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Before You Start

You’ll need:
  • A CrawlKit account (sign up at the dashboard)
  • An API key (create one in the dashboard)
Your API key looks like this: ck_abc123.... Keep it secret!

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Step 1: Get Your API Key

  1. Go to the CrawlKit dashboard
  2. Navigate to API Keys
  3. Click Create New Key
  4. Give it a name (e.g., “My First Key”)
  5. Copy the key - you’ll only see it once!

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Step 2: Make Your First Request

Let’s fetch a simple webpage. Open your terminal and run: 
curl -X POST https://api.crawlkit.com/api/v1/crawl/raw \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey ck_your_api_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://example.com"}'
Replace ck_your_api_key_here with your actual API key.

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Step 3: Understand the Response

You’ll get a JSON response like this: 
{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "finalUrl": "https://example.com/",
    "statusCode": 200,
    "headers": {
      "content-type": "text/html; charset=UTF-8"
    },
    "body": "<!doctype html><html>...</html>",
    "contentLength": 1256,
    "timing": {
      "total": 342
    },
    "creditsUsed": 1,
    "creditsRemaining": 999
  }
}
What you get:
  • body - The HTML content of the page
  • statusCode - HTTP status code (200 = success)
  • timing.total - How long the request took (in milliseconds)
  • creditsUsed - How many credits this cost (always 1)
  • creditsRemaining - Your remaining credits

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Try the Other Endpoints

Web Search

Search DuckDuckGo and get structured results.
curl -X POST .../crawl/search \
  -d '{"query": "web scraping tools"}'

Screenshot

Capture a full-page screenshot.
curl -X POST .../crawl/screenshot \
  -d '{"url": "https://example.com"}'

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Common Issues

Your API key is missing or invalid. Make sure:
  • You’re using the Authorization: ApiKey ck_... header
  • Your API key is correct and active
You’ve run out of credits. Purchase more from the dashboard.
The target website took too long to respond. Try increasing the timeout option.

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Next Steps

Authentication

Learn about API keys vs JWT tokens

Code Examples

See complete examples in cURL, Node.js, and Python