---
title: "Web Crawler Connector"
description: "Crawl and sync websites automatically with scheduled recrawling and robots.txt compliance"
icon: "globe"
---
Connect websites to automatically crawl and sync web pages into your Supermemory knowledge base. The web crawler respects robots.txt rules, includes SSRF protection, and automatically recrawls sites on a schedule.
The web crawler connector requires a **Scale Plan** or **Enterprise Plan**.
## Quick Setup
### 1. Create Web Crawler Connection
```typescript
import Supermemory from 'supermemory';
const client = new Supermemory({
apiKey: process.env.SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY!
});
const connection = await client.connections.create('web-crawler', {
redirectUrl: 'https://yourapp.com/callback',
containerTags: ['user-123', 'website-sync'],
documentLimit: 5000,
metadata: {
startUrl: 'https://docs.example.com'
}
});
// Web crawler doesn't require OAuth - connection is ready immediately
console.log('Connection ID:', connection.id);
console.log('Connection created:', connection.createdAt);
// Note: connection.authLink is undefined for web-crawler
```
```python
from supermemory import Supermemory
import os
client = Supermemory(api_key=os.environ.get("SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY"))
connection = client.connections.create(
'web-crawler',
redirect_url='https://yourapp.com/callback',
container_tags=['user-123', 'website-sync'],
document_limit=5000,
metadata={
'startUrl': 'https://docs.example.com'
}
)
# Web crawler doesn't require OAuth - connection is ready immediately
print(f'Connection ID: {connection.id}')
print(f'Connection created: {connection.created_at}')
# Note: connection.auth_link is None for web-crawler
```
```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/connections/web-crawler" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"redirectUrl": "https://yourapp.com/callback",
"containerTags": ["user-123", "website-sync"],
"documentLimit": 5000,
"metadata": {
"startUrl": "https://docs.example.com"
}
}'
# Response: {
# "id": "conn_wc123",
# "redirectsTo": "https://yourapp.com/callback",
# "authLink": null,
# "expiresIn": null
# }
```
### 2. Connection Established
Unlike other connectors, the web crawler doesn't require OAuth authentication. The connection is established immediately upon creation, and crawling begins automatically.
### 3. Monitor Sync Progress
```typescript
// Check connection details
const connection = await client.connections.getByTags('web-crawler', {
containerTags: ['user-123', 'website-sync']
});
console.log('Start URL:', connection.metadata?.startUrl);
console.log('Connection created:', connection.createdAt);
// List synced web pages
const documents = await client.connections.listDocuments('web-crawler', {
containerTags: ['user-123', 'website-sync']
});
console.log(`Synced ${documents.length} web pages`);
```
```python
# Check connection details
connection = client.connections.get_by_tags(
'web-crawler',
container_tags=['user-123', 'website-sync']
)
print(f'Start URL: {connection.metadata.get("startUrl")}')
print(f'Connection created: {connection.created_at}')
# List synced web pages
documents = client.connections.list_documents(
'web-crawler',
container_tags=['user-123', 'website-sync']
)
print(f'Synced {len(documents)} web pages')
```
```bash
# Get connection details by provider and tags
curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/connections/web-crawler/connection" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"containerTags": ["user-123", "website-sync"]}'
# Response includes connection details:
# {
# "id": "conn_wc123",
# "provider": "web-crawler",
# "createdAt": "2024-01-15T10:00:00Z",
# "documentLimit": 5000,
# "metadata": {"startUrl": "https://docs.example.com", ...}
# }
# List synced documents
curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/connections/web-crawler/documents" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"containerTags": ["user-123", "website-sync"]}'
# Response: Array of document objects
# [
# {"title": "Home Page", "type": "webpage", "status": "done", "url": "https://docs.example.com"},
# {"title": "Getting Started", "type": "webpage", "status": "done", "url": "https://docs.example.com/getting-started"}
# ]
```
## Supported Content Types
### Web Pages
- **HTML content** extracted and converted to markdown
- **Same-domain crawling** only (respects hostname boundaries)
- **Robots.txt compliance** - respects disallow rules
- **Content filtering** - only HTML pages (skips non-HTML content)
### URL Requirements
The web crawler only processes valid public URLs:
- Must be a public URL (not localhost, private IPs, or internal domains)
- Must be accessible from the internet
- Must return HTML content (non-HTML files are skipped)
## Sync Mechanism
The web crawler uses **scheduled recrawling** rather than real-time webhooks:
- **Initial Crawl**: Begins immediately after connection creation
- **Scheduled Recrawling**: Automatically recrawls sites that haven't been synced in 7+ days
- **No Real-time Updates**: Unlike other connectors, web crawler doesn't support webhook-based real-time sync
The recrawl schedule is automatically assigned when the connection is created. Sites are recrawled periodically to keep content up to date, but updates are not instantaneous.
## Connection Management
### List All Connections
```typescript
// List all web crawler connections
const connections = await client.connections.list({
containerTags: ['user-123']
});
const webCrawlerConnections = connections.filter(
conn => conn.provider === 'web-crawler'
);
webCrawlerConnections.forEach(conn => {
console.log(`Start URL: ${conn.metadata?.startUrl}`);
console.log(`Connection ID: ${conn.id}`);
console.log(`Created: ${conn.createdAt}`);
});
```
```python
# List all web crawler connections
connections = client.connections.list(container_tags=['user-123'])
web_crawler_connections = [
conn for conn in connections if conn.provider == 'web-crawler'
]
for conn in web_crawler_connections:
print(f'Start URL: {conn.metadata.get("startUrl")}')
print(f'Connection ID: {conn.id}')
print(f'Created: {conn.created_at}')
```
```bash
# List all connections
curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/connections/list" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"containerTags": ["user-123"]}'
# Response: [
# {
# "id": "conn_wc123",
# "provider": "web-crawler",
# "createdAt": "2024-01-15T10:30:00.000Z",
# "documentLimit": 5000,
# "metadata": {"startUrl": "https://docs.example.com", ...}
# }
# ]
```
### Delete Connection
Remove a web crawler connection when no longer needed:
```typescript
// Delete by connection ID
const result = await client.connections.delete('connection_id_123');
console.log('Deleted connection:', result.id);
// Delete by provider and container tags
const providerResult = await client.connections.deleteByProvider('web-crawler', {
containerTags: ['user-123']
});
console.log('Deleted web crawler connection for user');
```
```python
# Delete by connection ID
result = client.connections.delete('connection_id_123')
print(f'Deleted connection: {result.id}')
# Delete by provider and container tags
provider_result = client.connections.delete_by_provider(
'web-crawler',
container_tags=['user-123']
)
print('Deleted web crawler connection for user')
```
```bash
# Delete by connection ID
curl -X DELETE "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/connections/connection_id_123" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY"
# Delete by provider and container tags
curl -X DELETE "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/connections/web-crawler" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"containerTags": ["user-123"]}'
```
Deleting a connection will:
- Stop all future crawls from the website
- Keep existing synced documents in Supermemory (they won't be deleted)
- Remove the connection configuration
## Advanced Configuration
### Content Filtering
Control which web pages get synced using the settings API:
```typescript
// Configure intelligent filtering for web content
await client.settings.update({
shouldLLMFilter: true,
includeItems: {
urlPatterns: ['*docs*', '*documentation*', '*guide*'],
titlePatterns: ['*Getting Started*', '*API Reference*', '*Tutorial*']
},
excludeItems: {
urlPatterns: ['*admin*', '*private*', '*test*'],
titlePatterns: ['*Draft*', '*Archive*', '*Old*']
},
filterPrompt: "Sync documentation pages, guides, and API references. Skip admin pages, private content, drafts, and archived pages."
});
```
```python
# Configure intelligent filtering for web content
client.settings.update(
should_llm_filter=True,
include_items={
'urlPatterns': ['*docs*', '*documentation*', '*guide*'],
'titlePatterns': ['*Getting Started*', '*API Reference*', '*Tutorial*']
},
exclude_items={
'urlPatterns': ['*admin*', '*private*', '*test*'],
'titlePatterns': ['*Draft*', '*Archive*', '*Old*']
},
filter_prompt="Sync documentation pages, guides, and API references. Skip admin pages, private content, drafts, and archived pages."
)
```
```bash
# Configure intelligent filtering for web content
curl -X PATCH "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/settings" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"shouldLLMFilter": true,
"includeItems": {
"urlPatterns": ["*docs*", "*documentation*", "*guide*"],
"titlePatterns": ["*Getting Started*", "*API Reference*", "*Tutorial*"]
},
"excludeItems": {
"urlPatterns": ["*admin*", "*private*", "*test*"],
"titlePatterns": ["*Draft*", "*Archive*", "*Old*"]
},
"filterPrompt": "Sync documentation pages, guides, and API references. Skip admin pages, private content, drafts, and archived pages."
}'
```
## Security & Compliance
### SSRF Protection
Built-in protection against Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks:
- Blocks private IP addresses (10.x.x.x, 192.168.x.x, 172.16-31.x.x)
- Blocks localhost and internal domains
- Blocks cloud metadata endpoints
- Only allows public, internet-accessible URLs
### URL Validation
All URLs are validated before crawling:
- Must be valid HTTP/HTTPS URLs
- Must be publicly accessible
- Must return HTML content
- Response size limited to 10MB
**Important Limitations:**
- Requires Scale Plan or Enterprise Plan
- Only crawls same-domain URLs
- Scheduled recrawling means updates are not real-time
- Large websites may take significant time to crawl initially
- Robots.txt restrictions may prevent crawling some pages
- URLs must be publicly accessible (no authentication required)