> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://sourcetable.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Web scraping and browser automation

> Extract data from websites, automate browser interactions, and capture web content with AI.

Sourcetable's AI can browse the web, extract structured data from websites, and automate browser interactions — all powered by Playwright under the hood. Ask in natural language, and the AI handles the technical details.

## Web scraping

Extract data from web pages and import it directly into your spreadsheet:

* "Scrape the product listings from this URL and put them in a table"
* "Extract all the pricing information from this competitor's website"
* "Pull the table of contents from this Wikipedia page"
* "Get the top 100 results from this search query and list them with titles and URLs"

The AI uses `playwright_browser` and `computer_use` tools to navigate pages, extract content, and structure it into spreadsheet-ready data.

## Browser automation

The AI can interact with web pages like a human user:

* **Navigate** to specific URLs
* **Click** buttons and links
* **Fill** forms and input fields
* **Scroll** through pages
* **Wait** for content to load
* **Extract** text, tables, images, and structured data

## Screenshots

Capture visual snapshots of web pages:

* "Take a screenshot of this dashboard URL"
* "Capture the pricing page of competitor.com"

The AI uses the `screenshot` tool to render the page and return the image.

## MCP integration (Apify)

For large-scale or recurring web scraping, Sourcetable integrates with Apify through MCP:

* Run pre-built Apify actors for common scraping tasks
* Scrape at scale with rate limiting and proxy rotation
* Schedule recurring scraping jobs
* Extract data from JavaScript-heavy single-page applications

Connect Apify from the [MCP connectors](/connectors/mcp) settings.

## Example workflows

### Price monitoring

> "Every week, scrape competitor pricing from these 5 URLs and add the results to my tracking spreadsheet"

### Lead generation

> "Extract company names, emails, and phone numbers from this directory page"

### Content aggregation

> "Pull the latest headlines and summaries from these 10 news sites"

### Data collection

> "Scrape the results table from this government statistics page and import it"

## Limitations

<Warning>
  Web scraping must comply with website terms of service and robots.txt directives. Some sites block automated access. The AI respects rate limits and will inform you if a site cannot be scraped.
</Warning>

* JavaScript-heavy sites may require Apify for reliable extraction
* Login-protected content requires valid credentials
* Some sites actively block scraping tools
* Large-scale scraping is better handled through the Apify MCP connector