Playwright Web Scraper

Extract structured data from multiple web pages with respectful, ethical crawling practices.

When to Use This Skill

Use when extracting structured data from websites with "scrape data from", "extract information from pages", "collect data from site", or "crawl multiple pages".

Do NOT use for testing workflows (use

playwright-e2e-testing

), monitoring errors (use

playwright-console-monitor

), or analyzing network (use

playwright-network-analyzer

). Always respect robots.txt and rate limits.

Quick Start

Scrape product listings from an e-commerce site:

javascript

// 1. Validate URLs
python scripts/validate_urls.py urls.txt

// 2. Scrape pages with rate limiting
const results = [];
for (const url of urls) {
  await browser_navigate({ url });
  await browser_wait_for({ time: Math.random() * 2 + 1 }); // 1-3s delay

  const data = await browser_evaluate({
    function: `
      Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.product')).map(el => ({
        title: el.querySelector('.title')?.textContent?.trim(),
        price: el.querySelector('.price')?.textContent?.trim(),
        url: el.querySelector('a')?.getAttribute('href')
      }))
    `
  });

  results.push(...data);
}

// 3. Process results
python scripts/process_results.py scraped.json -o products.csv

Core Workflow
Rate Limiting Strategy
URL Validation
Data Extraction
Error Handling
Processing Results
Supporting Files
Expected Outcomes

Core Workflow

Step 1: Prepare URL List

Create a text file with URLs to scrape (one per line):

https://example.com/products?page=1
https://example.com/products?page=2
https://example.com/products?page=3

Validate URLs and check robots.txt compliance:

bash

python scripts/validate_urls.py urls.txt --user-agent "MyBot/1.0"

Step 2: Initialize Scraping Session

Navigate to the site and take a snapshot to understand structure:

javascript

await browser_navigate({ url: firstUrl });
await browser_snapshot();

Identify CSS selectors for data extraction using the snapshot.

Step 3: Implement Rate-Limited Crawling

Use random delays between requests (1-3 seconds minimum):

javascript

const results = [];

for (const url of urlList) {
  // Navigate to page
  await browser_navigate({ url });

  // Wait for content to load
  await browser_wait_for({ text: 'Expected content marker' });

  // Add respectful delay (1-3 seconds)
  const delay = Math.random() * 2 + 1;
  await browser_wait_for({ time: delay });

  // Extract data
  const pageData = await browser_evaluate({
    function: `/* extraction code */`
  });

  results.push(...pageData);

  // Check console for errors/warnings
  const console = await browser_console_messages();
  // Monitor for rate limit warnings
}

Step 4: Extract Structured Data

Use

browser_evaluate

to extract data with JavaScript:

javascript

const data = await browser_evaluate({
  function: `
    try {
      return Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.item')).map(el => ({
        title: el.querySelector('.title')?.textContent?.trim(),
        price: el.querySelector('.price')?.textContent?.trim(),
        rating: el.querySelector('.rating')?.textContent?.trim(),
        url: el.querySelector('a')?.getAttribute('href')
      })).filter(item => item.title && item.price); // Filter incomplete records
    } catch (e) {
      console.error('Extraction failed:', e);
      return [];
    }
  `
});

See

references/extraction-patterns.md

for comprehensive extraction patterns.

Step 5: Handle Errors and Rate Limits

Monitor for rate limiting indicators:

javascript

// Check HTTP responses via browser_network_requests
const requests = await browser_network_requests();
const rateLimited = requests.some(r => r.status === 429 || r.status === 503);

if (rateLimited) {
  // Back off exponentially
  await browser_wait_for({ time: 10 }); // Wait 10 seconds
  // Retry or skip
}

// Check console for blocking messages
const console = await browser_console_messages({ pattern: 'rate limit|blocked|captcha' });
if (console.length > 0) {
  // Handle blocking
}

Step 6: Aggregate and Store Results

Save results to JSON file:

javascript

// In your scraping script
fs.writeFileSync('scraped.json', JSON.stringify({ results }, null, 2));

Process and convert to desired format:

bash

# View statistics
python scripts/process_results.py scraped.json --stats

# Convert to CSV
python scripts/process_results.py scraped.json -o output.csv

# Convert to Markdown table
python scripts/process_results.py scraped.json -o output.md

Rate Limiting Strategy

Minimum Delays

Always add delays between requests:

Standard sites: 1-3 seconds (random)
High-traffic sites: 3-5 seconds
Small sites: 5-10 seconds
After errors: Exponential backoff (5s, 10s, 20s, 40s)

Implementation

javascript

// Random delay between 1-3 seconds
const randomDelay = () => Math.random() * 2 + 1;
await browser_wait_for({ time: randomDelay() });

// Exponential backoff after rate limit
let backoffSeconds = 5;
for (let retry = 0; retry < 3; retry++) {
  try {
    await browser_navigate({ url });
    break; // Success
  } catch (e) {
    await browser_wait_for({ time: backoffSeconds });
    backoffSeconds *= 2; // Double delay each retry
  }
}

Adaptive Rate Limiting

Adjust delays based on response:

Response Code	Action
200 OK	Continue with normal delay (1-3s)
429 Too Many Requests	Increase delay to 10s, retry
503 Service Unavailable	Wait 60s, then retry
403 Forbidden	Stop scraping this domain

See

references/ethical-scraping.md

for detailed rate limiting strategies.

URL Validation

Use

validate_urls.py

before scraping to ensure compliance:

bash

# Basic validation
python scripts/validate_urls.py urls.txt

# Check robots.txt with specific user agent
python scripts/validate_urls.py urls.txt --user-agent "MyBot/1.0"

# Strict mode (exit on any invalid/disallowed URL)
python scripts/validate_urls.py urls.txt --strict

Output includes:

URL format validation
Domain grouping
robots.txt compliance check
Summary statistics

Data Extraction

Basic Pattern

javascript

// Single page extraction
const data = await browser_evaluate({
  function: `
    Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.item')).map(el => ({
      field1: el.querySelector('.selector1')?.textContent?.trim(),
      field2: el.querySelector('.selector2')?.getAttribute('href')
    }))
  `
});

Pagination Pattern

javascript

let hasMore = true;
let page = 1;

while (hasMore) {
  await browser_navigate({ url: `${baseUrl}?page=${page}` });
  await browser_wait_for({ time: randomDelay() });

  const pageData = await browser_evaluate({ function: extractionCode });
  results.push(...pageData);

  // Check for next page
  hasMore = await browser_evaluate({
    function: `document.querySelector('.next:not(.disabled)') !== null`
  });

  page++;
}

See

references/extraction-patterns.md

for:

Advanced selectors
Data cleaning patterns
Table extraction
JSON-LD extraction
Shadow DOM access

Error Handling

Network Errors

javascript

try {
  await browser_navigate({ url });
} catch (e) {
  console.error(`Failed to load ${url}:`, e);
  failedUrls.push(url);
  continue; // Skip to next URL
}

Content Validation

javascript

const data = await browser_evaluate({ function: extractionCode });

if (!data || data.length === 0) {
  console.warn(`No data extracted from ${url}`);
  // Log for manual review
}

// Validate data structure
const validData = data.filter(item =>
  item.title && item.price // Ensure required fields exist
);

Monitoring Indicators

Check for blocking/errors:

javascript

// Monitor console
const console = await browser_console_messages({
  pattern: 'error|rate|limit|captcha',
  onlyErrors: true
});

if (console.length > 0) {
  console.log('Warnings detected:', console);
}

// Monitor network
const requests = await browser_network_requests();
const errors = requests.filter(r => r.status >= 400);

Processing Results

View Statistics

bash

python scripts/process_results.py scraped.json --stats

Output:

📊 Statistics:
  Total records: 150
  Fields (5): title, price, rating, url, image
  Sample record: {...}

Convert Formats

bash

# To CSV
python scripts/process_results.py scraped.json -o products.csv

# To JSON (compact)
python scripts/process_results.py scraped.json -o products.json --compact

# To Markdown table
python scripts/process_results.py scraped.json -o products.md

Combine Statistics with Conversion

bash

python scripts/process_results.py scraped.json -o products.csv --stats

Supporting Files

Scripts

scripts/validate_urls.py
- Validate URL lists, check robots.txt compliance, group by domain
scripts/process_results.py
- Convert scraped JSON to CSV/JSON/Markdown, view statistics

References

references/ethical-scraping.md
- Comprehensive guide to rate limiting, robots.txt, error handling, and monitoring
references/extraction-patterns.md
- JavaScript patterns for data extraction, selectors, pagination, tables

Expected Outcomes

Successful Scraping

✅ Validated 50 URLs
✅ Scraped 50 pages in 5 minutes (6 req/min)
✅ Extracted 1,250 products
✅ Zero rate limit errors
✅ Exported to products.csv (1,250 rows)

With Error Handling

⚠️  Validated 50 URLs (2 disallowed by robots.txt)
✅ Scraped 48 pages
⚠️  3 pages returned no data (logged for review)
✅ Extracted 1,100 products
⚠️  1 rate limit warning (backed off successfully)
✅ Exported to products.csv (1,100 rows)

Rate Limit Detection

❌ Rate limited after 20 pages (429 responses)
✅ Backed off exponentially (5s → 10s → 20s)
✅ Resumed scraping successfully
✅ Extracted 450 products from 25 pages

Expected Benefits

Metric	Before	After
Setup time	30-45 min	5-10 min
Rate limit errors	Common	Rare
robots.txt violations	Possible	Prevented
Data format conversion	Manual	Automated
Error detection	Manual review	Automated monitoring

Success Metrics

Success rate > 95% (pages successfully scraped)
Rate limit errors < 5% of requests
Valid data rate > 90% (complete records)
Scraping speed 6-12 requests/minute (polite crawling)

Requirements

Tools

Playwright MCP browser tools
Python 3.8+ (for scripts)
Standard library only (no external dependencies for scripts)

Knowledge

Basic CSS selectors
JavaScript for data extraction
Understanding of HTTP status codes
Awareness of web scraping ethics

Red Flags to Avoid

❌ Scraping without checking robots.txt
❌ No delays between requests (hammering servers)
❌ Ignoring 429/503 response codes
❌ Scraping personal/private information
❌ Not monitoring console for blocking messages
❌ Scraping sites that explicitly prohibit it (check ToS)
❌ Using scraped data in violation of copyright
❌ Not handling pagination correctly (missing data)
❌ Hardcoding selectors without fallbacks
❌ Not validating extracted data structure

Notes

Default to polite crawling: 1-3 second delays minimum, adjust based on site response
Always check robots.txt first: Use
```
validate_urls.py
```
before scraping
Monitor console and network: Watch for rate limit warnings and adjust delays
Start small: Test with 5-10 URLs before scaling to hundreds
Save progress: Write results incrementally in case of interruption
Respect ToS: Some sites prohibit scraping in their terms of service
Use descriptive user agents: Identify your bot clearly
Handle errors gracefully: Log failures for manual review, don't crash

playwright-web-scraper

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Playwright Web Scraper

When to Use This Skill

Quick Start

Table of Contents

Core Workflow

Step 1: Prepare URL List

Step 2: Initialize Scraping Session

Step 3: Implement Rate-Limited Crawling

Step 4: Extract Structured Data

Step 5: Handle Errors and Rate Limits

Step 6: Aggregate and Store Results

Rate Limiting Strategy

Minimum Delays

Implementation

Adaptive Rate Limiting

URL Validation

Data Extraction

Basic Pattern

Pagination Pattern

Error Handling

Network Errors

Content Validation

Monitoring Indicators

Processing Results

View Statistics

Convert Formats

Combine Statistics with Conversion

Supporting Files

Scripts

References

Expected Outcomes

Successful Scraping

With Error Handling

Rate Limit Detection

Expected Benefits

Success Metrics

Requirements

Tools

Knowledge

Red Flags to Avoid

Notes