Fetching Blocked URLs
SkillDocs & knowledgeRetrieve clean markdown from URLs when web_fetch fails. Converts pages via Jina AI reader service with automatic retry. Use when web_fetch or curl returns 403, blocked, paywall, timeout, JavaScript-rendering errors, or empty content or user explicitly suggests using jina.
Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.
No other account needed.
Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.
Then ask your AI: use the Fetching Blocked URLs skill
What this skill tells your AI
The instructions your AI receives, as published by oaustegard/claude-skills in fetching-blocked-urls/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.
Retrieve readable content from URLs that web_fetch cannot access. Jina AI's reader service renders JavaScript, bypasses soft blocks, and returns clean markdown.
Activation Triggers
Invoke this skill immediately when web_fetch returns:
- 403 Forbidden or access denied
- Paywall or login wall indicators
- Empty, garbled, or truncated content
- JavaScript-heavy SPA failures
- Timeout errors
Core Command
curl -s --max-time 30 "https://r.jina.ai/TARGET_URL"
The service returns markdown with page title, body text, and preserved links.
Retry Pattern
Jina's backend has ~10% intermittent failures. Use retry logic to achieve 99%+ success:
for attempt in 1 2 3; do
result=$(curl -s --max-time 30 "https://r.jina.ai/TARGET_URL" 2>&1)
echo "$result" | grep -q "upstream connect error" || { echo "$result"; break; }
[ $attempt -lt 3 ] && sleep 1
done
Workflow Integration
- Primary: Use web_fetch (native tool)
- Fallback: This skill with retry when web_fetch fails
- Escalate: Request user assistance only after retry exhaustion
Attempt this fallback before asking users to copy-paste content manually.
Output Format
Jina returns structured markdown:
Title:page titleURL Source:original URLMarkdown Content:extracted body text, links preserved
Limitations
- Long pages may truncate
- Sites blocking all scrapers remain inaccessible
- Login-required content limited to public portions
- Real-time dynamic content may not render
Domain Access
r.jina.ai is whitelisted in Claude container network configuration.
Signals
- GitHub stars
- 148
- Forks
- 5
- Last commit
- Sep 2026
Advanced
- Catalog kind
- skill
- Gateway key
fetching-blocked-urls- Source
- github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills