ax

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Use the ax CLI instead of curl + throwaway parsing scripts whenever you fetch a URL, explore an unknown web page, or extract structured data from HTML. Trigger whenever you are about to write an inline script (python3 heredoc, node -e, regex over HTML) or a bare curl for one-off web fetching, scraping, or page exploration.

26installs

Sourceyusukebe/ax

Added on2026-07-10

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add yusukebe/ax ax

SKILL.md Content

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ax — the AI-era curl: fetch, discover, extract

One command:

ax <url|file|-> [selector] [flags]

. Never write regex over HTML, and never use bare curl (it returns nothing on empty bodies).

Cheatsheet

sh

ax https://api.site.example/users                    # {status, ok, ms, headers, body} — never silent
ax https://api.site.example/users -H 'authorization: Bearer x' -X POST -d '{"a":1}'
# curl reflexes work: -u -I -o -k -m --data-raw (and -L/-i/-s/-f are no-ops)
ax https://site.example --outline                    # discover: repeating structures
ax https://site.example --locate 'some text'         # discover: which selector holds this
ax https://site.example '.card' --count              # confirm a hypothesis
ax https://site.example '.card' --row 'title=a, href=a@href, id=@data-id'
ax https://site.example 'table' --table --where 'Stars >= 30000'
ax https://site.example 'table' --table --where '`Col With Spaces` ~ /x/'
ax https://docs.site.example/guide --md --budget 800 # read docs as markdown

The workflow: fetch/--outline once → --locate/--count to confirm → ONE --row/--table call. Repeat fetches of the same URL are cached ~2min, so probing is free (--fresh to bypass).

Speed discipline

Aim for ≤3 tool calls: one batched look (

ax URL --outline; ax URL '.guess' --count

), one extraction call, then answer. Turns cost more than commands — semicolons are free. Every --row/--table run prints

N rows extracted

+ empty-field counts on stderr — that IS the verification; do not re-probe. Answer with the data, concisely — no methodology narration.

Output rules

Default cap 50 results; stderr announces anything hidden.
```
--limit
```
,
```
--all
```
,
```
--budget <tokens>
```
control it. Rows default to token-cheap TSV; add
```
--json
```
if you need JSON.
Errors are one stderr line with a hint — fix the flag, not the approach.
For plain text files and non-web work, use your usual tools — ax is for the web.

ax