Web Scraper
Extract structured data from websites using BeautifulSoup and requests - turn any webpage into usable data.
When to Use This Skill
- Competitor research - Scrape pricing, features, positioning
- Lead generation - Extract contact info from directories
- Content audit - Pull headings, links, meta data
- Price monitoring - Track competitor pricing changes
- Data collection - Gather research data from multiple sources
What Claude Does vs What You Decide
| Claude Does | You Decide |
|---|
| Structures analysis frameworks | Strategic priorities |
| Synthesizes market data | Competitive positioning |
| Identifies opportunities | Resource allocation |
| Creates strategic options | Final strategy selection |
| Suggests implementation approaches | Execution decisions |
Dependencies
pip install beautifulsoup4 requests pandas click lxml
Commands
Scrape Elements
python scripts/main.py scrape https://example.com --selector "h1,h2,p"
python scripts/main.py scrape https://example.com --selector ".product-price"
Extract Links
python scripts/main.py links https://example.com
python scripts/main.py links https://example.com --internal-only
Extract Emails
python scripts/main.py emails https://example.com
python scripts/main.py emails https://example.com --depth 2
Extract Structured Data
python scripts/main.py structured https://example.com/article --schema article
python scripts/main.py structured https://example.com/product --schema product
Examples
Example 1: Scrape Competitor Pricing
python scripts/main.py scrape https://competitor.com/pricing --selector ".price,.plan-name"
# Output:
# Extracted 6 elements
# 1. Starter - $29/mo
# 2. Pro - $99/mo
# 3. Enterprise - Contact us
Example 2: Extract Article Content
python scripts/main.py structured https://blog.example.com/post --schema article
# Output: article_data.json
# {
# "title": "How to Scale Your Startup",
# "author": "Jane Doe",
# "date": "2024-01-15",
# "content": "...",
# "word_count": 1523
# }
CSS Selector Reference
| Selector | Description | Example |
|---|
tag | Element type | h1, p, div |
.class | Class name | .price, .title |
#id | Element ID | #main-content |
tag.class | Tag with class | div.product |
tag[attr] | Has attribute | a[href] |
parent > child | Direct child | ul > li |
tag1, tag2 | Multiple | h1, h2, h3 |
Ethical Scraping Guidelines
- Check robots.txt - Respect site's scraping policy
- Rate limit - Don't overload servers (1-2 req/sec)
- Identify yourself - Use descriptive User-Agent
- Cache requests - Don't re-scrape unchanged pages
- Terms of Service - Check if scraping is allowed
Skill Boundaries
What This Skill Does Well
- Structuring strategic analysis
- Identifying market opportunities
- Creating strategic frameworks
- Synthesizing competitive data
What This Skill Cannot Do
- Replace market research
- Guarantee strategic success
- Know proprietary competitor info
- Make executive decisions
Related Skills
Skill Metadata
category: automation
subcategory: data-extraction
dependencies: [beautifulsoup4, requests, pandas]
difficulty: intermediate
time_saved: 5+ hours/week
