improve-spider

Patch failing CSS/XPath selectors in Scrapy spiders from improvement logs.

1|1|Updated Mar 27, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/jadecli/researchers --skill improve-spider
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: improve-spider
Source: https://github.com/jadecli/researchers/tree/main/claude-code/.claude/skills/improve-spider
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/jadecli/researchers --skill improve-spider

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve?

Read accumulated improvement logs and patch the specified spider's selectors to improve extraction quality.

Core Features & Use Cases

  • Read latest improvement logs from improvements/*.jsonl and extract patterns in failing selectors
  • Identify the target spider code at scrapy_researchers/spiders/$ARGUMENTS.py and analyze parse methods
  • Patch selectors with robust fallbacks, add content-type extraction, and validate changes with a quick crawl

Quick Start

Run the skill against a target spider by supplying its name as an argument and verify improvements with a short Scrapy crawl.

Frequently Asked Questions about improve-spider

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I patch failing Scrapy spider selectors for higher data quality?

Patch failing Scrapy spider selectors by reading accumulated JSONL improvement logs to identify failure patterns, then updating the target spider code with robust CSS and XPath fallbacks for higher extraction quality.

Why does my Scrapy spider extraction fail on noisy pages with layout changes?

Scrapy spider extraction fails on noisy pages when CSS or XPath selectors break due to content-type mismatches and layout changes, requiring selector patching with resilient fallbacks to handle the structural variations.

How to analyze improvement logs to fix broken CSS and XPath selectors in web scraping?

Analyze improvement logs from JSONL files to extract failure patterns in broken CSS and XPath selectors, then apply those patterns to generate resilient selector patches for the target Scrapy spider code.

Can I use this approach to fix content-type mismatches in Scrapy spiders with multiple variants?

Yes, you can fix content-type mismatches in Scrapy spiders with multiple variants by reading the latest JSONL improvement logs, identifying failure patterns, and adding content-type extraction logic to the target spider.

What is the best way to update Scrapy spiders when website layouts change and selectors stop working?

Update Scrapy spiders by reading the latest improvement logs to detect failing selectors caused by layout changes, patching the spider code at the specified path with robust fallbacks, and validating with a short crawl.

Do I need improvement logs to patch spider selectors for web scraping?

Yes, you need accumulated JSONL improvement logs to identify failing selector patterns, as the patching process reads these logs to generate resilient CSS and XPath replacements for the target Scrapy spider.