letta-server/fern/pages/agents/fetch_webpage.mdx

---
title: Fetch Webpage
subtitle: Convert webpages to readable text/markdown
slug: guides/agents/fetch-webpage
---

The `fetch_webpage` tool enables Letta agents to fetch and convert webpages into readable text or markdown format. Useful for reading documentation, articles, and web content.

<Info>
On [Letta Cloud](/guides/cloud/overview), this tool works out of the box. For self-hosted deployments with an Exa API key, fetching is enhanced. Without a key, it falls back to open-source extraction tools.
</Info>

## Quick Start

<CodeGroup>
```python Python
from letta import Letta

client = Letta(token="LETTA_API_KEY")

agent = client.agents.create(
    model="openai/gpt-4o",
    tools=["fetch_webpage"],
    memory_blocks=[{
        "label": "persona",
        "value": "I can fetch and read webpages to answer questions about online content."
    }]
)
```

```typescript TypeScript
import { LettaClient } from '@letta-ai/letta-client';

const client = new LettaClient({ token: "LETTA_API_KEY" });

const agent = await client.agents.create({
  model: "openai/gpt-4o",
  tools: ["fetch_webpage"],
  memoryBlocks: [{
    label: "persona",
    value: "I can fetch and read webpages to answer questions about online content."
  }]
});
```
</CodeGroup>

## Tool Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Description |
|-----------|------|-------------|
| `url` | `str` | The URL of the webpage to fetch |

## Return Format

The tool returns webpage content as text/markdown.

**With Exa API (if configured):**
```json
{
  "title": "Page title",
  "published_date": "2025-01-15",
  "author": "Author name",
  "text": "Full page content in markdown"
}
```

**Fallback (without Exa):**
Returns markdown-formatted text extracted from the HTML.

## How It Works

The tool uses a multi-tier approach:

1. **Exa API** (if `EXA_API_KEY` is configured): Uses Exa's content extraction
2. **Trafilatura** (fallback): Open-source text extraction to markdown
3. **Readability + html2text** (final fallback): HTML cleaning and conversion

## Self-Hosted Setup

For enhanced fetching on self-hosted servers, optionally configure an Exa API key. Without it, the tool still works using open-source extraction.

### Optional: Configure Exa

<CodeGroup>
```bash Docker
docker run \
  -e EXA_API_KEY="your_exa_api_key" \
  letta/letta:latest
```

```yaml Docker Compose
services:
  letta:
    environment:
      - EXA_API_KEY=your_exa_api_key
```

```bash Server
export EXA_API_KEY="your_exa_api_key"
letta server
```

```python Per-Agent
agent = client.agents.create(
    tools=["fetch_webpage"],
    tool_env_vars={
        "EXA_API_KEY": "your_exa_api_key"
    }
)
```
</CodeGroup>

## Common Patterns

### Documentation Reader
```python
agent = client.agents.create(
    model="openai/gpt-4o",
    tools=["fetch_webpage", "web_search"],
    memory_blocks=[{
        "label": "persona",
        "value": "I search for documentation with web_search and read it with fetch_webpage."
    }]
)
```

### Research Assistant
```python
agent = client.agents.create(
    model="openai/gpt-4o",
    tools=["fetch_webpage", "archival_memory_insert"],
    memory_blocks=[{
        "label": "persona",
        "value": "I fetch articles and store key insights in archival memory for later reference."
    }]
)
```

### Content Summarizer
```python
agent = client.agents.create(
    model="openai/gpt-4o",
    tools=["fetch_webpage"],
    memory_blocks=[{
        "label": "persona",
        "value": "I fetch webpages and provide summaries of their content."
    }]
)
```

## When to Use

| Use Case | Tool | Why |
|----------|------|-----|
| Read specific webpage | `fetch_webpage` | Direct URL access |
| Find webpages to read | `web_search` | Discovery first |
| Read + search in one | `web_search` with `include_text=true` | Combined operation |
| Multiple pages | `fetch_webpage` | Iterate over URLs |

## Related Documentation

- [Utilities Overview](/guides/agents/prebuilt-tools)
- [Web Search](/guides/agents/web-search)
- [Run Code](/guides/agents/run-code)
- [Custom Tools](/guides/agents/custom-tools)
- [Tool Variables](/guides/agents/tool-variables)