# universal-scraping-architect

Designs data extraction pipelines using Firecrawl or local Python scripts, validating output JSON before saving. It helps handle scraping with automated quality checks.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code · 35 installs · ★ 28733
- Author: Mehansh Barthwal
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills/tree/HEAD/engineering/universal-scraping-architect/skills/universal-scraping-architect/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-23
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/universal-scraping-architect

## What it does

The skill organizes extraction tasks across three modes: Firecrawl API for dynamic single-page applications, local Python for offline files, and a hybrid pipeline. If `project-context.md` exists, the agent inspects it first to evaluate schema targets and volume.

Inside are runner templates: `scripts/firecrawl_example.py` and `scripts/local_bs4_example.py`. Both run offline when passed `--sample`. Running local extraction requires `beautifulsoup4` and `pandas`. For Firecrawl, you must supply your own key exclusively via the `FIRECRAWL_API_KEY` environment variable; hardcoded keys are rejected immediately.

The skill enforces quality through `scripts/validate_extraction.py`. This validator exits with code 0 only when status is `ok`, blocking delivery if the JSON output is empty or malformed.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Plugin marketplace**
In the agent chat (not a shell):
```text
/plugin marketplace add alirezarezvani/claude-skills
```
In the agent chat (not a shell):
```text
/plugin install universal-scraping-architect@claude-code-skills
```
This installs the whole universal-scraping-architect plugin with all its skills

2. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add alirezarezvani/claude-skills --skill universal-scraping-architect -a claude-code
```

3. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/universal-scraping-architect/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/universal-scraping-architect/

### Codex

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/universal-scraping-architect/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/universal-scraping-architect/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install alirezarezvani/claude-skills universal-scraping-architect
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/universal-scraping-architect/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

**Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills --path engineering/universal-scraping-architect/skills/universal-scraping-architect
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/universal-scraping-architect/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills/tree/HEAD/engineering/universal-scraping-architect/skills/universal-scraping-architect/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- Build scraping pipelines for dynamic websites using Firecrawl API
- Extract data from local PDF, CSV, and static HTML files offline
- Validate output JSON schemas and detect empty payloads before delivery
- Clean and normalize scraped tabular data with Pandas

## Example prompts
- Scrape product listings from this dynamic website using Firecrawl and validate the JSON
- Parse this local HTML table using Python and save the output to CSV
- Run scripts/firecrawl_example.py with --sample to inspect the output shape

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 15f571b8e24672be.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 15f571b8e24672be
```text
---
name: "universal-scraping-architect"
description: "Use for web scraping, crawling, document extraction, API parsing, or building validation-heavy data pipelines using Firecrawl or local Python scripts."
---

# Universal Scraping Architect

Design complete, robust data-extraction pipelines with intelligent routing, validation, and token-budget tracking — not brittle one-off scripts.

**Dependency Notice:** BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) pattern for Firecrawl; API keys must only be loaded via environment variables. Per-script dependencies:

| Script | Dependencies | Exact CLI |
|---|---|---|
| `scripts/validate_extraction.py` | stdlib only | `python3 scripts/validate_extraction.py output.json --json` |
| `scripts/firecrawl_example.py` | `firecrawl`, `requests` (template; `--sample` runs offline) | `python3 scripts/firecrawl_example.py --sample` |
| `scripts/local_bs4_example.py` | `beautifulsoup4`, `pandas` (template; `--sample` runs offline) | `python3 scripts/local_bs4_example.py --sample` |

## Before Starting
**Check for context first:**
If `project-context.md` exists, read it before asking questions. Determine the target data format, scale of extraction, and deployment environment before writing any code.

## How This Skill Works

This skill supports 3 extraction modes based on intelligent routing:

### Mode 1: API-Driven (Firecrawl)
Use when the source is a public URL, heavily dynamic (JS/SPA), requires search-first discovery, or involves bulk crawling across a domain.
### Mode 2: Local Python (Traditional)
Use when extracting from local files (PDF, Excel, CSV), the data is private/sensitive, or the target is a simple static HTML page where Firecrawl is overkill.
### Mode 3: Hybrid Pipeline
Use when Firecrawl handles URL discovery/web extraction, but local Python (Pandas) is required to clean, normalize, and structure the output before saving.

## The Extraction Pipeline

When executing a scraping task, always follow this sequence:
1. **Route the Approach:** Explicitly state whether Firecrawl or Local Python is being used and why.
2. **Track Budgets:** Estimate Firecrawl API quotas or LLM token context limits before executing large jobs. 
3. **Extract Safely:** Implement checkpointing for multi-page jobs. Handle pagination and dynamic layouts gracefully. Start from the editable runner templates — `scripts/firecrawl_example.py` (Mode 1) or `scripts/local_bs4_example.py` (Mode 2); run each with `--sample` first to see the expected summary shape without network access.
```
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 15f571b8e24672be

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the 15f571b8e24672be tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

First 2517 of 4598 bytes. © Mehansh Barthwal · MIT · https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills/tree/HEAD/engineering/universal-scraping-architect/skills/universal-scraping-architect/SKILL.md

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---
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