Markdown API
URL to markdown API
Send the address of a web page and get its content back as markdown, for LLM context, retrieval pipelines, search indexes or AI agents. The page is rendered in a headless Chromium browser first, so content that JavaScript builds is included, and navigation, ads and cookie banners stay out.
Example request and response
The markdown is shortened here: the script of example.com adds the same text in five more languages, and that text is part of the markdown too. Without response_type=json, the answer is the markdown itself as text/markdown. Errors come back as JSON with a status code. All parameters are in the markdown documentation.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotbase.com/v1/take" \
--data-urlencode "url=https://example.com" \
-d format=markdown \
-d response_type=json \
-H "apikey: YOUR-API-KEY"
{
"url": "https://example.com/",
"title": "Example Domain",
"description": null,
"markdown": "# Example Domain\n\nThis domain is for use in documentation examples without needing permission. This is not a service; avoid relying on it for testing and monitoring purposes.\n\n…\n\n[Learn more](https://iana.org/help/example-domains)\n"
}
Response fields
- markdown
- The content as markdown: headings, paragraphs, nested lists, links and images with absolute URLs, GitHub-flavored tables, and fenced code blocks with the language when the page marks it.
- title
- The page's Open Graph title, else the title of the article or of the document;
nullif there is none. - description
- The page's meta description (or its Open Graph or Twitter description);
nullif there is none. - url
- The page's final URL, after redirects.
Use cases
LLM context
Give a model the text and structure of a page without its HTML markup, for summaries, extraction or answers about the page.
Retrieval (RAG) pipelines
Convert documentation, articles or help centers to markdown and split them by heading before you embed them.
Search indexes
Index the readable content of pages, including single-page apps whose text only exists after JavaScript has run.
Content migration
Move pages from an old CMS into a docs-as-code repository or a knowledge base as markdown files.
AI agents
Through the MCP server, an agent calls the take tool with format: "markdown" and gets the markdown back as text, without storing a file.
Start on the free plan
Markdown conversion is part of every plan, including the free plan with 300 requests a month. Each conversion counts as one request, also when you store it with upload=true; conversions that fail are not counted. Paid plans start at $15 a month for 3,000 requests.
Frequently asked questions
Main content or the whole page?
markdown_main_content_only=1) you get the article of the page, starting with its main heading, without navigation, sidebars, headers, footers and banners. When no clear article is found, or the detection would lose tables or code blocks, the main region of the page is used. markdown_main_content_only=0 converts the whole page body.Are ads and cookie banners removed?
block_cookie_banners and block_ads are on by default, and consent dialogs and hidden elements are always left out. To leave out more, list CSS selectors in hide_selectors.What is not included?
How long can a conversion take, and how large can a page be?
Is the markdown stored?
upload=true, it is stored as a .md file and you get JSON with its URL, which anyone with the URL can open. Otherwise the API returns the markdown and does not keep it.Can I test without using my quota?
X-Cost: 0).