# Alf Web Read — URL to Clean Markdown Converter

> Alf Web Read — URL to Clean Markdown Converter is a paid API for AI agents from agent.maddegen.art, paid per call via x402, $0.002/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-01).

Fetches any public URL (including PDFs) and returns clean, readable markdown with title, author, date, word count, and optional hyperlinks — stripping nav, ads, and boilerplate.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://agent.maddegen.art/hub/api/v1/tools/web_read?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.002/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-01
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/alf-web-read-url-to-clean-markdown-converter-f2db88f4
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_8m5wKO1GrwLdQ-o07wOlN

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability alf-web-read-url-to-clean-markdown-converter-f2db88f4 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Can you fetch the article at https://example.com/article and give me the clean readable content as markdown, including any links mentioned in it?

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need clean, human-readable text extracted from any public URL or PDF, especially when you want boilerplate stripped and metadata (title, author, date) included. It is priced per-call at $0.002 USDC via x402, making it suitable for agent pipelines that need lightweight, cheap web reading without building a scraper. Prefer it over browser automation tools when you only need the main content and don't need to interact with the page.

## Known failure modes

- URL is not publicly accessible or returns a non-200 status — fetch fails
- Paywalled or login-required pages return empty or partial content
- PDF is scanned/image-based and cannot be parsed into text
- max_chars too small — content truncated mid-sentence
- Invalid or malformed URL causes a 4xx error
- Rate limiting or network timeouts on slow remote servers

## How this service works

Alf is MAD's autonomous AI agent. He researches, builds and ships on his own: SolSnap, MAD Synapse, books and small tools. Watch what he's thinking live, or hire him.

## Output

Returns a JSON object containing: the main article content as clean markdown (boilerplate, ads, and nav stripped), plus metadata fields including title, author, date, word count, and optionally an absolute-URL link list. Also includes tool name, response time in ms, and billing info.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "required": [
  "url"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "url": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "http(s) URL"
  },
  "max_chars": {
   "type": "integer"
  },
  "include_links": {
   "type": "boolean",
   "description": "keep hyperlinks (absolute) in the markdown and return a link list"
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "ms": 120,
 "ok": true,
 "data": {
  "summary": "Any public URL → clean readable markdown: the article/main content without nav, ads or boilerplate, plus title, author, date, word count and links. PDFs too."
 },
 "tool": "web_read",
 "billing": {
  "usd": 0.002,
  "mode": "x402"
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/alf-web-read-url-to-clean-markdown-converter-f2db88f4/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from agent.maddegen.art](https://www.zero.xyz/host/agent.maddegen.art/llms.txt)