Export API

Fetch a URL and stream the result in its native content type (HTML, PDF, image, etc.). While its capabilities may overlap with the /download API, the /export API is best suited for downloading files from a URL when you don't know the content type ahead of time — it automatically detects the file type and returns the appropriate response. It can also bundle all resources from a page (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, etc.) into a single ZIP file for convenient offline use.

Endpoint

• Method: POST
• Path: /export
• Auth: token query parameter (?token=)
• Content-Type: application/json
• Response: */* (based on upstream content)

See the OpenAPI reference for complete details.

Quickstart

cURL

curl -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/export?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tests/xhtml/testfiles/resources/pdf/dummy.pdf","gotoOptions":{"waitUntil":["networkidle0"]}}' \
  -o output.pdf

Javascript

import { writeFile } from 'fs/promises';

const TOKEN = "YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE";
const url = `https://production-sfo.browserless.io/export?token=${TOKEN}`;
const headers = {
  'Content-Type': 'application/json'
};

const data = {
  url: "https://example.com/"
};

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

  const contentType = response.headers.get('content-type');

  if (contentType && contentType.includes('text/html')) {
    const content = await response.text();
    await writeFile('page.html', content);
    console.log('Content saved as page.html');
  } else {
    const arrayBuffer = await response.arrayBuffer();
    const buffer = Buffer.from(arrayBuffer);
    await writeFile('page.html', buffer);
    console.log('Content saved as page.html');
  }
};

exportPage();

Python

import requests

TOKEN = "YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE"
url = f"https://production-sfo.browserless.io/export?token={TOKEN}"
headers = {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
}

data = {
    "url": "https://example.com/"
}

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

with open("page.html", "wb") as file:
    file.write(response.content)

print("Content saved as page.html")

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/pdf
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="output.pdf"

<binary>

For PDFs, images, or other binary content, the API returns the appropriate content type (e.g., application/pdf, image/jpeg) with a Content-Disposition: attachment header. The API returns the content in its native format. For HTML pages, you'll receive the HTML content with Content-Type: text/html.

Handling Different Content Types

The /export API automatically detects and returns content in its native format. Here's how to handle different response types in your code:

HTML Content

const response = await fetch(url, options);
if (response.headers.get('content-type')?.includes('text/html')) {
  const htmlContent = await response.text();
  // Process HTML content
}

PDF Content

const response = await fetch(url, options);
if (response.headers.get('content-type')?.includes('application/pdf')) {
  const arrayBuffer = await response.arrayBuffer();
  const pdfBuffer = Buffer.from(arrayBuffer);
  // Save or process PDF buffer
}

Binary Content (Images, etc.)

const response = await fetch(url, options);
const contentType = response.headers.get('content-type');
if (contentType?.includes('image/') || !contentType?.includes('text/')) {
  const arrayBuffer = await response.arrayBuffer();
  const binaryBuffer = Buffer.from(arrayBuffer);
  // Save or process binary buffer
}

Export with All Resources (Zip File)

When includeResources is set to true, the API returns a zip file containing the HTML and all linked resources (images, CSS, JavaScript):

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/export?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://quotes.toscrape.com/","includeResources":true}' \
  -o rest-api-export-quotes.zip

Response

The API returns a zip file with Content-Type: application/zip and Content-Disposition: attachment header:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/zip
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="rest-api-export-quotes.zip"

[Binary zip file content containing HTML and all resources]

Configuration options

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

• Waiting for things: Wait for events, functions, selectors, or timeouts before exporting
• Navigation options: Customize navigation behavior with gotoOptions
• Continue on error: Use bestAttempt to continue when async events fail or time out