extract

What the source does

• FilesystemNone observedNo reads or writes in the source
• NetworkNone observedNo outbound calls in the source
• ShellNone observedNo commands run in the source
• DependenciesPinnedNothing floats
• SecretsNone foundNo keys in source

Five audit layers

Gates applied: no behavioural pass.

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha 7e3aabf1f8bb · 22 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publisheractionbook GitHub organizationOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source folderactionbook/actionbook/skills/extractThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceApache-2.0As the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdict7e3aabf1f8bbA new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedLast push 2 days ago
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: Extract structured data from websites and produce an executable Playwright script plus extracted data. Use when the user wants to scrape, extract, pull, collect, or harvest data from any website — product listings,…

---
name: extract
description: Extract structured data from websites and produce an executable Playwright script plus extracted data. Use when the user wants to scrape, extract, pull, collect, or harvest data from any website — product listings, tables, search results, feeds, profiles, or any repeating content.
---

## When to Use This Skill

Activate when the user wants to **obtain data** from a website:

- "Extract all product prices from this page"
- "Scrape the table of results from ..."
- "Pull the list of authors and titles from arXiv search results"
- "Collect all job listings from this page"
- "Get the data from this dashboard table"
- "Harvest review scores from ..."
- "Download all the links/images/cards from ..."

The deliverable is always **two artifacts**:

1. **Executable Playwright script** — a standalone `.cjs` file that reproduces the extraction without Actionbook at runtime.
2. **Extracted data** — JSON (default), CSV, or user-specified format written to disk.

## Decision Strategy

Use Actionbook as a **conditional accelerator**, not a mandatory step. The goal is reliable selectors in the shortest path.

```
User request
  │
  ├─► actionbook search "<site> <intent>"
  │     ├─ Results with Health Score ≥ 70%  ──► actionbook get "<ID>" ──► use selectors
  │     └─ No results / low score  ──► Fallback
  │
  └─► Fallback: actionbook browser open <url>
        ├─ actionbook browser snapshot   (accessibility tree → find selectors)
        ├─ actionbook browser screenshot (visual confirmation)
        └─ manual selector discovery via DOM inspection
```

**Priority order for selector sources:**

| Priority | Source | When |
|----------|--------|------|
| 1 | `actionbook get` | Site is indexed, health score ≥ 70% |
| 2 | `actionbook browser snapshot` | Not indexed or selectors outdated |
| 3 | DOM inspection via screenshot + snapshot | Complex SPA / dynamic content |

**Non-negotiable rule:** if `search + get` already provides usable selectors for required fields, start from `get` selectors and do not jump to full fallback (`snapshot`/`screenshot`) by default. Exception: lightweight mechanism probes (for hydration/virtualization/pagination) are allowed when runtime behavior may affect script correctness. Escalate to `snapshot`/`screenshot` only when probes/sample validation indicate selector gaps or instability.

## Mechanism-Aware Script Strategy

Websites use patterns that break naive scraping. The generated Playwright script **must** account for these:

### Streaming / SSR / RSC hydration

Pages may render a shell first, then stream or hydrate content.

```javascript
// Wait for hydration to complete — not just DOMContentLoaded
await page.waitForSelector('[data-item]', { state: 'attached' });
await page.waitForFunction(() => {
  const items = document.querySelectorAll('[data-item]');
  return items.length > 0 && !document.querySelector('[data-pending]');
});
```

**Detection cues:** React root with `data-reactroot`, Next.js `__NEXT_DATA__`, empty containers that fill after JS runs. If `actionbook browser text "<selector>"` returns empty but the screenshot shows content, hydration hasn't completed.

### Virtualized lists / virtual DOM

Only visible rows exist in the DOM. Scrolling renders new rows and destroys old ones.

```javascript
// Scroll-and-collect loop for virtualized lists (scroll container aware)
const allItems = [];
const maxScrolls = 50;
let scrolls = 0;

const container = await page.$('<scroll-container-selector>');
if (!container) throw new Error('Scroll container not found');

let previousTop = await container.evaluate(el => el.scrollTop);
while (scrolls < maxScrolls) {
  const items = await page.$$eval('[data-row]', rows =>
    rows.map(r => ({ text: r.textContent.trim() }))
  );
  for (const item of items) {
    if (!allItems.find(i => i.text === item.text)) allItems.push(item);
  }

  await container.evaluate(el => el.scrollBy(0, 600));
  await page.waitForTimeout(300);

  const currentTop = await container.evaluate(el => el.scrollTop);
  if (currentTop === previousTop) break;

  previousTop = currentTop;
  scrolls += 1;
}
```

**Detection cues:** Container has fixed height with `overflow: auto/scroll`, row count in DOM is much smaller than stated total, rows have `transform: translateY(...)` or `position: absolute; top: ...px`.

### Infinite scroll / lazy loading

New content appends when the user scrolls near the bottom.

```javascript
// Scroll to bottom until no new content loads (with no-growth tolerance)
let itemCount = 0;
let noGrowthStreak = 0;
const maxScrolls = 80;
let scrolls = 0;

while (scrolls < maxScrolls && noGrowthStreak < 3) {
  await page.evaluate(() => window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight));
  await page.waitForTimeout(1200);

  const newCount = await page.$$eval('.item', els => els.length);
  if (newCount > itemCount) {
    itemCount = newCount;
    noGrowthStreak = 0;
  } else {
    noGrowthStreak += 1;
  }

  scrolls += 1;
}
```

**Detection cues:** Intersection Observer in page JS, "Load more" button, sentinel element at bottom, network requests firing on scroll.

### Pagination

Multi-page results behind "Next" buttons or numbered pages.

```javascript
// Click-through pagination (navigation-aware, SPA-safe)
const allData = [];
const maxPages = 50;
let pageIndex = 0;
while (pageIndex < maxPages) {
  const pageData = await page.$$eval('.result-item', items =>
    items.map(el => ({ title: el.querySelector('h3')?.textContent?.trim() }))
  );
  allData.push(...pageData);

  const nextBtn = await page.$('a.next-page:not([disabled])');
  if (!nextBtn) break;

  const previousUrl = page.url();
  const previousFirstItem = await page
    .$eval('.result-item', el => el.textContent?.trim() || '')
    .catch(() => '');

  await nextBtn.click();

  // Post-click detection only: advance must be caused by this click
  const advanced = await Promise.any([
    page
      .waitForURL(url => url.toString() !== previousUrl, { timeout: 5000 

Excerpt, first 6,000 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

git clone https://github.com/actionbook/actionbook
git -C actionbook checkout 7e3aabf1f8bb

Works in

1. 2026-10-22
   ✓SAFE B 89 / 100

   first audit · source 7e3aabf1f8bb

Questions about extract

• github.com/actionbook/actionbook/tree/main/skills/extract — the audited source at commit 7e3aabf1f8bb and every finding aboveObserved · 22 Oct 2026

Spotted something wrong? Report a correction · Methodology