read-url

Convert web pages into clean Markdown text using CLI tools.

37|7|Updated Apr 8, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/archibate/dotfiles-claude --skill read-url
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: read-url
Source: https://github.com/archibate/dotfiles-claude/tree/main/skills/read-url
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/archibate/dotfiles-claude --skill read-url

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

💡 This Skill requires beautifulsoup4, markdownify, and includes scripts (resource) and references (resource) components.

What problem does it solve?

Extract clean, readable text content (markdown) from any web page. Use this when reading articles, docs, GitHub READMEs, blog posts, social posts, or papers, or when the user says "read this page", "what does this link say", provides a URL to read, curl returns noisy HTML, or WebFetch returns truncated, summarized, or refused results.

Core Features & Use Cases

  • Content extraction: Convert noisy HTML pages into clean, markdown-formatted text.
  • Versatile targeting: Handles articles, docs, READMEs, blogs, social posts, and research papers.
  • Fallback planning: If the page is JS-rendered or anti-bot protected, the skill routes to agent-browser or scrapling as needed.

Quick Start

Provide the cleaned Markdown text for the requested URL by fetching the page and stripping navigation, ads, and chrome.

Frequently Asked Questions about read-url

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

FAQPage Schema
How do I convert HTML to Markdown and extract clean text from a web page?

To convert HTML to Markdown and extract clean text, the skill fetches the web page, removes navigation and ads, and outputs readable Markdown. It handles articles, docs, READMEs, and blogs automatically.

What is the best way to extract readable content when curl returns noisy HTML?

Extracting readable content from noisy HTML is handled by stripping chrome, ads, and navigation elements. The skill uses content extraction tools like defuddle and markdownify to produce clean Markdown instead of raw HTML.

Does this web content extraction method work with JS-rendered or anti-bot protected pages?

Web content extraction for JS-rendered or anti-bot protected pages is supported through a fallback ladder. The skill routes requests to agent-browser or scrapling to bypass protection and retrieve the text.

Can I use this to read GitHub README files and research papers?

Yes, you can read GitHub README files, research papers, social posts, and documentation. The versatile targeting extracts the main content and formats it as clean Markdown for consistent reading.

What should I do if WebFetch returns truncated or refused results for a URL?

If WebFetch returns truncated or refused results, this skill fetches the page directly and applies HTML-to-Markdown conversion. It uses safe fallbacks to ensure complete text extraction from the target URL.