> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://reader.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

> The web infrastructure platform for AI. Scrape, crawl, extract, and automate the web from a single API.

Reader is the web infrastructure platform for AI. Scrape, crawl, extract, and automate the web from a single API. Get back clean markdown, structured JSON, HTML, and metadata, or spin up cloud browser sessions with full Playwright/Puppeteer control.

One API key. Four primitives. You point it at a URL, we handle the rest:

* **Rendering** dynamic, JavaScript-heavy sites so you get the page the user sees
* **Bypassing** bot walls automatically. Pick `standard` (default) or `premium` for hostile sites
* **Extracting** main content and stripping navigation, ads, and boilerplate
* **Converting** to clean markdown optimized for language models
* **Automating** with cloud browser sessions for login flows, multi-step navigation, and interactive automation
* **Caching** successful scrapes for 24 hours, so repeat requests are free

## What you can build

> [card] RAG pipelines
>
> Scrape docs, blog posts, and knowledge bases into your vector store.

> [card] AI agents
>
> Give your agent the ability to read the web as a tool call.

> [card] Research tools
>
> Batch scrape hundreds of URLs in parallel and stream results live.

> [card] Monitoring
>
> Crawl competitor sites and extract structured data on a schedule.

## Get started in 60 seconds

**1. Sign up free**

Create an account at [console.reader.dev](https://console.reader.dev). No credit card required - you get **1,000 credits every month** on the free tier.

**2. Grab your API key**

Open the API Keys page in the dashboard and click **Create API Key**. Copy it - you'll only see it once.

**3. Make your first request**

Follow the [Quickstart](https://reader.mintlify.site/home/quickstart.md) to scrape your first page in under a minute.

> [card] [Open Dashboard →](https://console.reader.dev)
>
> Sign up free and create your API key in 30 seconds.

## How Reader works

Four primitives:

| Endpoint | Primitive | What it does |
| - | - | - |
| `POST /v1/read` with single `url` | **Read** | Scrape a page. Returns results synchronously |
| `POST /v1/read` with `urls` array | **Batch** | Scrape many pages. Returns a `jobId` to poll or stream |
| `POST /v1/read` with `maxDepth` / `maxPages` | **Crawl** | Discover links and scrape each page asynchronously |
| `POST /v1/read` with `extract` | **Extract** | Pull structured JSON from a page using a schema or prompt |
| `POST /v1/sessions` | **Browse** | Spin up a cloud browser. Connect Playwright/Puppeteer via CDP |

See [The read primitive](https://reader.mintlify.site/home/concepts/read-primitive.md) for the scrape/batch/crawl mental model, or [Browser sessions](https://reader.mintlify.site/home/concepts/browser-sessions.md) for interactive automation.

## Why developers pick Reader

* **Four primitives, one platform.** Read, crawl, extract, and browse through one API key, one credit pool. No separate billing tracks or hidden multipliers.
* **Browser automation included.** Full Playwright and Puppeteer compatibility via CDP. Connect your existing scripts to cloud browsers with anti-bot stealth active.
* **Handles the modern web.** Dynamic pages render correctly, bot walls get bypassed using standard or premium proxy modes, and you never touch the underlying infrastructure.
* **Built for LLMs.** Output is clean markdown by default, with optional HTML and metadata. Main content extraction removes boilerplate so your tokens aren't wasted.
* **Free tier is actually free.** 1,000 credits a month, no card required. Enough to build and ship a real prototype.
* **Self-hostable.** The underlying engine is open source and Apache 2.0 licensed. Host it yourself if you need to. [Learn more →](https://reader.mintlify.site/self-hosted)

## Where to go next

> [card] [Quickstart](https://reader.mintlify.site/home/quickstart.md)
>
> Make your first scrape in 60 seconds.

> [card] [The read primitive](https://reader.mintlify.site/home/concepts/read-primitive.md)
>
> Understand the mental model behind Reader's single endpoint.

> [card] [Guides](https://reader.mintlify.site/home/guides/getting-started/first-scrape.md)
>
> Practical recipes for RAG, agents, production patterns, and more.

> [card] [API Reference](https://reader.mintlify.site/api-reference/authentication.md)
>
> Full API spec for every endpoint.


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.