git:20260614.47d1cd5 to git:20260615.bb90396

---

name: servo-fetch

description: "Fetch and render web pages using the Servo browser engine — a single binary with JS execution, CSS layout, screenshots, and content extraction. Use when a URL returns empty or incomplete content with plain HTTP fetch, when you need a screenshot without GPU, or when you need to run JavaScript in a page context. No browser download required."

---

# servo-fetch

## When to use

- A URL returns empty or incomplete content with simple HTTP fetch (SPA, React, Vue)

- You need a screenshot of a web page in CI/Docker (no GPU available)

- You need to evaluate JavaScript in a page context (DOM queries, data extraction)

- You want clean Markdown from a documentation site, blog, or article

- You need to crawl an entire documentation site or blog for RAG / knowledge ingestion

- You need the accessibility tree with bounding boxes for a page

## When NOT to use

- The page is simple static HTML (use `curl` or built-in web fetch instead)

- You need to interact with the page (click, fill forms) — servo-fetch is read-only

- You need full Chromium compatibility for complex web apps

## Tools (MCP)

Start the MCP server: `servo-fetch mcp` (stdio) or `servo-fetch mcp --port 8080` (Streamable HTTP)

### fetch

Extract readable content from a URL. JavaScript is executed, CSS layout is computed, and navigation noise (navbars, sidebars, footers, cookie banners) is stripped automatically.

Parameters:

- `url` (required): URL to fetch (http/https only)

- `format`: `"markdown"` (default), `"json"`, `"html"`, `"text"`, or `"accessibility_tree"`

- `selector`: CSS selector to extract a specific section instead of full-page extraction

```text

fetch(url: "https://docs.rs/tokio", format: "markdown")

fetch(url: "https://example.com", format: "json", selector: "article")

fetch(url: "https://example.com", format: "accessibility_tree")

```

PDF URLs are auto-detected via Content-Type and extracted directly.

### batch_fetch

Fetch multiple URLs in parallel. Results are returned as separate content entries in completion order. Failed URLs are reported inline without aborting the batch.

Parameters:

- `urls` (required): array of URLs to fetch (http/https only, max 20)

- `selector`: CSS selector to extract a specific section

```text

batch_fetch(urls: ["https://a.com", "https://b.com"], format: "markdown")

batch_fetch(urls: ["https://a.com", "https://b.com"], format: "json", selector: "article")

```

### crawl

Crawl a website starting from a URL, following same-site links via BFS. JavaScript is executed, CSS layout is computed, and navigation noise is stripped. Respects robots.txt.

Parameters:

- `url` (required): starting URL to crawl (http/https only)

- `format`: `"markdown"` (default) or `"json"`

- `selector`: CSS selector to extract a specific section per page

```text

```

### screenshot

Capture a PNG screenshot. Uses Servo's software renderer — works without GPU.

Parameters:

- `url` (required): URL to capture

```text

screenshot(url: "https://example.com")

```

### execute_js

Evaluate a JavaScript expression after the page loads. Console messages (log, warn, error) are appended to the result.

Parameters:

- `url` (required): URL to load

- `expression` (required): JavaScript expression to evaluate

```text

execute_js(url: "https://example.com", expression: "document.title")

execute_js(url: "https://example.com", expression: "[...document.querySelectorAll('h2')].map(e => e.textContent)")

```

## CLI

```bash

servo-fetch https://example.com # Markdown (default)

servo-fetch https://example.com --format json # Structured JSON

servo-fetch URL1 URL2 URL3 # Parallel batch (Markdown with separators)

servo-fetch URL1 URL2 --format json # Parallel batch (NDJSON)

servo-fetch https://example.com --format png -o out.png # Save PNG screenshot

servo-fetch https://example.com --js "document.title" # Run JavaScript and print result

servo-fetch https://example.com --selector article # Extract a section by CSS selector

servo-fetch https://example.com --schema schema.json # Schema-driven JSON

servo-fetch https://example.com --cookies cookies.txt # Send session cookies

servo-fetch https://example.com -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" # Custom request header (repeatable)

servo-fetch https://example.com --format html # Raw HTML

servo-fetch https://example.com --format text # Plain text

servo-fetch https://example.com -t 60 # Custom timeout

servo-fetch https://example.com --settle 500 # Extra wait for SPAs

servo-fetch crawl https://docs.example.com --limit 20 # Crawl a site (BFS)

servo-fetch crawl https://docs.example.com --include "/docs/**" # Crawl with path filter

servo-fetch URL --output page.md # Save a single URL to a file

servo-fetch crawl URL --output-dir ./pages/ # One file per page

```

## Gotchas

- Servo's web compatibility is improving but not at Chromium level — best for docs, blogs, and SSR sites

- Private/reserved IP addresses are blocked (SSRF protection)

- Default timeout is 30 seconds; increase with `timeout` parameter for slow pages

- Cookie banners and newsletter popups are stripped via injected user stylesheets

For pagination patterns, format selection, and MCP configuration, see `references/guide.md`.