README

The official PHP SDK for Spidra that allows you to scrape pages, run browser actions, batch-process URLs, and crawl entire sites. All results come back as structured data ready to feed into your pipelines or store directly.

Requirements

PHP >= 8.1
Composer

Installation

composer require spidra/spidra-php

Get your API key at app.spidra.io under Settings → API Keys.

Quick Start

use Spidra\SpidraClient;

$spidra = new SpidraClient('spd_YOUR_API_KEY');

$job = $spidra->scrape->run([
    'urls'   => [['url' => 'https://news.ycombinator.com']],
    'prompt' => 'List the top 5 stories with title, points, and comment count',
    'output' => 'json',
]);

print_r($job['result']['content']);

Scraping
Batch Scraping
Crawling
Logs
Usage Statistics
Error Handling

Scraping

All scrape jobs run asynchronously. The run() method submits a job and polls until it finishes. If you need more control, use submit() and get() directly.

Up to 3 URLs can be passed per request and they are processed in parallel.

Basic scrape

$job = $spidra->scrape->run([
    'urls'   => [['url' => 'https://example.com/pricing']],
    'prompt' => 'Extract all pricing plans with name, price, and included features',
    'output' => 'json',
]);

print_r($job['result']['content']);
// ['plans' => [['name' => 'Starter', 'price' => '$9/mo', 'features' => [...]], ...]]

Structured output with JSON schema

When you need a guaranteed shape, pass a schema. The API will enforce the structure and return null for any missing fields rather than hallucinating values.

$job = $spidra->scrape->run([
    'urls'   => [['url' => 'https://jobs.example.com/senior-engineer']],
    'prompt' => 'Extract the job listing details',
    'output' => 'json',
    'schema' => [
        'type'       => 'object',
        'required'   => ['title', 'company', 'remote'],
        'properties' => [
            'title'      => ['type' => 'string'],
            'company'    => ['type' => 'string'],
            'remote'     => ['type' => ['boolean', 'null']],
            'salary_min' => ['type' => ['number', 'null']],
            'salary_max' => ['type' => ['number', 'null']],
            'skills'     => ['type' => 'array', 'items' => ['type' => 'string']],
        ],
    ],
]);

Geo-targeted scraping

Pass useProxy: true and a proxyCountry code to route the request through a specific country. Useful for geo-restricted content or localized pricing.

$job = $spidra->scrape->run([
    'urls'         => [['url' => 'https://www.amazon.de/gp/bestsellers']],
    'prompt'       => 'List the top 10 products with name and price',
    'useProxy'     => true,
    'proxyCountry' => 'de',
]);

Supported country codes include: us, gb, de, fr, jp, au, ca, br, in, nl, sg, es, it, mx, and 40+ more. Use "global" or "eu" for regional routing.

Authenticated pages

Pass cookies as a string to scrape pages that require a login session.

$job = $spidra->scrape->run([
    'urls'    => [['url' => 'https://app.example.com/dashboard']],
    'prompt'  => 'Extract the monthly revenue and active user count',
    'cookies' => 'session=abc123; auth_token=xyz789',
]);

Browser actions

Actions let you interact with the page before the scrape runs. They execute in order, and the scrape happens after all actions complete.

$job = $spidra->scrape->run([
    'urls' => [
        [
            'url'     => 'https://example.com/products',
            'actions' => [
                ['type' => 'click', 'selector' => '#accept-cookies'],
                ['type' => 'wait',  'duration' => 1000],
                ['type' => 'scroll', 'to' => '80%'],
            ],
        ],
    ],
    'prompt' => 'Extract all product names and prices',
]);

Available actions:

Action	Required fields	Description
`click`	`selector` or `value`	Click a button, link, or any element
`type`	`selector`, `value`	Type text into an input or textarea
`check`	`selector` or `value`	Check a checkbox
`uncheck`	`selector` or `value`	Uncheck a checkbox
`wait`	`duration` (ms)	Pause for a set number of milliseconds
`scroll`	`to` (0–100%)	Scroll the page to a percentage of its height
`forEach`	`observe`	Loop over every matched element and process each one

For selector, use a CSS selector. For value, use a plain English description and Spidra will locate the element using AI.

// CSS selector
['type' => 'click', 'selector' => "button[data-testid='submit']"]

// Plain English — AI finds the element
['type' => 'click', 'value' => 'Accept all cookies button']

// Type into a field
['type' => 'type', 'selector' => "input[name='q']", 'value' => 'wireless headphones']

// Wait for content to load
['type' => 'wait', 'duration' => 2000]

// Scroll to bottom
['type' => 'scroll', 'to' => '100%']

forEach: process every element on a page

forEach finds a set of elements on the page and processes each one individually. It is the right tool when you need to collect data from a list of items, paginate through multiple pages, or click into each item's detail page.

You don't need forEach if the data fits on a single page and is short — a plain prompt is simpler and works just as well.

Use forEach when:

The list spans multiple pages and you need pagination
You need to click into each item's detail page (navigate mode)
You have 20+ items and want per-item AI extraction to stay consistent (itemPrompt)

inline mode

Read each element's content directly without navigating. Best for product cards, search results, table rows.

$job = $spidra->scrape->run([
    'urls' => [
        [
            'url'     => 'https://books.toscrape.com/catalogue/category/books/mystery_3/index.html',
            'actions' => [
                [
                    'type'            => 'forEach',
                    'observe'         => 'Find all book cards in the product grid',
                    'mode'            => 'inline',
                    'captureSelector' => 'article.product_pod',
                    'maxItems'        => 20,
                    'itemPrompt'      => 'Extract title, price, and star rating. Return as JSON: {title, price, star_rating}',
                ],
            ],
        ],
    ],
    'prompt' => 'Return a clean JSON array of all books',
    'output' => 'json',
]);

navigate mode

Follow each element's link to its destination page and capture content there. Best for product listings where the full detail is only on the individual page.

[
    'type'            => 'forEach',
    'observe'         => 'Find all book title links in the product grid',
    'mode'            => 'navigate',
    'captureSelector' => 'article.product_page',
    'maxItems'        => 10,
    'waitAfterClick'  => 800,
    'itemPrompt'      => 'Extract title, price, star rating, and availability. Return as JSON.',
]

click mode

Click each element, capture the content that appears (a modal, drawer, or expanded section), then move on. Best for hotel room cards, FAQ accordions, or any UI where clicking reveals hidden content.

[
    'type'            => 'forEach',
    'observe'         => 'Find all room type cards',
    'mode'            => 'click',
    'captureSelector' => "[role='dialog']",
    'maxItems'        => 8,
    'waitAfterClick'  => 1200,
    'itemPrompt'      => 'Extract room name, bed type, price per night, and amenities. Return as JSON.',
]

Pagination

After processing all elements on the current page, follow the next-page link and continue collecting.

[
    'type'       => 'forEach',
    'observe'    => 'Find all book title links',
    'mode'       => 'navigate',
    'maxItems'   => 40,
    'pagination' => [
        'nextSelector' => 'li.next > a',
        'maxPages'     => 3, // 3 additional pages beyond the first
    ],
]

maxItems applies across all pages combined. The loop stops when you hit maxItems, run out of elements, or reach maxPages.

Per-element actions

Run additional browser actions on each item after navigating or clicking into it, before the content is captured. Useful for scrolling below the fold or expanding collapsed sections.

[
    'type'            => 'forEach',
    'observe'         => 'Find all book title links',
    'mode'            => 'navigate',
    'captureSelector' => 'article.product_page',
    'maxItems'        => 5,
    'waitAfterClick'  => 1000,
    'actions'         => [
        ['type' => 'scroll', 'to' => '50%'],
    ],
    'itemPrompt' => 'Extract title, price, and full description. Return as JSON.',
]

itemPrompt vs top-level prompt

	`itemPrompt`	`prompt`
When it runs	During scraping, once per item	After all items are collected
What it sees	One item's content	All items combined
Output location	`result['content']` (per-item array)	`result['content']` (final shaped output)

Use itemPrompt to extract fields from each item individually. Use the top-level prompt to filter, sort, or reshape the full combined output. They can be used together.

Manual job control

Use submit() and get() when you want to manage polling yourself, or fire-and-forget and check back later.

// Submit a job and get the jobId immediately
$queued = $spidra->scrape->submit([
    'urls'   => [['url' => 'https://example.com/listings']],
    'prompt' => 'Extract all property listings',
    'output' => 'json',
]);

$jobId = $queued['jobId'];

// Check status at any point
$result = $spidra->scrape->get($jobId);

if ($result['status'] === 'completed') {
    print_r($result['result']['content']);
} elseif ($result['status'] === 'failed') {
    echo $result['error'];
}

Job statuses: waiting, active, completed, failed.

Timeout option:

run() accepts a $timeout (seconds) and $pollInterval (seconds) argument:

$job = $spidra->scrape->run(
    params:       [...],
    timeout:      180, // wait up to 3 minutes
    pollInterval: 5,   // check every 5 seconds
);

Batch Scraping

Submit up to 50 URLs in a single request. All URLs are processed in parallel. Each URL is a plain string.

$batch = $spidra->batch->run([
    'urls'     => [
        'https://shop.example.com/product/1',
        'https://shop.example.com/product/2',
        'https://shop.example.com/product/3',
    ],
    'prompt'   => 'Extract product name, price, and availability',
    'output'   => 'json',
    'useProxy' => true,
]);

foreach ($batch['items'] as $item) {
    if ($item['status'] === 'completed') {
        echo $item['url'] . ': ';
        print_r($item['result']);
    } elseif ($item['status'] === 'failed') {
        echo $item['url'] . ' failed: ' . $item['error'] . "\n";
    }
}

Retry failed items:

$queued = $spidra->batch->submit([
    'urls'   => ['https://example.com/1', 'https://example.com/2'],
    'prompt' => 'Extract the page title',
]);

$batchId = $queued['batchId'];

// Later, after checking status
$result = $spidra->batch->get($batchId);
if ($result['failedCount'] > 0) {
    $spidra->batch->retry($batchId);
}

Cancel a running batch:

$result = $spidra->batch->cancel($batchId);
echo "Cancelled {$result['cancelledItems']} items, refunded {$result['creditsRefunded']} credits\n";

List past batches:

$result = $spidra->batch->list(page: 1, limit: 20);

foreach ($result['jobs'] as $job) {
    echo "{$job['uuid']} {$job['status']} {$job['completedCount']}/{$job['totalUrls']}\n";
}

Crawling

Given a starting URL, Spidra discovers pages automatically according to your instruction and extracts structured data from each one.

$job = $spidra->crawl->run([
    'baseUrl'              => 'https://competitor.com/blog',
    'crawlInstruction'     => 'Find all blog posts published in 2024',
    'transformInstruction' => 'Extract the title, author, publish date, and a one-sentence summary',
    'maxPages'             => 30,
    'useProxy'             => true,
]);

foreach ($job['result'] as $page) {
    echo $page['url'] . "\n";
    print_r($page['data']);
}

Submit without waiting:

$queued = $spidra->crawl->submit([
    'baseUrl'              => 'https://example.com/docs',
    'crawlInstruction'     => 'Find all documentation pages',
    'transformInstruction' => 'Extract the page title and main content summary',
    'maxPages'             => 50,
]);

$jobId = $queued['jobId'];

// Check status later
$status = $spidra->crawl->get($jobId);

Get signed download URLs for all crawled pages:

Each page includes html_url and markdown_url pointing to S3-signed URLs that expire after 1 hour.

$result = $spidra->crawl->pages($jobId);

foreach ($result['pages'] as $page) {
    echo $page['url'] . ' — ' . $page['status'] . "\n";
    // $page['html_url']     — download raw HTML
    // $page['markdown_url'] — download markdown
}

Re-extract with a new instruction:

Runs a new AI transformation over an existing completed crawl without re-crawling. Charges credits for the transformation only.

$newJob = $spidra->crawl->extract(
    $sourceJobId,
    'Extract only the product SKUs and prices as a flat list'
);

// Poll the new job
$result = $spidra->crawl->get($newJob['jobId']);

Crawl history and stats:

$history = $spidra->crawl->history(page: 1, limit: 10);
foreach ($history['jobs'] as $job) {
    echo "{$job['base_url']} — {$job['status']} — {$job['pages_crawled']} pages\n";
}

$stats = $spidra->crawl->stats();
echo "Total crawls: {$stats['total']}\n";

Logs

Scrape logs are stored for every job that runs through the API.

// List logs with optional filters
$result = $spidra->logs->list([
    'status'    => 'failed',       // 'success' | 'failed'
    'searchTerm'=> 'amazon.com',
    'dateStart' => '2024-01-01',
    'dateEnd'   => '2024-12-31',
    'page'      => 1,
    'limit'     => 20,
]);

foreach ($result['data']['logs'] as $log) {
    echo $log['urls'][0]['url'] . ' — ' . $log['status'] . ' — ' . $log['credits_used'] . " credits\n";
}

Get a single log with full extraction result:

$log = $spidra->logs->get('log-uuid-here');
print_r($log['data']['result_data']); // full AI output for that job

Usage Statistics

Returns credit and request usage broken down by day or week.

// Range options: '7d' | '30d' | 'weekly'
$result = $spidra->usage->get('30d');

foreach ($result['data'] as $row) {
    echo "{$row['date']}: {$row['requests']} requests, {$row['credits']} credits, {$row['tokens']} tokens\n";
}

Error Handling

Every API error throws a typed exception. Catch the specific class you care about or fall back to the base SpidraException.

use Spidra\Exceptions\AuthenticationException;
use Spidra\Exceptions\InsufficientCreditsException;
use Spidra\Exceptions\RateLimitException;
use Spidra\Exceptions\ServerException;
use Spidra\Exceptions\SpidraException;

try {
    $job = $spidra->scrape->run([...]);
} catch (AuthenticationException $e) {
    // 401 — API key is missing or invalid
    echo "Check your API key\n";
} catch (InsufficientCreditsException $e) {
    // 403 — monthly credit limit reached
    echo "Out of credits. Top up at app.spidra.io\n";
} catch (RateLimitException $e) {
    // 429 — too many requests
    echo "Rate limited, back off and retry\n";
} catch (ServerException $e) {
    // 500 — something went wrong on Spidra's side
    echo "Server error, try again\n";
} catch (SpidraException $e) {
    // Any other API error
    echo "{$e->statusCode}: {$e->getMessage()}\n";
}

Custom Base URL

$spidra = new SpidraClient(
    apiKey:  'spd_YOUR_API_KEY',
    baseUrl: 'http://localhost:4321/api', // for local development
);

Resources

License

MIT

spidra / spidra-php

Maintainers

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