Overview

Browser Tools are stateless, single-call endpoints that spin up a managed browser, perform one action against a URL, and return the result. They are the fastest way to pull content off a page when you do not need to drive a long-running session.

Endpoint	What it does
POST /v1/scrape	Loads a URL and returns HTML, cleaned HTML, Markdown, or Readability.
POST /v1/screenshot	Loads a URL and returns a hosted PNG of the page.
POST /v1/pdf	Loads a URL and returns a hosted PDF of the page.

Each call counts as 1 credit and is rate limited to 20 requests per minute per organization. Reach for Sessions instead when you need cookies, multi-step navigation, or extension state.

Scrape

POST /v1/scrape extracts the contents of a single page. The response always includes content, metadata, and links; pass format to control which content variants come back.

The supported formats map to fields on content:

Format	Field	Use when
html	content.html	You want the raw DOM after JS execution. Default if format is omitted.
cleaned_html	content.cleaned_html	You want stripped-down HTML without scripts, styles, ads.
markdown	content.markdown	You're feeding the page into an LLM.
readability	content.readability	You want Mozilla Readability's article extraction object.

metadata carries the usual SEO fields (title, description, canonical, Open Graph tags, JSON-LD, statusCode, etc.) and links is a flat array of every anchor on the page.

{
  "content": {
    "markdown": "# Steel Docs\n\n..."
  },
  "metadata": {
    "title": "Steel Docs",
    "description": "...",
    "statusCode": 200,
    "ogImage": "https://docs.steel.dev/og.png"
  },
  "links": [
    { "url": "https://docs.steel.dev/cookbook", "text": "Cookbook" }
  ]
}

Bundle a screenshot or PDF

Set screenshot: true or pdf: true on a scrape call to capture both content and a hosted file in a single request. The screenshot and PDF come back as hosted URLs alongside the scraped content.

Screenshot

POST /v1/screenshot returns a hosted PNG. Use fullPage: true to capture the entire scrollable page instead of just the viewport.

The hosted URL is public and durable. Download it like any other PNG:

import fs from "node:fs";

const response = await fetch(result.url);
const buffer = Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer());
fs.writeFileSync("page.png", buffer);

PDF

POST /v1/pdf renders the page and returns a hosted PDF URL. Same shape as screenshot: one URL in, one URL out.

Shared options

All three endpoints accept the same handful of options for controlling how the page is loaded.

Option	Type	What it does
useProxy	boolean	Route the request through a Steel-managed residential proxy. Paid plans only.
delay	number	Milliseconds to wait after navigation before capturing. Useful for hydrated sites.

A common pattern for client-rendered pages is to combine delay with a residential proxy:

:::callout type: warn

Hobby plans cannot use Steel proxies on Browser Tools

useProxy: true returns 402 Payment Required on the hobby plan. Upgrade, or pass your own proxy by opening a Session and scraping through it. :::

Errors

Status	Meaning
402	useProxy: true requested on a plan that does not allow it.
408	The browser timed out before completing the action.
429	Concurrent session limit for your plan reached, or 20 RPM hit.
503	No browser capacity available right now. Safe to retry.

When to use Sessions instead

Browser Tools are stateless. Each call opens a fresh browser, performs the action, and tears down. Reach for a Session when you need to:

• Persist cookies or local storage across navigations
• Submit forms, click through flows, or interact with the page
• Pin a proxy to a specific country (useProxy: { geolocation: { country } })
• Reuse an authenticated profile or extension

You can still scrape, screenshot, or generate a PDF from inside a session. The Browser Tools endpoints are just the shortcut when you don't need the rest.

:::callout type: help

Need help with Browser Tools?

Reach out to us on the #help channel on Discord under the ⭐ community section. :::