Content API

Fetch fully rendered HTML from a real browser, including JavaScript-rendered content. Send a url to navigate, or html to render inline content.

Endpoint

Method: POST
Path: /content
Auth: token query parameter (?token=)
Content-Type: application/json
Response: text/html

See the OpenAPI reference for complete details.

Quickstart

cURL
JavaScript
Python

curl -X POST \
  "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/content?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE" \
  -H 'Cache-Control: no-cache' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "url": "https://example.com/"
}'

const TOKEN = "YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE";
const url = `https://production-sfo.browserless.io/content?token=${TOKEN}`;
const headers = {
    "Cache-Control": "no-cache",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
};
const data = {
    url: "https://example.com/"
};

const fetchContent = async () => {
    const response = await fetch(url, {
        method: 'POST',
        headers: headers,
        body: JSON.stringify(data)
    });

    const content = await response.text();
    console.log(content);
};

fetchContent();

import requests

TOKEN = "YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE"
url = f"https://production-sfo.browserless.io/content?token={TOKEN}"
headers = {
    "Cache-Control": "no-cache",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}
data = {
    "url": "https://example.com/"
}

response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=data)
print(response.text)

Response

The API returns the fully rendered HTML content as text/html:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <title>Example Domain</title>
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <style>
    body{
      background:#eee;
      width:60vw;
      margin:15vh auto;
      font-family:system-ui,sans-serif
    }
    h1{font-size:1.5em}
    div{opacity:0.8}
    a:link,a:visited{color:#348}
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <div>
    <h1>Example Domain</h1>
    <p>This domain is for use in documentation examples without needing permission. Avoid use in operations.</p>
    <p><a href="https://iana.org/domains/example">Learn more</a></p>
  </div>
</body>
</html>

Bot detection troubleshooting

If content is empty or incomplete, the site may be blocking automation. Signs include:

Empty HTML response or minimal content
Partial page content missing key elements
Different content compared to a regular browser
Blocked requests or access denied messages

Use /unblock for higher success rates

The /unblock API is specifically designed to bypass bot detection mechanisms like Datadome and passive CAPTCHAs. It can return HTML content directly when content: true is set and works best with residential proxies (&proxy=residential).

curl --request POST \
  --url 'https://production-sfo.browserless.io/unblock?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE&proxy=residential' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
  "url": "https://example.com/",
  "content": true
}'

For advanced bot detection bypass and complex automation tasks, use BrowserQL.

Configuration options

The /content API supports shared request configuration options that apply across REST endpoints:

Waiting for things: Wait for events, functions, selectors, or timeouts before returning content
Navigation options: Customize navigation behavior with gotoOptions
Rejecting undesired requests: Block resources with rejectResourceTypes and rejectRequestPattern
Continue on error: Use bestAttempt to continue when async events fail or time out

Quickstart​

Bot detection troubleshooting​

Configuration options​

Quickstart

Bot detection troubleshooting

Configuration options