name: spa-vs-article-scraping description: "Diagnostic pattern: when groktocrawl scrape fails on a SPA index page, individual server-rendered article pages may still work. Test one article before committing to browser extraction." version: 1.0.0

SPA Index vs. Server-Rendered Article Scraping

The Pattern

When groktocrawl scrape fails on a site's index page (React SPA shell, < 100 chars), individual article pages on the same domain may still be server-rendered and scrape successfully. Always test scrape on one individual article page before committing to browser-based extraction.

Diagnostic Workflow

1. Try groktocrawl scrape <index-page> — if < 100 chars, index is client-rendered
2. Check for a sitemap: curl -sL <domain>/sitemap.xml
3. Test scrape on one article: groktocrawl scrape <article-url>
4. If article returns rich markdown (> 500 chars), batch-scrape all articles

Worked Example: YC Library (June 2026)

• Index: ycombinator.com/library → empty (SPA shell)
• Sitemap: ycombinator.com/library/sitemap.xml → 464 article URLs
• Article test: ycombinator.com/library/4D-slug → full server-rendered markdown
• Batch: 464 articles × ~7s each = ~15 min total extraction
• Savings: ~50+ minutes vs browser-based extraction