# Botify Agent: HTML Grep

**ID:** `html_grep`

Search expressions in a page HTML and return surrounding context.


    Fetch the HTML of a given URL and search for one or more expressions in it.

    For each occurrence found, the agent returns the matching text along with
    a configurable number of characters of context on each side. Each expression
    can be a literal substring (default) or a Python regular expression, and is
    configured independently (case sensitivity, max matches, context size).
    

## Authentication

All endpoints require a **Bearer token** in the `Authorization` header.

```
Authorization: Bearer <your-token>
```

## Calling this agent

This agent supports the following processing modes:

| Mode | Type | Description |
|------|------|-------------|
| **Process** | Synchronous | Single-item processing. Best for real-time requests with immediate response. |
| **Batch Process** | Synchronous | Process multiple items in a single request for efficiency. |
| **Async Process** | Asynchronous | Single-item processing for long-running tasks that exceed timeout limits. |
| **Async Batch Process** | Asynchronous | Large-scale batch jobs with background processing. |

# Synchronous Processing

Synchronous calls block until the result is ready. Use these for quick operations where you need immediate results.

## Single Item Processing

Process a single input and receive the result immediately.

```
POST https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/process
```

### Request body

```json
{
  "item": {
    "url": "<url>"
  },
  "config": {
    "queries": []
  }
}
```

### Response

Returns a single processed item (HTTP 200).

### cURL example

```bash
curl -X POST "https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/process" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "item": {
    "url": "<url>"
  },
  "config": {
    "queries": []
  }
}'
```

## Batch Processing

Process multiple inputs in a single synchronous request. More efficient than making individual calls. Items are processed concurrently on the server.

```
POST https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/batch_process
```

### Request body

```json
{
  "items": [
    {
      "url": "<url>"
    }
  ],
  "config": {
    "queries": []
  }
}
```

### Response

Returns an array of results. Each element is either a successful processed item (`"status": "success"`) or an error (`"status": "error"`).

### cURL example

```bash
curl -X POST "https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/batch_process" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "items": [
    {
      "url": "<url>"
    }
  ],
  "config": {
    "queries": []
  }
}'
```

### When to use synchronous calls

- Processing completes within timeout limits (typically 30 seconds)
- You need immediate results for user-facing features
- Small to medium batch sizes (up to ~100 items)

# Asynchronous Processing

Asynchronous calls return immediately with a batch ID. You then poll for results using the `async_batches/` endpoints.

### Async processing flow

1. **Submit job** -- `POST` to `async_process` or `async_batch_process`
2. **Receive batch ID** -- response contains `batch_id`
3. **Poll status** -- `HEAD` request to check readiness (lightweight, no body)
4. **Get results** -- `GET` request to retrieve processed results

## Async Single Item

Submit a single item for background processing. Use the `/single` endpoint to retrieve the result.

```
POST https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/async_process
```

### Request body

```json
{
  "item": {
    "url": "<url>"
  },
  "config": {
    "queries": []
  }
}
```

### cURL example

```bash
# Step 1: Submit the job
curl -X POST "https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/async_process" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "item": {
    "url": "<url>"
  },
  "config": {
    "queries": []
  }
}'

# Response: { "batch_id": "abc123" }

# Step 2: Check if batch is ready (HEAD request -- lightweight check)
curl -I -X HEAD "https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/async_batches/abc123" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
# Returns 200 if ready, 204 if still processing

# Step 3: Get the result (for single-item async)
curl -X GET "https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/async_batches/abc123/single" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
# Returns 200 with result, 202 if still processing, 404 if batch not found
```

## Async Batch Processing

Submit multiple items for background processing. The request body uses **JSONL** (newline-delimited JSON) format.

```
POST https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/async_batch_process
```

### Request body (JSONL, `Content-Type: text/plain`)

The first line contains `config` and `batch_config`. Each subsequent line is an item with a unique `id`.

```
{"config": {"queries": []}, "batch_config": {}}
{"id": "item_1", "item": {"url": "<url>"}}
```

### Response

Returns a JSON object with `batch_id`, `status`, and a `Location` header.

### cURL example

```bash
# Step 1: Submit the batch job
curl -X POST "https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/async_batch_process" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: text/plain" \
  -d '{"config": {"queries": []}, "batch_config": {}}\n{"id": "item_1", "item": {"url": "<url>"}}'

# Response: { "batch_id": "xyz789" }

# Step 2: Check if batch is ready (HEAD request)
curl -I -X HEAD "https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/async_batches/xyz789" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
# Returns 200 if ready, 204 if still processing

# Step 3: Get all results
curl -X GET "https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/async_batches/xyz789" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
```

## Checking Batch Status

Use a lightweight `HEAD` request to check if your batch is ready without transferring data.

```
HEAD https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/async_batches/{batch_id}
```

```bash
curl -I -X HEAD "https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/async_batches/{batch_id}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

# Response headers indicate status:
# HTTP/1.1 200 OK        -> Batch is complete, results ready
# HTTP/1.1 204 No Content -> Still processing
# HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found -> Batch does not exist
```

## Retrieving Results

Once the batch is ready, fetch results using the appropriate endpoint.

```bash
# For async_process (single item) -- use /single endpoint
curl -X GET "https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/async_batches/{batch_id}/single" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

# For async_batch_process (multiple items) -- use base endpoint
curl -X GET "https://agents.botify.com/{org}/{project}/html_grep/async_batches/{batch_id}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
# Returns streaming JSONL where each line is a processed item or error
```

### Async response codes

| Code | Endpoint | Meaning | Action |
|------|----------|---------|--------|
| 200 | `HEAD` / `GET` | Batch complete, results ready | Read results from response body |
| 204 | `HEAD` | Still processing | Continue polling |
| 202 | `GET /single` | Still processing | Continue polling |
| 400 | `GET /single` | All items failed (client error) | Check error in response body |
| 404 | `HEAD` / `GET` | Batch does not exist | Verify `batch_id` is correct |

> **HEAD vs GET:** Use `HEAD` requests for lightweight status checks (no response body). Use `GET` only when ready to retrieve results to minimize bandwidth.

### When to use asynchronous calls

- Processing takes longer than 30 seconds
- Large batch sizes (100+ items)
- Background processing where immediate results aren't required
- Integration with job queues or workflow systems

## Python Example

A complete Python example showing both synchronous and asynchronous patterns.

```python
import requests
import time

API_TOKEN = "your_api_token"
BASE_URL = "https://agents.botify.com/{organization}/{project}"
AGENT = "html_grep"

headers = {
    "Authorization": f"Bearer {API_TOKEN}",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

single_payload = {
  "item": {
    "url": "<url>"
  },
  "config": {
    "queries": []
  }
}


def process_sync(payload: dict) -> dict:
    """Synchronous single-item processing."""
    response = requests.post(
        f"{BASE_URL}/{AGENT}/process",
        headers=headers,
        json=payload
    )
    response.raise_for_status()
    return response.json()


def process_async(
    payload: dict,
    poll_interval: int = 5,
    max_retries: int = 60
) -> dict:
    """Asynchronous single-item processing with polling."""
    # Submit job
    response = requests.post(
        f"{BASE_URL}/{AGENT}/async_process",
        headers=headers,
        json=payload
    )
    batch_id = response.json()["batch_id"]

    # Poll for results using HEAD (lightweight check)
    for _ in range(max_retries):
        status = requests.head(
            f"{BASE_URL}/{AGENT}/async_batches/{batch_id}",
            headers=headers
        )

        if status.status_code == 200:
            result = requests.get(
                f"{BASE_URL}/{AGENT}/async_batches/{batch_id}/single",
                headers=headers
            )
            return result.json()
        elif status.status_code == 204:
            time.sleep(poll_interval)
        else:
            raise Exception(f"Unexpected status: {status.status_code}")

    raise Exception("Max retries exceeded")


def process_async_batch(
    items: list,
    config: dict | None = None,
    poll_interval: int = 5
) -> dict:
    """Asynchronous batch processing with polling."""
    import json as _json

    # Build JSONL payload: first line is config, subsequent lines are items
    lines = [_json.dumps({"config": config or {}, "batch_config": {}})]
    for i, item in enumerate(items):
        lines.append(_json.dumps({"id": f"item_{i}", "item": item}))
    body = "\n".join(lines)

    # Submit batch (JSONL, text/plain)
    response = requests.post(
        f"{BASE_URL}/{AGENT}/async_batch_process",
        headers={**headers, "Content-Type": "text/plain"},
        data=body
    )
    batch_id = response.json()["batch_id"]

    # Poll until ready
    while True:
        status = requests.head(
            f"{BASE_URL}/{AGENT}/async_batches/{batch_id}",
            headers=headers
        )

        if status.status_code == 200:
            results = requests.get(
                f"{BASE_URL}/{AGENT}/async_batches/{batch_id}",
                headers=headers
            )
            return results.json()

        time.sleep(poll_interval)


# Example usage
# result = process_sync(single_payload)
# result = process_async(single_payload)
# results = process_async_batch([{"input": "item1"}, {"input": "item2"}])
```

## Billing

Fixed cost per URL requested. The search itself runs inside Botify. What you pay beyond the call is whatever fetching the page costs: nothing if it is in your SiteCrawler crawl, and a live page fetch otherwise, since this tool always allows the fallback.

These usage SKUs can be charged on a call, including SKUs from tools this one may call.

| SKU | Credits | Description | Used by |
| --- | ------- | ----------- | ------- |
| Tool call | 1 per request | Charged once per successful item, on top of any usage below. | This tool |
| Live page fetch | 495 per 1,000 page | Fetches a page from the live web as an ordinary visitor would. | HTML Fetch (`html_fetch`) |
| Live page fetch, hard-blocked page | 7,425 per 1,000 page | A page that refused every gentler attempt. Charged on top of them, so a hard-blocked page costs the whole sequence. | HTML Fetch (`html_fetch`) |
| Live page fetch, protected page | 2,475 per 1,000 page | A page that refused an ordinary fetch and had to be retried. Charged on top of the ordinary attempt, not instead of it. | HTML Fetch (`html_fetch`) |


## Schemas

### Item

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "url": {
      "description": "The URL to fetch the HTML from. Temporary uploaded URLs on https://app.botify.com/:organization/:project/o/storage/tmp are allowed.",
      "title": "Url",
      "type": "string"
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "url"
  ]
}
```

### Config

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "queries": {
      "description": "List of search queries to run against the fetched HTML. Each query is processed independently and shared by all items in a batch.",
      "items": {
        "$ref": "#/$defs/HtmlGrepQuery"
      },
      "minItems": 1,
      "title": "Queries",
      "type": "array"
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "queries"
  ],
  "$defs": {
    "HtmlGrepQuery": {
      "properties": {
        "expression": {
          "description": "Expression to search in the HTML. Interpreted as a literal substring unless `is_regex` is True.",
          "minLength": 1,
          "title": "Expression",
          "type": "string"
        },
        "n_chars": {
          "default": 100,
          "description": "Number of characters of context to keep on each side of the match.",
          "minimum": 0,
          "title": "N Chars",
          "type": "integer"
        },
        "is_regex": {
          "default": false,
          "description": "If True, `expression` is interpreted as a Python regular expression. Otherwise, it is treated as a literal substring.",
          "title": "Is Regex",
          "type": "boolean"
        },
        "case_sensitive": {
          "default": true,
          "description": "If True, the search is case-sensitive.",
          "title": "Case Sensitive",
          "type": "boolean"
        },
        "max_matches": {
          "default": 10,
          "description": "Maximum number of matches returned for this query. Use 0 (or a negative value) to return all matches.",
          "title": "Max Matches",
          "type": "integer"
        }
      },
      "required": [
        "expression"
      ],
      "title": "HtmlGrepQuery",
      "type": "object"
    }
  }
}
```

### Response

```json
{
  "$defs": {
    "HtmlGrepMatch": {
      "properties": {
        "match": {
          "description": "The exact substring that matched",
          "title": "Match",
          "type": "string"
        },
        "context": {
          "description": "The match with up to `n_chars` characters around it",
          "title": "Context",
          "type": "string"
        },
        "start": {
          "description": "Start offset of the match in the HTML",
          "title": "Start",
          "type": "integer"
        },
        "end": {
          "description": "End offset of the match in the HTML",
          "title": "End",
          "type": "integer"
        }
      },
      "required": [
        "match",
        "context",
        "start",
        "end"
      ],
      "title": "HtmlGrepMatch",
      "type": "object"
    },
    "HtmlGrepQuery": {
      "properties": {
        "expression": {
          "description": "Expression to search in the HTML. Interpreted as a literal substring unless `is_regex` is True.",
          "minLength": 1,
          "title": "Expression",
          "type": "string"
        },
        "n_chars": {
          "default": 100,
          "description": "Number of characters of context to keep on each side of the match.",
          "minimum": 0,
          "title": "N Chars",
          "type": "integer"
        },
        "is_regex": {
          "default": false,
          "description": "If True, `expression` is interpreted as a Python regular expression. Otherwise, it is treated as a literal substring.",
          "title": "Is Regex",
          "type": "boolean"
        },
        "case_sensitive": {
          "default": true,
          "description": "If True, the search is case-sensitive.",
          "title": "Case Sensitive",
          "type": "boolean"
        },
        "max_matches": {
          "default": 10,
          "description": "Maximum number of matches returned for this query. Use 0 (or a negative value) to return all matches.",
          "title": "Max Matches",
          "type": "integer"
        }
      },
      "required": [
        "expression"
      ],
      "title": "HtmlGrepQuery",
      "type": "object"
    },
    "HtmlGrepQueryResult": {
      "properties": {
        "query": {
          "$ref": "#/$defs/HtmlGrepQuery",
          "description": "The query this result corresponds to (echoed back)"
        },
        "matches": {
          "default": [],
          "description": "Matches found for this query, up to `max_matches`",
          "items": {
            "$ref": "#/$defs/HtmlGrepMatch"
          },
          "title": "Matches",
          "type": "array"
        },
        "total_matches": {
          "default": 0,
          "description": "Total number of matches found in the HTML for this query (may be greater than `len(matches)` when truncated).",
          "title": "Total Matches",
          "type": "integer"
        },
        "truncated": {
          "default": false,
          "description": "True if results were truncated by `max_matches`.",
          "title": "Truncated",
          "type": "boolean"
        }
      },
      "required": [
        "query"
      ],
      "title": "HtmlGrepQueryResult",
      "type": "object"
    }
  },
  "properties": {
    "crawl": {
      "anyOf": [
        {
          "type": "string"
        },
        {
          "type": "null"
        }
      ],
      "default": null,
      "description": "If fetched from SiteCrawler, the crawl slug used",
      "title": "Crawl"
    },
    "results": {
      "default": [],
      "description": "One result per input query, in the same order as `queries`.",
      "items": {
        "$ref": "#/$defs/HtmlGrepQueryResult"
      },
      "title": "Results",
      "type": "array"
    },
    "reason": {
      "anyOf": [
        {
          "type": "string"
        },
        {
          "type": "null"
        }
      ],
      "default": null,
      "description": "Reason for an empty result, if any",
      "title": "Reason"
    }
  },
  "title": "HtmlGrepProcessedItem",
  "type": "object"
}
```

## Best Practices

**Use exponential backoff for polling.** Start with short intervals (1-2 seconds) and increase the delay between polls to reduce API load.

**Set reasonable timeouts.** For synchronous calls, configure your HTTP client with appropriate timeout values (30-60 seconds).

**Handle rate limits gracefully.** Implement retry logic with backoff when you receive 429 (Too Many Requests) responses.

**Batch when possible.** Use batch endpoints to reduce the number of API calls and improve throughput.