Documentation / Quickstart

Get Started in 60 Seconds

Fetch your first URL, unlock your free weekly quota, connect to Claude or Cursor via MCP, and call the REST API — all in a few minutes.

No signup needed for your first 25 fetches. Try WebPeel instantly via CLI or API — no account, no credit card.
1

Install WebPeel

curl -fsSL https://webpeel.dev/install.sh | bash

The install script adds webpeel to your PATH automatically. Restart your terminal or run source ~/.zshrc after installing.

irm https://webpeel.dev/install.ps1 | iex

Run in PowerShell (Administrator). The installer adds webpeel to your PATH automatically.

npm install -g webpeel

Works on any platform with Node.js 18+. The webpeel command is available globally after install.

# Or with pnpm / yarn
pnpm add -g webpeel
yarn global add webpeel

Verify the install:

webpeel --version
2

Fetch Your First URL

webpeel "https://example.com"

That's it. WebPeel outputs clean markdown — ready to paste into your AI agent, save to a file, or pipe to another command.

# Output as JSON (includes metadata)
webpeel "https://example.com" --json

# Force browser rendering for JS-heavy sites
webpeel "https://x.com/OpenAI" --render

# Use stealth mode for Cloudflare-protected sites
webpeel "https://protected-site.com" --stealth

# Fetch and save to file
webpeel "https://example.com" > output.md
Smart escalation: WebPeel automatically chooses the fastest method — plain HTTP first, then browser rendering, then stealth. Use --render or --stealth to force a specific mode.
3

Unlock 500 Free Fetches / Week

webpeel login

Follow the prompts to create a free account. You'll get:

After logging in, your API key is stored at ~/.webpeel/config.json and used automatically by the CLI and SDK.

4

Use with AI (MCP)

WebPeel includes an MCP server with 18 tools for Claude, Cursor, VS Code, and any other MCP-compatible AI client.

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "webpeel": {
      "command": "webpeel",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. You'll see a 🔌 icon indicating WebPeel is connected.

Open Cursor Settings → MCP → Add Server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "webpeel": {
      "command": "webpeel",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Or run from the terminal and Cursor will auto-detect the MCP server.

Add to your VS Code settings.json (with GitHub Copilot or Continue):

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "webpeel": {
      "command": "webpeel",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Once connected, your AI can fetch URLs, search the web, extract structured data, get YouTube transcripts, run deep research, and more — all through natural language.

Try it: Ask Claude "Fetch the content of https://example.com and summarize it." WebPeel handles the rest.
5

Use the REST API

Get your API key from app.webpeel.dev → Settings → API Keys.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.webpeel.dev/v1/fetch?url=https://example.com"
# Search the web
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.webpeel.dev/v1/search?q=latest+AI+news"

# Get a YouTube transcript
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.webpeel.dev/v1/fetch?url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"
import { WebPeel } from 'webpeel';

const client = new WebPeel({ apiKey: process.env.WEBPEEL_API_KEY });

// Fetch a URL
const result = await client.fetch('https://example.com');
console.log(result.content); // Clean markdown

// Search the web
const search = await client.search('latest AI news');
console.log(search.results);

// Crawl a site
const pages = await client.crawl('https://docs.example.com', {
  maxPages: 50
});
from webpeel import WebPeel

client = WebPeel(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")

# Fetch a URL
result = client.fetch("https://example.com")
print(result.content)  # Clean markdown

# Search the web
search = client.search("latest AI news")
for r in search.results:
    print(r.title, r.url)

# Get YouTube transcript
transcript = client.fetch("https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID")
print(transcript.content)

The base URL is https://api.webpeel.dev/v1. Full reference: API Reference →

Next Steps

📖
API Reference All endpoints, parameters & responses
🔌
MCP Setup Guide 18 tools for Claude, Cursor & VS Code
⌨️
CLI Reference All commands and flags
📦
SDKs Node.js & Python clients
🎮
Playground Try WebPeel in your browser
💳
Pricing 500 free/week · Pro from $9/mo