Web fetch

web_fetch does a plain HTTP GET and extracts readable content (HTML to markdown or text). It does not execute JavaScript. For JS-heavy sites or login-protected pages, use the Web Browser instead.

Quick start

Enabled by default, no configuration needed:

await web_fetch({ url: "https://example.com/article" });

Tool parameters

url · string · required

URL to fetch. http(s) only.

extractMode · 'markdown' | 'text' · default: "markdown"

Output format after main-content extraction.

maxChars · number

Truncate output to this many characters. Clamped to tools.web.fetch.maxCharsCap.

How it works

1. Fetch

   Sends an HTTP GET with a Chrome-like User-Agent and Accept-Language header. Blocks private/internal hostnames and re-checks redirects.

2. Extract

   Runs Readability (main-content extraction) on the HTML response.

3. Fallback (optional)

   If Readability fails and a fetch provider is available, retries through that provider (for example Firecrawl’s bot-circumvention mode).

4. Cache

   Results are cached for 15 minutes (configurable) to reduce repeated fetches of the same URL.

Progress updates

web_fetch emits a public progress line only when the fetch is still pending after five seconds:

Fetching page content...

Fast cache hits and quick network responses finish before the timer fires, so they never show a progress line. Canceling the call clears the timer. The progress line is channel UI state only and never contains fetched page content.

Config

{
  tools: {
    web: {
      fetch: {
        enabled: true, // default: true
        provider: "firecrawl", // optional; omit for auto-detect
        maxChars: 20000, // default output chars; capped by maxCharsCap
        maxCharsCap: 20000, // hard cap for maxChars param
        maxResponseBytes: 750000, // max download size before truncation (32000-10000000)
        timeoutSeconds: 30,
        cacheTtlMinutes: 15,
        maxRedirects: 3,
        useTrustedEnvProxy: false, // let a trusted HTTP(S) env proxy resolve DNS
        readability: true, // use Readability extraction
        userAgent: "Mozilla/5.0 ...", // override User-Agent
        ssrfPolicy: {
          allowRfc2544BenchmarkRange: true, // opt-in for trusted fake-IP proxies using 198.18.0.0/15
          allowIpv6UniqueLocalRange: true, // opt-in for trusted fake-IP proxies using fc00::/7
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Firecrawl fallback

If Readability extraction fails, web_fetch can fall back to Firecrawl for bot-circumvention and better extraction:

{
  tools: {
    web: {
      fetch: {
        provider: "firecrawl", // optional; omit for auto-detect from available credentials
      },
    },
  },
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      firecrawl: {
        enabled: true,
        config: {
          webFetch: {
            // apiKey: "fc-...", // optional; omit for keyless starter access
            baseUrl: "https://api.firecrawl.dev",
            onlyMainContent: true,
            maxAgeMs: 172800000, // cache duration (2 days)
            timeoutSeconds: 60,
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

plugins.entries.firecrawl.config.webFetch.apiKey is optional and supports SecretRef objects. Legacy tools.web.fetch.firecrawl.* config auto-migrates to plugins.entries.firecrawl.config.webFetch via openclaw doctor --fix.

If you configure a Firecrawl API-key SecretRef and it is unresolved with no FIRECRAWL_API_KEY env fallback, gateway startup fails fast.

Firecrawl baseUrl overrides are locked down: hosted traffic uses https://api.firecrawl.dev; self-hosted overrides must target private or internal endpoints, and http:// is accepted only for those private targets.

Current runtime behavior:

• tools.web.fetch.provider selects the fetch fallback provider explicitly.
• If provider is omitted, OpenClaw auto-detects the first ready web-fetch provider from configured credentials. Non-sandboxed web_fetch can use installed plugins that declare contracts.webFetchProviders and register a matching provider at runtime. The official Firecrawl plugin provides this fallback today.
• Sandboxed web_fetch calls allow bundled providers plus installed providers whose official npm or ClawHub provenance is verified. Today that permits the official Firecrawl plugin; third-party external fetch plugins stay excluded.
• If Readability is disabled, web_fetch skips straight to the selected provider fallback. If no provider is available, it fails closed.

Trusted env proxy

If your deployment requires web_fetch to go through a trusted outbound HTTP(S) proxy, set tools.web.fetch.useTrustedEnvProxy: true.

In this mode, OpenClaw still applies hostname-based SSRF checks before sending the request, but it lets the proxy resolve DNS instead of doing local DNS pinning. Enable this only when the proxy is operator-controlled and enforces outbound policy after DNS resolution.

If no HTTP(S) proxy env var is configured, or the target host is excluded by NO_PROXY, web_fetch falls back to the normal strict path with local DNS pinning.

Limits and safety

• maxChars is clamped to tools.web.fetch.maxCharsCap (default 20000)
• Response body is capped at maxResponseBytes (default 750000, clamped to 32000-10000000) before parsing; oversized responses are truncated with a warning
• Private/internal hostnames are blocked
• tools.web.fetch.ssrfPolicy.allowRfc2544BenchmarkRange and tools.web.fetch.ssrfPolicy.allowIpv6UniqueLocalRange are narrow opt-ins for trusted fake-IP proxy stacks; leave them unset unless your proxy owns those synthetic ranges and enforces its own destination policy
• Redirects are checked and limited by maxRedirects (default 3)
• useTrustedEnvProxy is an explicit opt-in and should only be enabled for operator-controlled proxies that still enforce outbound policy after DNS resolution
• web_fetch is best-effort — some sites need the Web Browser

Tool profiles

If you use tool profiles or allowlists, add web_fetch or group:web:

{
  tools: {
    allow: ["web_fetch"],
    // or: allow: ["group:web"]  (includes web_fetch, web_search, and x_search)
  },
}

Related

• Web Search — search the web with multiple providers
• Web Browser — full browser automation for JS-heavy sites
• Firecrawl — Firecrawl search and scrape tools