# Turn a web page URL into clean Markdown via API

**Use case:** 

Send a URL and get back the main content of the page as clean Markdown, without navigation, cookie banners or footers. The task also returns plain text, title, description, language, word count, an estimated token count and the links on the page, ready for an LLM prompt, a RAG pipeline or an AI agent.

## Input

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_scraping"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/"
    }
  ],
  "outputFormats": [
    "markdown",
    "text"
  ],
  "onlyMainContent": true,
  "maxItems": 10,
  "crawl": false,
  "maxPagesPerCrawl": 50,
  "maxConcurrency": 5
}
```

## Output

```json
{
  "url": {
    "label": "URL",
    "format": "link"
  },
  "title": {
    "label": "Title",
    "format": "text"
  },
  "siteName": {
    "label": "Site name",
    "format": "text"
  },
  "language": {
    "label": "Language",
    "format": "text"
  },
  "wordCount": {
    "label": "Word count",
    "format": "number"
  },
  "tokenEstimate": {
    "label": "Token estimate",
    "format": "number"
  },
  "publishedAt": {
    "label": "Published at",
    "format": "date"
  },
  "description": {
    "label": "Description",
    "format": "text"
  }
}
```

## How it works

### 1. Sign up on Apify or log in

The URL to Markdown API - Web Pages to Clean Text for LLMs Actor is ready to run with the inputs already set for "Turn a web page URL into clean Markdown via API". [Sign up or log in](https://console.apify.com/create-task-from-example/ysEEsh7t1GdbS2qgu) and you'll land in Apify Console with a copy of this exact task.

### 2. Start the "Turn a web page URL into clean Markdown via API" task

The URL to Markdown API - Web Pages to Clean Text for LLMs Actor will start running based on the input automatically. You can also change all the input fields, like start urls, output formats, and more, to match your specific use case.

### 3. Receive the "Turn a web page URL into clean Markdown via API" output

Monitor the progress in real time. You will be notified as soon as your dataset is complete and ready for review. Each result includes data such as URL, title, site name, and more.

### 4. Integrate into your workflow

The final output is delivered in JSON, CSV, or Excel format, ready to be plugged into your workflow. You can also [run the "Turn a web page URL into clean Markdown via API" task via API](https://apify.com/rocketyard/web-page-to-markdown.md).

## FAQ

### How do I call the URL to Markdown API from code?

Send the URL to Markdown API task's input in a POST to https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/rocketyard~web-page-to-markdown/run-sync-get-dataset-items with your Apify API token. The response has one JSON record per page.

### What happens with pages that need JavaScript?

The URL to Markdown API task fetches pages over HTTP without a browser. A page that builds its content with JavaScript, or sits behind bot protection, returns a free error item saying why.

### How accurate is the token count?

The tokenEstimate field of the URL to Markdown API task is a rough count: the Markdown length divided by 4. Use your model's own tokenizer when you need an exact number.

## About this Actor

This example demonstrates how to use [URL to Markdown API - Web Pages to Clean Text for LLMs](https://apify.com/rocketyard/web-page-to-markdown.md) with a specific input configuration. Visit the [Actor detail page](https://apify.com/rocketyard/web-page-to-markdown.md) to learn more, explore other use cases, and run it yourself.


## How to integrate an Actor?

This Task's input is already configured above. Use it as-is rather than inventing a new one.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For full API examples (JavaScript, Python, CLI, MCP, OpenAPI), see this Task's Actor page: https://apify.com/rocketyard/web-page-to-markdown.md

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).