web page content extraction, you can use the z-ai CLI instead of writing code. This is ideal for quick content scraping, testing URLs, or simple automation tasks.
# Extract content from a web page
z-ai function --name "page_reader" --args '{"url": "https://example.com"}'
# Using short options
z-ai function -n page_reader -a '{"url": "https://www.example.com/article"}'# Save extracted content to JSON file
z-ai function \
-n page_reader \
-a '{"url": "https://news.example.com/article"}' \
-o page_content.json
# Extract and save blog post
z-ai function \
-n page_reader \
-a '{"url": "https://blog.example.com/post/123"}' \
-o blog_post.json# Extract news article
z-ai function \
-n page_reader \
-a '{"url": "https://news.site.com/breaking-news"}' \
-o news.json
# Read documentation page
z-ai function \
-n page_reader \
-a '{"url": "https://docs.example.com/getting-started"}' \
-o docs.json
# Scrape blog content
z-ai function \
-n page_reader \
-a '{"url": "https://techblog.com/ai-trends-2024"}' \
-o blog.json
# Extract research article
z-ai function \
-n page_reader \
-a '{"url": "https://research.org/papers/quantum-computing"}' \
-o research.json--name, -n: Required - Function name (use "page_reader")--args, -a: Required - JSON arguments object with:
url (string, required): The URL of the web page to read--output, -o <path>: Optional - Output file path (JSON format)The CLI returns a JSON object containing:
title: Page titlehtml: Main content HTMLtext: Plain text contentpublish_time: Publication timestamp (if available)url: Original URLmetadata: Additional page metadata{
"title": "Introduction to Machine Learning",
"html": "<article><h1>Introduction to Machine Learning</h1><p>Machine learning is...</p></article>",
"text": "Introduction to Machine Learning\n\nMachine learning is...",
"publish_time": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
"url": "https://example.com/ml-intro",
"metadata": {
"author": "John Doe",
"description": "A comprehensive guide to ML"
}
}# Create a simple script to process multiple URLs
for url in \
"https://site1.com/article1" \
"https://site2.com/article2" \
"https://site3.com/article3"
do
filename=$(echo $url | md5sum | cut -d' ' -f1)
z-ai function -n page_reader -a "{\"url\": \"$url\"}" -o "${filename}.json"
doneUse CLI for:
Use SDK for:
The Web Reader uses the page_reader function to:
import ZAI from 'z-ai-web-dev-sdk';
async function readWebPage(url) {
try {
const zai = await ZAI.create();
const result = await zai.functions.invoke('page_reader', {
url: url
});
console.log('Title:', result.data.title);
console.log('URL:', result.data.url);
console.log('Published:', result.data.publishedTime);
console.log('HTML Content:', result.data.html);
console.log('Tokens Used:', result.data.usage.tokens);
return result.data;
} catch (error) {
console.error('Page reading failed:', error.message);
throw error;
}
}
// Usage
const pageData = await readWebPage('https://example.com/article');
console.log('Page title:', pageData.title);import ZAI from 'z-ai-web-dev-sdk';
async function extractArticleText(url) {
const zai = await ZAI.create();
const result = await zai.functions.invoke('page_reader', {
url: url
});
// Convert HTML to plain text (basic approach)
const plainText = result.data.html
.replace(/<[^>]*>/g, ' ')
.replace(/\s+/g, ' ')
.trim();
return {
title: result.data.title,
text: plainText,
url: result.data.url,
publishedTime: result.data.publishedTime
};
}
// Usage
const article = await extractArticleText('https://news.example.com/story');
console.log(article.title);
console.log(article.text.substring(0, 200) + '...');import ZAI from 'z-ai-web-dev-sdk';
async function readMultiplePages(urls) {
const zai = await ZAI.create();
const results = [];
for (const url of urls) {
try {
const result = await zai.functions.invoke('page_reader', {
url: url
});
results.push({
url: url,
success: true,
data: result.data
});
} catch (error) {
results.push({
url: url,
success: false,
error: error.message
});
}
}
return results;
}
// Usage
const urls = [
'https://example.com/article1',
'https://example.com/article2',
'https://example.com/article3'
];
const pages = await readMultiplePages(urls);
pages.forEach(page => {
if (page.success) {
console.log(`✓ ${page.data.title}`);
} else {
console.log(`✗ ${page.url}: ${page.error}`);
}
});import ZAI from 'z-ai-web-dev-sdk';
class WebContentAnalyzer {
constructor() {
this.cache = new Map();
}
async initialize() {
this.zai = await ZAI.create();
}
async readPage(url, useCache = true) {
// Check cache
if (useCache && this.cache.has(url)) {
console.log('Returning cached result for:', url);
return this.cache.get(url);
}
// Fetch fresh content
const result = await this.zai.functions.invoke('page_reader', {
url: url
});
// Cache the result
if (useCache) {
this.cache.set(url, result.data);
}
return result.data;
}
async getPageMetadata(url) {
const data = await this.readPage(url);
return {
title: data.title,
url: data.url,
publishedTime: data.publishedTime,
contentLength: data.html.length,
wordCount: this.estimateWordCount(data.html)
};
}
estimateWordCount(html) {
const text = html.replace(/<[^>]*>/g, ' ');
const words = text.split(/\s+/).filter(word => word.length > 0);
return words.length;
}
async comparePages(url1, url2) {
const [page1, page2] = await Promise.all([
this.readPage(url1),
this.readPage(url2)
]);
return {
page1: {
title: page1.title,
wordCount: this.estimateWordCount(page1.html),
published: page1.publishedTime
},
page2: {
title: page2.title,
wordCount: this.estimateWordCount(page2.html),
published: page2.publishedTime
}
};
}
clearCache() {
this.cache.clear();
}
}
// Usage
const analyzer = new WebContentAnalyzer();
await analyzer.initialize();
const metadata = await analyzer.getPageMetadata('https://example.com/article');
console.log('Article Metadata:', metadata);
const comparison = await analyzer.comparePages(
'https://example.com/article1',
'https://example.com/article2'
);
console.log('Comparison:', comparison);import ZAI from 'z-ai-web-dev-sdk';
class FeedReader {
constructor() {
this.articles = [];
}
async initialize() {
this.zai = await ZAI.create();
}
async fetchArticlesFromUrls(urls) {
const articles = [];
for (const url of urls) {
try {
const result = await this.zai.functions.invoke('page_reader', {
url: url
});
articles.push({
title: result.data.title,
url: result.data.url,
publishedTime: result.data.publishedTime,
content: result.data.html,
fetchedAt: new Date().toISOString()
});
console.log(`Fetched: ${result.data.title}`);
} catch (error) {
console.error(`Failed to fetch ${url}:`, error.message);
}
}
this.articles = articles;
return articles;
}
getRecentArticles(limit = 10) {
return this.articles
.sort((a, b) => {
const dateA = new Date(a.publishedTime || a.fetchedAt);
const dateB = new Date(b.publishedTime || b.fetchedAt);
return dateB - dateA;
})
.slice(0, limit);
}
searchArticles(keyword) {
return this.articles.filter(article => {
const searchText = `${article.title} ${article.content}`.toLowerCase();
return searchText.includes(keyword.toLowerCase());
});
}
}
// Usage
const reader = new FeedReader();
await reader.initialize();
const feedUrls = [
'https://example.com/article1',
'https://example.com/article2',
'https://example.com/article3'
];
await reader.fetchArticlesFromUrls(feedUrls);
const recent = reader.getRecentArticles(5);
console.log('Recent articles:', recent.map(a => a.title));import ZAI from 'z-ai-web-dev-sdk';
async function aggregateContent(urls, options = {}) {
const zai = await ZAI.create();
const aggregated = {
sources: [],
totalWords: 0,
aggregatedAt: new Date().toISOString()
};
for (const url of urls) {
try {
const result = await zai.functions.invoke('page_reader', {
url: url
});
const text = result.data.html.replace(/<[^>]*>/g, ' ');
const wordCount = text.split(/\s+/).filter(w => w.length > 0).length;
aggregated.sources.push({
title: result.data.title,
url: result.data.url,
publishedTime: result.data.publishedTime,
wordCount: wordCount,
excerpt: text.substring(0, 200).trim() + '...'
});
aggregated.totalWords += wordCount;
if (options.delay) {
await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, options.delay));
}
} catch (error) {
console.error(`Failed to fetch ${url}:`, error.message);
}
}
return aggregated;
}
// Usage
const sources = [
'https://example.com/news1',
'https://example.com/news2',
'https://example.com/news3'
];
const aggregated = await aggregateContent(sources, { delay: 1000 });
console.log(`Aggregated ${aggregated.sources.length} sources`);
console.log(`Total words: ${aggregated.totalWords}`);import ZAI from 'z-ai-web-dev-sdk';
class ScrapingPipeline {
constructor() {
this.processors = [];
}
async initialize() {
this.zai = await ZAI.create();
}
addProcessor(name, processorFn) {
this.processors.push({ name, fn: processorFn });
}
async scrape(url) {
// Fetch the page
const result = await this.zai.functions.invoke('page_reader', {
url: url
});
let data = {
raw: result.data,
processed: {}
};
// Run through processors
for (const processor of this.processors) {
try {
data.processed[processor.name] = await processor.fn(data.raw);
console.log(`✓ Processed with ${processor.name}`);
} catch (error) {
console.error(`✗ Failed ${processor.name}:`, error.message);
data.processed[processor.name] = null;
}
}
return data;
}
}
// Processor functions
function extractLinks(pageData) {
const linkRegex = /href=["'](https?:\/\/[^"']+)["']/g;
const links = [];
let match;
while ((match = linkRegex.exec(pageData.html)) !== null) {
links.push(match[1]);
}
return [...new Set(links)]; // Remove duplicates
}
function extractImages(pageData) {
const imgRegex = /src=["'](https?:\/\/[^"']+\.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|webp))["']/gi;
const images = [];
let match;
while ((match = imgRegex.exec(pageData.html)) !== null) {
images.push(match[1]);
}
return [...new Set(images)];
}
function extractPlainText(pageData) {
return pageData.html
.replace(/<script[^>]*>[\s\S]*?<\/script>/gi, '')
.replace(/<style[^>]*>[\s\S]*?<\/style>/gi, '')
.replace(/<[^>]*>/g, ' ')
.replace(/\s+/g, ' ')
.trim();
}
// Usage
const pipeline = new ScrapingPipeline();
await pipeline.initialize();
pipeline.addProcessor('links', extractLinks);
pipeline.addProcessor('images', extractImages);
pipeline.addProcessor('plainText', extractPlainText);
const result = await pipeline.scrape('https://example.com/article');
console.log('Links found:', result.processed.links.length);
console.log('Images found:', result.processed.images.length);
console.log('Text length:', result.processed.plainText.length);{
code: 200,
status: 200,
data: {
title: "Article Title",
url: "https://example.com/article",
html: "<div>Article content...</div>",
publishedTime: "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
usage: {
tokens: 1500
}
},
meta: {
usage: {
tokens: 1500
}
}
}| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
code | number | Response status code |
status | number | HTTP status code |
data.title | string | Page title |
data.url | string | Page URL |
data.html | string | Extracted HTML content |
data.publishedTime | string | Publication date (optional) |
data.usage.tokens | number | Tokens used for processing |
meta.usage.tokens | number | Total tokens used |
async function safeReadPage(url) {
try {
const zai = await ZAI.create();
// Validate URL
if (!url || !url.startsWith('http')) {
throw new Error('Invalid URL format');
}
const result = await zai.functions.invoke('page_reader', {
url: url
});
// Check response status
if (result.code !== 200) {
throw new Error(`Failed to fetch page: ${result.code}`);
}
// Verify essential data
if (!result.data.html || !result.data.title) {
throw new Error('Incomplete page data received');
}
return {
success: true,
data: result.data
};
} catch (error) {
console.error('Page reading error:', error);
return {
success: false,
error: error.message
};
}
}class RateLimitedReader {
constructor(requestsPerMinute = 10) {
this.requestsPerMinute = requestsPerMinute;
this.requestTimes = [];
}
async initialize() {
this.zai = await ZAI.create();
}
async readPage(url) {
await this.waitForRateLimit();
const result = await this.zai.functions.invoke('page_reader', {
url: url
});
this.requestTimes.push(Date.now());
return result.data;
}
async waitForRateLimit() {
const now = Date.now();
const oneMinuteAgo = now - 60000;
// Remove old timestamps
this.requestTimes = this.requestTimes.filter(time => time > oneMinuteAgo);
// Check if we need to wait
if (this.requestTimes.length >= this.requestsPerMinute) {
const oldestRequest = this.requestTimes[0];
const waitTime = 60000 - (now - oldestRequest);
if (waitTime > 0) {
console.log(`Rate limit reached. Waiting ${waitTime}ms...`);
await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, waitTime));
}
}
}
}
// Usage
const reader = new RateLimitedReader(10); // 10 requests per minute
await reader.initialize();
const urls = ['https://example.com/1', 'https://example.com/2'];
for (const url of urls) {
const data = await reader.readPage(url);
console.log('Fetched:', data.title);
}import ZAI from 'z-ai-web-dev-sdk';
class CachedWebReader {
constructor(cacheDuration = 3600000) { // 1 hour default
this.cache = new Map();
this.cacheDuration = cacheDuration;
}
async initialize() {
this.zai = await ZAI.create();
}
async readPage(url, forceRefresh = false) {
const cacheKey = url;
const cached = this.cache.get(cacheKey);
// Return cached if valid and not forcing refresh
if (cached && !forceRefresh) {
const age = Date.now() - cached.timestamp;
if (age < this.cacheDuration) {
console.log('Returning cached content for:', url);
return cached.data;
}
}
// Fetch fresh content
const result = await this.zai.functions.invoke('page_reader', {
url: url
});
// Update cache
this.cache.set(cacheKey, {
data: result.data,
timestamp: Date.now()
});
return result.data;
}
clearCache() {
this.cache.clear();
}
getCacheStats() {
return {
size: this.cache.size,
entries: Array.from(this.cache.keys())
};
}
}
// Usage
const reader = new CachedWebReader(3600000); // 1 hour cache
await reader.initialize();
const data1 = await reader.readPage('https://example.com'); // Fresh fetch
const data2 = await reader.readPage('https://example.com'); // From cache
const data3 = await reader.readPage('https://example.com', true); // Force refreshimport ZAI from 'z-ai-web-dev-sdk';
async function readPagesInParallel(urls, concurrency = 3) {
const zai = await ZAI.create();
const results = [];
// Process in batches
for (let i = 0; i < urls.length; i += concurrency) {
const batch = urls.slice(i, i + concurrency);
const batchResults = await Promise.allSettled(
batch.map(url =>
zai.functions.invoke('page_reader', { url })
.then(result => ({
url: url,
success: true,
data: result.data
}))
.catch(error => ({
url: url,
success: false,
error: error.message
}))
)
);
results.push(...batchResults.map(r => r.value));
console.log(`Completed batch ${Math.floor(i / concurrency) + 1}`);
}
return results;
}
// Usage
const urls = [
'https://example.com/1',
'https://example.com/2',
'https://example.com/3',
'https://example.com/4',
'https://example.com/5'
];
const results = await readPagesInParallel(urls, 2); // 2 concurrent requests
results.forEach(result => {
if (result.success) {
console.log(`✓ ${result.data.title}`);
} else {
console.log(`✗ ${result.url}: ${result.error}`);
}
});import ZAI from 'z-ai-web-dev-sdk';
class ContentProcessor {
static extractMainContent(html) {
// Remove scripts, styles, and comments
let content = html
.replace(/<script[^>]*>[\s\S]*?<\/script>/gi, '')
.replace(/<style[^>]*>[\s\S]*?<\/style>/gi, '')
.replace(/<!--[\s\S]*?-->/g, '');
return content;
}
static htmlToPlainText(html) {
return html
.replace(/<br\s*\/?>/gi, '\n')
.replace(/<\/p>/gi, '\n\n')
.replace(/<[^>]*>/g, '')
.replace(/ /g, ' ')
.replace(/&/g, '&')
.replace(/</g, '<')
.replace(/>/g, '>')
.replace(/"/g, '"')
.replace(/\s+/g, ' ')
.trim();
}
static extractMetadata(html) {
const metadata = {};
// Extract meta description
const descMatch = html.match(/<meta\s+name=["']description["']\s+content=["']([^"']+)["']/i);
if (descMatch) metadata.description = descMatch[1];
// Extract keywords
const keywordsMatch = html.match(/<meta\s+name=["']keywords["']\s+content=["']([^"']+)["']/i);
if (keywordsMatch) metadata.keywords = keywordsMatch[1].split(',').map(k => k.trim());
// Extract author
const authorMatch = html.match(/<meta\s+name=["']author["']\s+content=["']([^"']+)["']/i);
if (authorMatch) metadata.author = authorMatch[1];
return metadata;
}
}
// Usage
async function processWebPage(url) {
const zai = await ZAI.create();
const result = await zai.functions.invoke('page_reader', { url });
return {
title: result.data.title,
url: result.data.url,
mainContent: ContentProcessor.extractMainContent(result.data.html),
plainText: ContentProcessor.htmlToPlainText(result.data.html),
metadata: ContentProcessor.extractMetadata(result.data.html),
publishedTime: result.data.publishedTime
};
}
const processed = await processWebPage('https://example.com/article');
console.log('Processed content:', processed.title);import express from 'express';
import ZAI from 'z-ai-web-dev-sdk';
const app = express();
app.use(express.json());
let zaiInstance;
async function initZAI() {
zaiInstance = await ZAI.create();
}
app.post('/api/read-page', async (req, res) => {
try {
const { url } = req.body;
if (!url) {
return res.status(400).json({
error: 'URL is required'
});
}
const result = await zaiInstance.functions.invoke('page_reader', {
url: url
});
res.json({
success: true,
data: {
title: result.data.title,
url: result.data.url,
content: result.data.html,
publishedTime: result.data.publishedTime,
tokensUsed: result.data.usage.tokens
}
});
} catch (error) {
res.status(500).json({
success: false,
error: error.message
});
}
});
app.post('/api/read-multiple', async (req, res) => {
try {
const { urls } = req.body;
if (!urls || !Array.isArray(urls)) {
return res.status(400).json({
error: 'URLs array is required'
});
}
const results = await Promise.allSettled(
urls.map(url =>
zaiInstance.functions.invoke('page_reader', { url })
.then(result => ({
url: url,
success: true,
data: result.data
}))
.catch(error => ({
url: url,
success: false,
error: error.message
}))
)
);
res.json({
success: true,
results: results.map(r => r.value)
});
} catch (error) {
res.status(500).json({
success: false,
error: error.message
});
}
});
initZAI().then(() => {
app.listen(3000, () => {
console.log('Web reader API running on port 3000');
});
});import ZAI from 'z-ai-web-dev-sdk';
import cron from 'node-cron';
class ScheduledFetcher {
constructor() {
this.urls = [];
this.results = [];
}
async initialize() {
this.zai = await ZAI.create();
}
addUrl(url, schedule) {
this.urls.push({ url, schedule });
}
async fetchContent(url) {
try {
const result = await this.zai.functions.invoke('page_reader', {
url: url
});
return {
url: url,
success: true,
title: result.data.title,
content: result.data.html,
fetchedAt: new Date().toISOString()
};
} catch (error) {
return {
url: url,
success: false,
error: error.message,
fetchedAt: new Date().toISOString()
};
}
}
startScheduledFetch(url, schedule) {
cron.schedule(schedule, async () => {
console.log(`Fetching ${url}...`);
const result = await this.fetchContent(url);
this.results.push(result);
// Keep only last 100 results
if (this.results.length > 100) {
this.results = this.results.slice(-100);
}
console.log(`Fetched: ${result.success ? result.title : result.error}`);
});
}
start() {
for (const { url, schedule } of this.urls) {
this.startScheduledFetch(url, schedule);
}
}
getResults() {
return this.results;
}
}
// Usage
const fetcher = new ScheduledFetcher();
await fetcher.initialize();
// Fetch every hour
fetcher.addUrl('https://example.com/news', '0 * * * *');
// Fetch every day at midnight
fetcher.addUrl('https://example.com/daily', '0 0 * * *');
fetcher.start();
console.log('Scheduled fetching started');Issue: "SDK must be used in backend"
Issue: Failed to fetch page (404, 403, etc.)
Issue: Incomplete or missing content
Issue: High token usage
Issue: Slow response times
Issue: Empty HTML content
aad73ed
If you maintain this skill, you can claim it as your own. Once claimed, you can manage eval scenarios, bundle related skills, attach documentation or rules, and ensure cross-agent compatibility.