Forming Requests

Read detailed guides on how to get started and make requests using Web Scraper API for different websites.

Search Engines

Getting started

Select the search engine you want to scrape: Google, Bing, Other Search Engines.

Request sample

cURL

curl 'https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries' \
--user 'USERNAME:PASSWORD' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
        "source": "google_search",
        "query": "adidas"
    }'

Python

import requests
from pprint import pprint

# Structure payload.
payload = {
    'source': 'google_search',
    'query': 'adidas',
}

# Get response.
response = requests.request(
    'POST',
    'https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries',
    auth=('USERNAME', 'PASSWORD'),
    json=payload,
)

# Print prettified response to stdout.
pprint(response.json())

Node.js

const https = require("https");

const username = "USERNAME";
const password = "PASSWORD";
const body = {
    source: "google_search",
    query: "adidas",
};

const options = {
    hostname: "realtime.oxylabs.io",
    path: "/v1/queries",
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        Authorization:
            "Basic " + Buffer.from(`${username}:${password}`).toString("base64"),
    },
};

const request = https.request(options, (response) => {
    let data = "";

    response.on("data", (chunk) => {
        data += chunk;
    });

    response.on("end", () => {
        const responseData = JSON.parse(data);
        console.log(JSON.stringify(responseData, null, 2));
    });
});

request.on("error", (error) => {
    console.error("Error:", error);
});

request.write(JSON.stringify(body));
request.end();

PHP

<?php

$params = array(
    'source' => 'google_search',
    'query' => 'adidas',
);

$ch = curl_init();

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($params));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "USERNAME" . ":" . "PASSWORD");

$headers = array();
$headers[] = "Content-Type: application/json";
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $headers);

$result = curl_exec($ch);
echo $result;

if (curl_errno($ch)) {
    echo 'Error:' . curl_error($ch);
}
curl_close($ch);

C#

using System;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Net.Http.Json;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace OxyApi
{
    class Program
    {
        static async Task Main()
        {
            const string Username = "USERNAME";
            const string Password = "PASSWORD";

            var parameters = new {
                source = "google_search",
                query = "adidas",
            };

            var client = new HttpClient();

            Uri baseUri = new Uri("https://realtime.oxylabs.io");
            client.BaseAddress = baseUri;

            var requestMessage = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, "/v1/queries");
            requestMessage.Content = JsonContent.Create(parameters);

            var authenticationString = $"{Username}:{Password}";
            var base64EncodedAuthenticationString = Convert.ToBase64String(System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(authenticationString));
            requestMessage.Headers.Add("Authorization", "Basic " + base64EncodedAuthenticationString);

            var response = await client.SendAsync(requestMessage);
            var contents = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();

            Console.WriteLine(contents);
        }
    }
}

Golang

package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"io/ioutil"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	const Username = "USERNAME"
	const Password = "PASSWORD"

	payload := map[string]interface{}{
		"source": "google_search",
		"query":  "adidas",
	}

	jsonValue, _ := json.Marshal(payload)

	client := &http.Client{}
	request, _ := http.NewRequest("POST",
		"https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries",
		bytes.NewBuffer(jsonValue),
	)

	request.SetBasicAuth(Username, Password)
	request.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
	response, _ := client.Do(request)

	responseText, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(response.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(responseText))
}

HTTP

https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries?source=google_search&query=adidas&access_token=12345abcde

Java

package org.example;

import okhttp3.*;
import org.json.JSONObject;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class Main implements Runnable {
    private static final String AUTHORIZATION_HEADER = "Authorization";
    public static final String USERNAME = "USERNAME";
    public static final String PASSWORD = "PASSWORD";

    public void run() {
        JSONObject jsonObject = new JSONObject();
        jsonObject.put("source", "google_search");
        jsonObject.put("query", "adidas");

        Authenticator authenticator = (route, response) -> {
            String credential = Credentials.basic(USERNAME, PASSWORD);
            return response
                    .request()
                    .newBuilder()
                    .header(AUTHORIZATION_HEADER, credential)
                    .build();
        };

        var client = new OkHttpClient.Builder()
                .authenticator(authenticator)
                .readTimeout(180, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
                .build();

        var mediaType = MediaType.parse("application/json; charset=utf-8");
        var body = RequestBody.create(jsonObject.toString(), mediaType);
        var request = new Request.Builder()
                .url("https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries")
                .post(body)
                .build();

        try (var response = client.newCall(request).execute()) {
            if (response.body() != null) {
                try (var responseBody = response.body()) {
                    System.out.println(responseBody.string());
                }
            }
        } catch (Exception exception) {
            System.out.println("Error: " + exception.getMessage());
        }

        System.exit(0);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new Thread(new Main()).start();
    }
}

JSON

{
    "source": "google_search",
    "query": "adidas"
}

We use synchronous Realtime integration method in our examples. If you would like to use Proxy Endpoint or asynchronous Push-Pull integration, refer to the integration methods section.

Forming a request

1. Pick your integration method: synchronous (Realtime, Proxy Endpoint) or asynchronous (Push-Pull).

2. When forming a request, include the following elements:

Realtime

1. Endpoint:

POST https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries

2. Username and password (HTTP authentication). Create API user credentials either during your trial sign-up or product purchase.

USERNAME:PASSWORD

If you need more than one API user for your account, please contact our customer support or message our 24/7 live chat support.

3. Content-type. When submitting jobs, always add this header:

Content-Type: application/json

4. Payload:

   1. source - This parameter sets the scraper that will be used to process your request.

   2. URL or query - Provide the URL or query for the type of page you want to scrape. Refer to the table below and the corresponding target sub-pages for detailed guidance on when to use each parameter.

   3. Additional parameters: Optionally, you can include additional parameters such as geo_location, user_agent_type, parse, render and more to customize your scraping request.

{
    "source": "google_search",
    "query": "adidas",
    "geo_location": "California,United States",
    "parse": true
}

Proxy Endpoint

1. Endpoint:

GET realtime.oxylabs.io:60000

2. Ignore certificates. In cURL, it's -k or --insecure.

3. Username and password (HTTP authentication). Create API user credentials either during your trial sign-up or product purchase.

USERNAME:PASSWORD

If you need more than one API user for your account, please contact our customer support or message our 24/7 live chat support.

4. Payload:

   1. URL - Provide the URL for the page you want to scrape.

   2. Additional parameters: Optionally, you can include additional parameters such as geo_location, user_agent_type, parse, and send them as headers.

curl -k -x realtime.oxylabs.io:60000 \
-U "USERNAME:PASSWORD" \
'https://www.google.com/search?q=adidas' \
-H "x-oxylabs-geo-location: California,United States" \
-H "x-oxylabs-parse: 1"

Push-Pull

1. Endpoint:

POST https://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries

2. Username and password (HTTP authentication). Create API user credentials either during your trial sign-up or product purchase.

USERNAME:PASSWORD

If you need more than one API user for your account, please contact our customer support or message our 24/7 live chat support.

3. Content-type. When submitting jobs, always add this header:

Content-Type: application/json

4. Payload:

   1. source - This parameter sets the scraper that will be used to process your request.

   2. URL or query - Provide the URL or query for the type of page you want to scrape. Refer to the table below and the corresponding target sub-pages for detailed guidance on when to use each parameter.

   3. Additional parameters: Optionally, you can include additional parameters such as geo_location, user_agent_type, parse, and more to customize your scraping request.

{
    "source": "google_search",
    "query": "adidas",
    "geo_location": "California,United States",
    "parse": true
}

5. Upon submitting a request, you will promptly receive a JSON response containing all job details, including job parameters, job ID, and URLs for downloading job results:

GET https://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries/{job_id}/results

GET https://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries/{job_id}/results?type=raw

GET https://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries/{job_id}/results?type=parsed

GET https://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries/{job_id}/results?type=png

Marketplaces

Getting started

Select the online marketplace you want to scrape: Amazon, Google Shopping, Walmart, Best Buy, Etsy, Target, Other Websites.

Request sample

cURL

curl 'https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries' \
--user "USERNAME:PASSWORD" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
        "source": "amazon_product",
        "query": "B07FZ8S74R",
        "geo_location": "90210",
        "parse": true
    }'

Python

import requests
from pprint import pprint

# Structure payload.
payload = {
    'source': 'amazon_product',
    'query': 'B07FZ8S74R',
    'geo_location': '90210',
    'parse': True
}

# Get response.
response = requests.request(
    'POST',
    'https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries',
    auth=('USERNAME', 'PASSWORD'),
    json=payload,
)

# Print prettified response to stdout.
pprint(response.json())

Node.js

const https = require("https");

const username = "USERNAME";
const password = "PASSWORD";
const body = {
    source: "amazon_product",
    query: "B07FZ8S74R",
    geo_location: "90210",
    parse: true,
};

const options = {
    hostname: "realtime.oxylabs.io",
    path: "/v1/queries",
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        Authorization:
            "Basic " + Buffer.from(`${username}:${password}`).toString("base64"),
    },
};

const request = https.request(options, (response) => {
    let data = "";

    response.on("data", (chunk) => {
        data += chunk;
    });

    response.on("end", () => {
        const responseData = JSON.parse(data);
        console.log(JSON.stringify(responseData, null, 2));
    });
});

request.on("error", (error) => {
    console.error("Error:", error);
});

request.write(JSON.stringify(body));
request.end();

PHP

<?php

$params = array(
    'source' => 'amazon_product',
    'query' => 'B07FZ8S74R',
    'geo_location' => '90210',
    'parse' => true,
);

$ch = curl_init();

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($params));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "USERNAME" . ":" . "PASSWORD");

$headers = array();
$headers[] = "Content-Type: application/json";
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $headers);

$result = curl_exec($ch);
echo $result;

if (curl_errno($ch)) {
    echo 'Error:' . curl_error($ch);
}
curl_close($ch);
?>

C#

using System;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Net.Http.Json;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace OxyApi
{
    class Program
    {
        static async Task Main()
        {
            const string Username = "USERNAME";
            const string Password = "PASSWORD";

            var parameters = new {
                source = "amazon_product",
                query = "B07FZ8S74R",
                geo_location = "90210",
                parse = true
            };

            var client = new HttpClient();

            Uri baseUri = new Uri("https://realtime.oxylabs.io");
            client.BaseAddress = baseUri;

            var requestMessage = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, "/v1/queries");
            requestMessage.Content = JsonContent.Create(parameters);

            var authenticationString = $"{Username}:{Password}";
            var base64EncodedAuthenticationString = Convert.ToBase64String(System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(authenticationString));
            requestMessage.Headers.Add("Authorization", "Basic " + base64EncodedAuthenticationString);

            var response = await client.SendAsync(requestMessage);
            var contents = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();

            Console.WriteLine(contents);
        }
    }
}

Golang

package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"io/ioutil"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	const Username = "USERNAME"
	const Password = "PASSWORD"

	payload := map[string]interface{}{
		"source":       "amazon_product",
		"query":        "B07FZ8S74R",
		"geo_location": "90210",
		"parse":        true,
	}

	jsonValue, _ := json.Marshal(payload)

	client := &http.Client{}
	request, _ := http.NewRequest("POST",
		"https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries",
		bytes.NewBuffer(jsonValue),
	)

	request.SetBasicAuth(Username, Password)
	request.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
	response, _ := client.Do(request)

	responseText, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(response.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(responseText))
}

HTTP

https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries?source=amazon_product&query=B07FZ8S74R&geo_location=90210&parse=true&access_token=12345abcde

Java

package org.example;

import okhttp3.*;
import org.json.JSONObject;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class Main implements Runnable {
    private static final String AUTHORIZATION_HEADER = "Authorization";
    public static final String USERNAME = "USERNAME";
    public static final String PASSWORD = "PASSWORD";

    public void run() {
        JSONObject jsonObject = new JSONObject();
        jsonObject.put("source", "amazon_product");
        jsonObject.put("query", "B07FZ8S74R");
        jsonObject.put("geo_location", "90210");
        jsonObject.put("parse", true);

        Authenticator authenticator = (route, response) -> {
            String credential = Credentials.basic(USERNAME, PASSWORD);
            return response
                    .request()
                    .newBuilder()
                    .header(AUTHORIZATION_HEADER, credential)
                    .build();
        };

        var client = new OkHttpClient.Builder()
                .authenticator(authenticator)
                .readTimeout(180, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
                .build();

        var mediaType = MediaType.parse("application/json; charset=utf-8");
        var body = RequestBody.create(jsonObject.toString(), mediaType);
        var request = new Request.Builder()
                .url("https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries")
                .post(body)
                .build();

        try (var response = client.newCall(request).execute()) {
            if (response.body() != null) {
                try (var responseBody = response.body()) {
                    System.out.println(responseBody.string());
                }
            }
        } catch (Exception exception) {
            System.out.println("Error: " + exception.getMessage());
        }

        System.exit(0);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new Thread(new Main()).start();
    }
}

JSON

{
    "source": "amazon_product",
    "query": "B07FZ8S74R",
    "geo_location": "90210",
    "parse": true
}

We use synchronous Realtime integration method in our examples. If you would like to use Proxy Endpoint or asynchronous Push-Pull integration, refer to the integration methods section.

Forming a request

1. Pick your integration method: synchronous (Realtime, Proxy Endpoint) or asynchronous (Push-Pull).

2. When forming a request, include the following elements:

Realtime

1. Endpoint:

POST https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries

2. Username and password (HTTP authentication). Create API user credentials either during your trial sign-up or product purchase.

USERNAME:PASSWORD

If you need more than one API user for your account, please contact our customer support or message our 24/7 live chat support.

3. Content-type. When submitting jobs, always add this header:

Content-Type: application/json

4. Payload:

   1. source - This parameter sets the scraper that will be used to process your request.

   2. URL or query - Provide the URL or query for the type of page you want to scrape. Refer to the table below and the corresponding target sub-pages for detailed guidance on when to use each parameter.

   3. Additional parameters: Optionally, you can include additional parameters such as geo_location, user_agent_type, parse, render and more to customize your scraping request.

{
    "source": "amazon_product",
    "query": "B07FZ8S74R",
    "geo_location": "90210",
    "parse": true
}

Proxy Endpoint

1. Endpoint:

GET realtime.oxylabs.io:60000

2. Ignore certificates. In cURL, it's -k or --insecure.

3. Username and password (HTTP authentication). Create API user credentials either during your trial sign-up or product purchase.

USERNAME:PASSWORD

If you need more than one API user for your account, please contact our customer support or message our 24/7 live chat support.

4. Payload:

   1. URL - Provide the URL for the page you want to scrape.

   2. Additional parameters: Optionally, you can include additional parameters such as geo_location, user_agent_type, parse, and send them as headers.

curl -k -x realtime.oxylabs.io:60000 \
-U "USERNAME:PASSWORD" \
'https://www.amazon.com/dp/b07fz8s74r' \
-H "x-oxylabs-geo-location: 90210" \
-H "x-oxylabs-parse: 1"

Push-Pull

1. Endpoint:

POST https://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries

2. Username and password (HTTP authentication). Create API user credentials either during your trial sign-up or product purchase.

USERNAME:PASSWORD

If you need more than one API user for your account, please contact our customer support or message our 24/7 live chat support.

3. Content-type. When submitting jobs, always add this header:

Content-Type: application/json

4. Payload:

   1. source - This parameter sets the scraper that will be used to process your request.

   2. URL or query - Provide the URL or query for the type of page you want to scrape. Refer to the table below and the corresponding target sub-pages for detailed guidance on when to use each parameter.

   3. Additional parameters: Optionally, you can include additional parameters such as geo_location, user_agent_type, parse, and more to customize your scraping request.

{
    "source": "amazon_product",
    "query": "B07FZ8S74R",
    "geo_location": "90210",
    "parse": true
}

5. Upon submitting a request, you will promptly receive a JSON response containing all job details, including job parameters, job ID, and URLs for downloading job results:

GET https://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries/{job_id}/results

GET https://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries/{job_id}/results?type=raw

GET https://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries/{job_id}/results?type=parsed

GET https://data.oxylabs.io/v1/queries/{job_id}/results?type=pn

Other websites

Getting started

Scrape any URL with our universal source. You can also add additional parameters.

Request sample

cURL

curl 'https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries' \
--user 'USERNAME:PASSWORD' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
        "source": "universal",
        "url": "https://sandbox.oxylabs.io/"
    }'

Python

import requests
from pprint import pprint


# Structure payload.
payload = {
    'source': 'universal',
    'url': 'https://sandbox.oxylabs.io/',
    # 'render': 'html', # If page type requires
}

# Get response.
response = requests.request(
    'POST',
    'https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries',
    auth=('USERNAME', 'PASSWORD'), # Your credentials go here
    json=payload,
)

# Instead of response with job status and results url, this will return the
# JSON response with results.
pprint(response.json())

Node.js

const https = require("https");

const username = "USERNAME";
const password = "PASSWORD";
const body = {
    source: "universal",
    url: "https://sandbox.oxylabs.io/",
    // 'render': 'html' // If page type requires
};

const options = {
    hostname: "realtime.oxylabs.io",
    path: "/v1/queries",
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        Authorization: "Basic " + Buffer.from(`${username}:${password}`).toString("base64"),
    },
};

const request = https.request(options, (response) => {
    let data = "";

    response.on("data", (chunk) => {
        data += chunk;
    });

    response.on("end", () => {
        const responseData = JSON.parse(data);
        console.log(JSON.stringify(responseData, null, 2));
    });
});

request.on("error", (error) => {
    console.error("Error:", error);
});

request.write(JSON.stringify(body));
request.end();

HTTP

# The whole string you submit has to be URL-encoded.