caniscrape: Enabling Informed Web Scraping Decisions

Know before you scrape: With caniscrape, quickly analyze any website's anti-bot protections, allowing users to understand the complexities involved in scraping before spending unnecessary time crafting scrapers.

Key Features

The caniscrape tool offers a comprehensive analysis of a URL, providing insights such as:

• Active Protections: Identifies what defenses are implemented, including Web Application Firewalls (WAF), CAPTCHA, rate limits, TLS fingerprinting, and honeypots.
• Difficulty Score: Ranges from 0 to 10, helping gauge the scraping complexity (from Easy to Very Hard).
• Tool Recommendations: Specific guidance on what proxies or tools may be needed for successful scraping.
• Estimated Complexity: Assess whether to build the scraper internally or seek a scraping service.

Analysis Components

1. Web Application Firewall (WAF) Detection

Identifies common WAF providers, including Cloudflare, Akamai, and more.

2. Rate Limiting Assessment

• Conducts testing under various traffic patterns to detect 429 errors, throttling, and blocking thresholds.

3. JavaScript Rendering Analysis

• Evaluates the difference in content obtained with and without JavaScript execution, identifying single-page applications (SPAs) and content dependence on JavaScript.

4. CAPTCHA Detection

• Analyzes for common CAPTCHA types and timings related to their appearance based on load or after rate limiting.

5. TLS Fingerprinting

• Assesses blocking based on differences in TLS handshake signatures between standard and browser-like clients.

6. Behavioral Analysis

• Scans for invisible "honeypot" traps and monitors user behavior anomalies to assess monitoring by websites.

7. robots.txt Compliance Check

• Reviews the website's scraping permissions and recommended crawl delays outlined in the robots.txt file.

Advanced Features

Aggressive WAF Detection

Perform a slower, comprehensive scan to uncover all WAF types:

caniscrape https://example.com --find-all

Browser Impersonation

Use stealthier methods for improved success rates:

caniscrape https://example.com --impersonate

Deep Honeypot Scanning

Conduct extensive link checks for accuracy:

caniscrape https://example.com --deep

Combining Options

Utilize multiple functions simultaneously for thorough analysis:

caniscrape https://example.com --impersonate --find-all --thorough

Scoring System

The difficulty score is calculated based on various factors, including CAPTCHA presence, aggressive rate limiting, and WAF type. This allows users to interpret the ease of scraping:

• 0-2: Easy
• 3-4: Medium
• 5-7: Hard
• 8-10: Very Hard

Use Cases

• Developers: Gauge scraping feasibility and debug issues by analyzing site protections.
• Data Engineers: Plan data pipelines with a clear understanding of required infrastructure and costs.
• Researchers: Identify accessible data sources while ensuring compliance with web scraping ethics.

Limitations

caniscrape focuses on reconnaissance and does not bypass protections or trigger dynamic defenses. Users are encouraged to respect scraping policies and act ethically based on provided insights.

Acknowledgments: Built using technology from wafw00f, Playwright, and curl_cffi. For further inquiries or contributions, reach out via GitHub.