> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.reader.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Your first scrape
> Make a single-URL request and understand every field in the response.
The shortest possible Reader request is a single URL. Let's make one, walk through what comes back, and know what each field means.
## Get a key
Sign up at [console.reader.dev](https://console.reader.dev) (free tier: 1,000 credits/month, no card). Copy your API key from the dashboard; it starts with `rdr_`.
```bash theme={null}
export READER_KEY="rdr_your_key"
```
## Make the request
```bash theme={null}
curl -X POST https://api.reader.dev/v1/read \
-H "x-api-key: $READER_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{ "url": "https://example.com" }'
```
Or with the JS SDK:
```ts theme={null}
import { ReaderClient } from "@vakra-dev/reader-js";
const reader = new ReaderClient({ apiKey: process.env.READER_KEY! });
const result = await reader.read({ url: "https://example.com" });
if (result.kind === "scrape") {
console.log(result.data.markdown);
}
```
Or Python:
```python theme={null}
from reader_py import ReaderClient
reader = ReaderClient(api_key=os.environ["READER_KEY"])
result = reader.read(url="https://example.com")
if result.kind == "scrape":
print(result.data.markdown)
```
## The response
```json theme={null}
{
"success": true,
"data": {
"url": "https://example.com",
"rawHtml": "Example Domain......",
"markdown": "# Example Domain\n\nThis domain is for use in illustrative examples...",
"metadata": {
"title": "Example Domain",
"description": null,
"statusCode": 200,
"duration": 487,
"cached": false,
"proxyMode": "standard",
"scrapedAt": "2026-04-04T12:00:00Z"
}
}
}
```
Field-by-field:
* `success: true`: the response envelope shape. Errors have `success: false`.
* `data.url`: canonical URL after any redirects
* `data.markdown`: the content, cleaned and converted to markdown
* `metadata.title` / `description`: extracted from the page's `` and `<meta>` tags
* `metadata.statusCode`: HTTP status the target site returned
* `metadata.duration`: milliseconds Reader spent on the scrape
* `metadata.cached`: `true` if this came from cache (free), `false` if it was a fresh fetch
* `metadata.proxyMode`: which mode actually ran (`"standard"` or `"premium"`). See [Proxy modes](/home/concepts/proxy-modes).
* `metadata.scrapedAt`: when the content was captured (on cache hits, this is the original capture time)
## You just spent 1 credit
By default Reader used `proxyMode: "standard"` (1 credit). Your balance dropped by 1. Check it:
```bash theme={null}
curl https://api.reader.dev/v1/usage/credits -H "x-api-key: $READER_KEY"
```
## What's next
* Try [requesting HTML alongside markdown](/home/guides/getting-started/markdown-and-html)
* [Strip unwanted boilerplate](/home/guides/getting-started/main-content)
* [Fetch many URLs at once](/home/guides/advanced/batch-scraping)