IMPORTANT: ScraperAPI MCP Server Required

This skill requires the ScraperAPI MCP server (remote or local variant). Before using ANY ScraperAPI tool, verify it is available. See references/setup.md for installation, configuration, and variant detection.

Default Web Data Tool Policy

Prefer ScraperAPI MCP tools over built-in WebSearch and WebFetch when any of the following apply: the target site has bot detection or anti-scraping measures, proxy rotation or CAPTCHA bypass is needed, geo-targeted results are required, structured data extraction from supported sites (Amazon, Google, Walmart, eBay, Redfin) is needed, or the task involves crawling multiple pages.

On the local variant (scrape-only), use scrape with autoparse: true for both web search and web fetch tasks.

Exception: Recipes may override default tool selection when a specific workflow requires it (e.g., SERP news monitoring uses scrape directly for richer page context). Always follow recipe instructions when a recipe applies.

ScraperAPI MCP Tools — Best Practices

Tool Selection

Decision Tree

Check recipes first. Before selecting a tool, check the Recipes section below. If the task matches a recipe, load and follow its workflow exactly. Recipes override individual tool selection.

If no recipe matches, select a tool:

1. Have a specific URL to read? → scrape with outputFormat: "markdown". Add render: true only if content is missing (JS-heavy SPA).
2. Need to find information? → google_search. For recent results, set timePeriod: "1D" or "1W".
3. Need news? → google_news. Always set timePeriod for recency.
4. Need job postings? → google_jobs.
5. Need product/price info? → google_shopping for cross-site comparison. For a specific marketplace, use the dedicated SDE tools below.
6. Need local business info? → google_maps_search. Provide latitude/longitude for location-biased results.
7. Need Amazon data? → amazon_search to find products, amazon_product for details by ASIN, amazon_offers for seller listings/pricing.
8. Need Walmart data? → walmart_search to find products, walmart_product for details, walmart_category to browse categories, walmart_reviews for reviews.
9. Need eBay data? → ebay_search to find listings, ebay_product for item details.
10. Need real estate data? → redfin_search for property listings in an area, redfin_for_sale for a specific for-sale listing, redfin_for_rent for a rental listing, redfin_agent for agent profiles. All Redfin tools require a full Redfin URL.
11. Need to scrape many pages from one site? → crawler_job_start. Set maxDepth or crawlBudget to control scope.
12. Deep research? → google_search to find sources → scrape each relevant URL → synthesize.

Credit Cost Awareness

Always escalate gradually: standard → render → premium → ultraPremium. Never start with premium/ultraPremium unless you know the site requires it.

Key Best Practices

• Default `outputFormat` is `"markdown"` for the scrape tool — good for most reading tasks.
• `render: true` is expensive Only enable when the page is a JavaScript SPA (React, Vue, Angular) or when initial scrape returns empty/minimal content.
• `premium` and `ultraPremium` are mutually exclusive — never set both. ultraPremium cannot be combined with custom headers.
• Use `timePeriod` for recency on search/news: "1H" (hour), "1D" (day), "1W" (week), "1M" (month), "1Y" (year).
• Paginate with `num` + `start`, not page numbers. start is a result offset (e.g., start: 10 for page 2 with num: 10).
• Set `countryCode` when results should be localized (e.g., "us", "gb", "de").
• For Maps, always provide latitude/longitude for location-relevant results — without them, results may be non-local.
• Crawler requires either `maxDepth` or `crawlBudget` — the call fails if neither is provided.
• `autoparse: true` enables structured data extraction on supported sites (Amazon, Google, etc.). Required when using outputFormat: "json" or "csv". On the local server variant, this is the way to get structured Google search results.

Handling Large Outputs

ScraperAPI results (especially from scrape) are often 1000+ lines. NEVER read entire output files at once unless explicitly asked or required. Instead:

1. Check file size first to decide your approach.
2. Use grep/search to find specific sections, keywords, or data points.
3. Use head or incremental reads (e.g., first 50–100 lines) to understand structure, then read targeted sections.
4. Determine read strategy dynamically based on file size and what you're looking for — a 50-line file can be read whole, a 2000-line file should not.

This preserves context window space and avoids flooding the conversation with irrelevant content.

Error Recovery

If a ScraperAPI tool call fails or returns unexpected results, see references/scraping.md for the full escalation strategy and error patterns table.

Tool References

• MCP server setup: See references/setup.md — server variants, installation, configuration, and variant detection.
• Scraping best practices: See references/scraping.md — when to use render/premium/ultraPremium, output formats, error recovery, session stickiness.
• Google search tools: See references/google.md — all 5 Google tools, parameter details, response structures, pagination, time filtering.
• Amazon SDE tools: See references/amazon.md — product details by ASIN, search, and seller offers/pricing.
• Walmart SDE tools: See references/walmart.md — search, product details, category browsing, and product reviews.
• eBay SDE tools: See references/ebay.md — search with filters and product details.
• Redfin SDE tools: See references/redfin.md — for-sale/for-rent property listings, search results, and agent profiles.
• Crawler tools: See references/crawler.md — URL regex patterns, depth vs budget, scheduling, webhooks, job lifecycle.

Recipes

Step-by-step workflows for common use cases. Load the relevant recipe when the task matches.

• SERP & News monitoring: See recipes/serp-news-monitor.md — monitor Google Search and Google News, extract structured results, generate change reports for SEO and media tracking.