# how.is Read Page

> how.is Read Page is a paid API for AI agents from how.is, paid per call via x402, $0.005/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-31).

Fetches a web page and returns it as clean markdown with a safety verdict, robots.txt compliance, and an optional screenshot

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://how.is/v1/read?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.005/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-31
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/how-is-read-page-0dc5a6db
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_7JP6gJGTCb1H1qenPxzwN

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 how-is-read-page-0dc5a6db -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Can you fetch https://example.com/blog/article and give me the content as clean readable text, and let me know if the site is safe to access?

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need both clean extracted page content AND a trust/safety signal in a single call — particularly when your agent must respect robots.txt, handle untrusted or phishing-risk domains, or needs a rendered screenshot alongside the text. Prefer over generic scrapers when compliance with bot policies and safety verdicts are required, such as in automated research pipelines or when processing user-submitted URLs of unknown provenance.

## Known failure modes

- URL not reachable or returns non-200 HTTP status
- robots.txt disallows the specified user agent, returning a blocked/disallowed verdict
- Malformed or invalid URL input
- Page content exceeds length limits and is truncated
- Screenshot unavailable for certain page types (e.g. paywalled, JS-heavy)
- Safety preflight verdict returns untrusted, blocking content delivery

## How this service works

Read a web page as clean markdown, with a safety verdict attached: robots.txt honored for your agent, risky sites flagged as untrusted, optional screenshot.

## Output

Returns a JSON object with the page's markdown body, title, description, language, canonical and final URLs, HTTP status, word count, truncation flag, an untrusted_content flag, a preflight safety verdict with reasons, and optionally a base64-encoded JPEG screenshot. Also includes a receipt confirming the x402 micropayment charge of $0.005 USDC.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "ua": {
   "type": "string",
   "maxLength": 512,
   "description": "The user agent you will fetch with; robots.txt and our bot policy are judged for it. Defaults to the User-Agent of this request."
  },
  "url": {
   "type": "string",
   "format": "uri",
   "maxLength": 2000,
   "description": "The http(s) page to read"
  },
  "screenshot": {
   "type": "boolean",
   "description": "Also return a 1280x800 JPEG of the page"
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "data": {
   "_shape": "data: markdown, title, description, lang, canonical, final_url, http_status, content_type, words, truncated, untrusted_content, preflight{verdict, safe_to, reasons, ...}, screenshot{image_base64, ...} when asked."
  },
  "result": "Read a page (with verdict) for the requested subject",
  "receipt": {
   "rail": "x402",
   "tool": "read",
   "charge_usd": 0.005,
   "settlement_tx": "0x…"
  }
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/how-is-read-page-0dc5a6db/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from how.is](https://www.zero.xyz/host/how.is/llms.txt)