docpull

Context dependencies for AI agents. Browser-free by default.

DocPull is a local-first dependency manager for AI context. Define the public web sources an agent depends on, sync them into cited context packs, diff what changed, and export reproducible context for Cursor, Claude, OpenAI, LlamaIndex, LangChain, MCP clients, and RAG pipelines.

The core workflow is a docpull.yaml plus a .docpull/context.lock.json, similar in spirit to code dependency manifests and lockfiles:

docpull init my-agent-context
docpull add stripe react postgres
docpull install
docpull deps
docpull sync
docpull diff
docpull export context-pack --target openai

Bundled aliases such as stripe, react, postgres, openai, and apple-hig expand to normal HTTPS sources in docpull.yaml. Runs stay reproducible through the lockfile: source URLs, discovered URLs, content hashes, run IDs, aliases, and export metadata are recorded without storing secrets. Use docpull sources list to inspect the bundled alias catalog and docpull install to validate or recreate the local dependency lock. Use docpull deps to see the current dependency, lockfile, latest run, and export status.

Projects can also track typed known-source specs such as pypi:requests, rfc:9110, wiki:Web_scraping, or a local dataset path. Those sources sync through their typed lanes and do not use discovery.

The original docpull URL ... workflow still works: fetch public or explicitly authorized static/server-rendered web pages and write clean Markdown, NDJSON, SQLite, or OKF outputs. Project mode adds the persistent evidence lifecycle on top: sources, runs, diffs, exports, evals, accounting, and local auditability.

DocPull is local-first: direct fetching, sitemap/link discovery, extraction, indexing, pack intelligence, and opt-in agent-browser rendering can run with no external account and no required API spend. Cloud rendering is explicit and budget-guarded.

DocPull aligns core workflows across CLI, Python SDK, and MCP, with each surface optimized for its user. The Surface Contract defines how those surfaces align and where they intentionally differ. For the context dependency workflow, see Context Dependencies.

Web-source ingestion is the core workflow. Documentation is one high-value lane, not the product boundary. It works best on static or server-rendered pages such as blogs, API references, OpenAPI specs, changelogs, vendor pages, product pages, filings, docs sites, and other pages where the useful content is available in HTML or embedded page data.

DocPull is browser-free by default. JS-only pages are skipped with a clear reason unless you explicitly opt into a local renderer. See Web Source Boundary and Alternatives for the full boundary.

Install

pip install docpull

Project Quickstart

docpull init stripe-docs
docpull add stripe
docpull install
docpull sync
docpull deps
docpull diff
docpull export context-pack --target cursor

Context CI

Use Context CI when an agent loop depends on current, cited context and a missing or stale source should fail the build:

docpull ci --prepare

docpull ci runs locally against either a project root or a standalone pack. It checks the project lockfile, pack score, pack audit, coverage confidence, citation coverage, eval-grade sidecars, evidence basis quality, rights metadata, and optional context predictions. It writes context-ci.report.json and CONTEXT_CI.md; the command exits non-zero when hard gates fail.

Minimal GitHub Actions job:

name: Context CI
on: [pull_request]
jobs:
  context:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: "3.11"
      - run: pip install docpull
      - run: docpull ci --prepare

For the full workflow, see Context CI. The durable artifact shape is documented in Context Pack Contract v3.

Example diff after a later sync:

Project diff: +4 -2 ~18 api=2 pricing=1

Changed pages:
- /payments/payment-intents
  likely API behavior change
- /billing/subscriptions
  pricing / billing change
- /webhooks
  likely API behavior change

0 failed URLs
0 robots blocked
0 paid/cloud routes used

Context Pack Contract

DocPull writes three explicit layers of artifacts:

Core ingestion paths write into the same v3 contract:

docpull https://docs.example.com -o packs/docs
docpull parse ./handbook.pdf -o packs/handbook --backend auto
docpull openapi-pack ./openapi.json -o packs/api
docpull feed-pack https://example.com/news -o packs/news
docpull paper-pack arxiv:1706.03762 -o packs/papers
docpull repo-pack psf/requests -o packs/repo --cache
docpull package-pack pypi:requests -o packs/package
docpull standards-pack rfc:9110 -o packs/standard
docpull dataset-pack ./metrics.csv -o packs/dataset
docpull transcript-pack ./meeting.vtt -o packs/transcript
docpull wiki-pack wiki:Web_scraping -o packs/wiki
docpull pack prepare packs/docs --eval-grade
docpull pack validate packs/docs --level eval
docpull export packs/docs --format openai-vector-jsonl -o exports/openai.jsonl
docpull export packs/docs --format cursor-rules -o .cursor/rules --skill-name docs

Use docpull ci --prepare to validate a project or standalone pack in CI.

Install optional extras as needed:

pip install 'docpull[llm]'           # tiktoken for token-accurate chunking
pip install 'docpull[trafilatura]'   # alternative extractor for noisy pages
pip install 'docpull[parse]'         # MarkItDown + Unstructured local document parsers
pip install 'docpull[presidio]'      # optional Presidio PII detection for redaction
pip install 'docpull[mcp]'           # stdio MCP server
pip install 'docpull[serve]'         # local pack JSON server runner
pip install 'docpull[parquet]'       # optional Parquet export support
pip install 'docpull[e2b]'           # E2B cloud sandbox renderer SDK

Prefer installing the extras needed for the current lane instead of a broad bundle. The base install remains useful without API keys or paid services.

Browser rendering is an explicit external extension, not part of the base install. Install an agent-browser compatible CLI separately, put it on PATH, or set DOCPULL_AGENT_BROWSER_BIN=/path/to/agent-browser. Verify the runtime with docpull render --check. Render targets must use HTTPS except for localhost/loopback HTTP during local testing, and DocPull keeps renderer action permissions locked down to HTML retrieval only. Because browser rendering cannot fully enforce redirect, subresource, or connect-time DNS allow-lists, network browser rendering fails closed unless the operator sets DOCPULL_RENDER_TRUSTED_BROWSER_TARGETS=1 for trusted targets. For localhost/loopback HTTP tests, set DOCPULL_RENDER_ALLOW_LOCAL_TARGETS=1.

For stronger isolation, cloud runtimes are available explicitly: docpull render URL --runtime vercel uses the Vercel Sandbox CLI and Vercel auth, while docpull render URL --runtime e2b uses the E2B Python SDK and E2B_API_KEY. These are never enabled by default. All runtimes execute the same agent-browser --json renderer contract. Use --cloud-max-estimated-cost to set a local per-render budget guard, and use --cloud-agent-browser-install skip with a prebuilt sandbox/template that already includes agent-browser. For E2B, pass --template or set DOCPULL_E2B_TEMPLATE to use that prebuilt environment.

For release acceptance, run the opt-in real-data smoke harness. The default path uses public free sources and local tooling; --include-cloud also attempts the keyed/cloud render lanes when the local environment is configured for them. The strict scorecard also requires synchronized generated metadata and a clean git status --short before tagging.

python scripts/release_a_plus_check.py --strict
python scripts/real_feature_smoke.py --json --full-mcp --strict-ci --auth-matrix --monitor-soak-minutes 10
python scripts/real_feature_smoke.py --include-cloud --json

Free-First Budgets

Use --budget 0 when a run must not make paid-capable cloud calls:

docpull https://docs.example.com --budget 0 -o ./docs/example
DOCPULL_RENDER_TRUSTED_BROWSER_TARGETS=1 docpull render https://example.com/app --runtime local --budget 0

Under a zero budget, local cache, direct HTTP, sitemap/static-link discovery, local extraction, local indexing, pack analysis, monitors, and local browser rendering for trusted targets remain allowed. Vercel Sandbox and E2B rendering are blocked before execution. Runs involving a budget or paid-capable route write run.accounting.json with non-secret route, cost, HTTP/cache, browser, and blocked-action metadata.

Release Boundary

The open-source package owns local fetching, explicit rendering adapters, source aliases, v3 pack contracts, validation, preparation, exports, Context CI, monitors, MCP, budget policy, and accounting.

This release does not include a hosted scheduler, browser/proxy service, accounts, marketplace, proprietary web index, CAPTCHA bypass, stealth scraping, or hidden paid calls.

Persistent Projects

Use project mode when a source corpus needs to stay fresh over time. A project is a local docpull.yaml plus a .docpull/ state directory containing run history, cache, manifests, context-pack exports, eval sets, and a SQLite index.

docpull init stripe-docs
docpull add https://docs.stripe.com
docpull sync
docpull diff
docpull export context-pack --target cursor

Each sync writes a normal local DocPull pack under .docpull/runs/<run_id>/, including run.json, documents.jsonl, chunks.jsonl, manifest.json, documents.ndjson, corpus.manifest.json, sources.md, source-health.json, local.pack.json, and accounting metadata.

# Inspect the latest project state
docpull status

# Show run history
docpull history

# Diff the latest two runs, with deterministic local categories by default
docpull diff

# Write a review summary for the latest run
docpull review

# Create a versioned context-pack release
docpull release context-pack --target cursor --tag stripe-docs-v1

# One-command project sync, diff, and export for one source
docpull watch https://docs.stripe.com --export cursor --alert changes

Ad hoc docpull watch projects are bounded to one page and one level of depth by default. Use explicit bounds when the watch should cover more:

docpull watch https://docs.stripe.com --export cursor --max-pages 10 --max-depth 2

docpull diff is hash-based and deterministic locally. Optional BYOK semantic summaries are advisory and skip cleanly when no model key is configured. Each diff also writes local semantic categories to semantic.diff.json. Use docpull add URL --discover or docpull sync --update-discovery to refresh and persist discovered source URLs in docpull.yaml; sync then uses that stored URL set for repeatable exact refreshes.

For authenticated sources, store only environment variable references in docpull.yaml; DocPull resolves values in memory at sync time and writes only masked auth type/readiness to status, manifests, reviews, releases, and webhooks:

sources:
  - name: internal-docs
    url: https://docs.example.com
    auth:
      type: bearer_env
      env: EXAMPLE_DOCS_TOKEN
      policy: explicit-private

The launch screenshot for this flow lives at docs/launch-assets/docpull-project-diff-demo.png.

30-Second Usage

docpull https://www.python.org/blogs/ --single -o ./python-news

Example output:

python-news/
  index.md
  corpus.manifest.json

Markdown includes source metadata and readable page content:

---
title: "Blogs"
source: https://www.python.org/blogs/
source_type: "html"
---

# Blogs

News from the Python Software Foundation, Python core developers, and the
wider Python community.

Stream chunked NDJSON for agents and RAG:

docpull https://www.python.org/blogs/ \
  --single \
  --profile llm \
  --stream | jq .

Each line is a JSON document:

{"schema_version":1,"document_id":"doc_...","chunk_id":"chunk_...","url":"https://www.python.org/blogs/","title":"Blogs","content":"News from the Python Software Foundation...","source_type":"html","chunk_index":0,"token_count":842}

Common Workflows

# Crawl a public web section and write Markdown files
docpull https://www.python.org/blogs/ -o ./python-news

# Stream LLM-ready NDJSON chunks from a source
docpull https://www.python.org/blogs/ --profile llm --stream | jq .

# Write SQLite with an FTS5 search index
docpull https://www.python.org/blogs/ --format sqlite -o ./python-news-db

# Build an Open Knowledge Format (OKF) bundle for portable source packs
docpull https://example.com --profile okf -o ./site-okf

# Turn a source corpus into agent-ready skills/rules
docpull https://sdk.vercel.ai \
  --skill vercel-ai \
  --skill-agent all \
  --skill-description "Vercel AI SDK source reference"

More examples live in CLI Recipes.

With an explicit --skill-agent, docpull stores the fetched corpus under .docpull/skills/<name>/references and creates agent-specific wrappers that point at that corpus. --skill-agent claude writes a Claude Code skill under .claude/skills/<name>/, and --skill-agent cursor writes a Cursor project rule at .cursor/rules/<name>.mdc. Use --skill-agent all to create every supported wrapper. If you pass --output-dir, docpull stages the generated corpus there; explicit --skill-agent targets still write their active agent wrappers.

Use docpull when you need to:

• Convert public web sources - docs, blogs, API references, vendor pages, product pages, changelogs, filings, and OpenAPI specs - into Markdown or chunked NDJSON for LLM and RAG pipelines.
• Give an agent a local tool for fetching, caching, grepping, and reading web sources.
• Build repeatable context packs with stable IDs, hashes, manifests, and source metadata.
• Mirror public web content for offline work while preserving attribution.

Why docpull?

docpull is designed for agent and RAG workflows, not just downloading pages.

Supported Sources

docpull uses async HTTP instead of browser automation by default and includes special handling for common web, documentation, and API surfaces.

Use --strict-js-required when an agent should treat JS-only pages as hard errors instead of normal skips.

Output Formats

All file-backed outputs now write the DocPull output contract v3 raw sidecars: corpus.manifest.json, sources.md, and acquisition.routes.json. Use docpull pack validate <pack-dir> --level raw|agent|eval to check whether a pack is raw extraction output, agent-ready context, or eval-grade context.

Local files can enter the same contract with the document parse lane:

docpull parse ./handbook.pdf -o ./packs/handbook --backend auto
docpull parse ./handbook.docx -o ./packs/handbook --prepare --eval-grade

--backend auto reads plain text/Markdown directly and uses optional MarkItDown or Unstructured parsers for complex office/PDF files when installed. Install docpull[markitdown], docpull[unstructured], or docpull[parse] for those backends.

Every file-backed run writes corpus.manifest.json with stable document IDs, chunk IDs, hashes, output paths, and chunk counts. See Corpus Manifest.

Profiles

docpull https://site.com --profile rag        # Default. Dedup + metadata.
docpull https://site.com --profile llm        # NDJSON chunks for agents/RAG.
docpull https://site.com --profile okf        # Portable Open Knowledge Format bundle.
docpull https://site.com --profile mirror     # Cached archive.
docpull https://site.com --profile quick      # Small sampling crawl.
docpull https://site.com --profile sec-filing # EDGAR-friendly evidence chunks.

Run docpull --help for the full option list.

When Not to Use docpull

docpull intentionally does not use a browser unless rendering is explicitly enabled. It is not the right tool for:

• JS-only pages that require complex browser workflows beyond static rendered HTML.
• Authenticated dashboards or private apps.
• Pages behind CAPTCHA or bot challenges.
• Workflows that require clicking, scrolling, or browser state.

For those cases, use full browser automation outside DocPull, then pass rendered HTML or exported content into your pipeline. For simple public JS-rendered pages, use docpull render --runtime local or fetch with --render fallback for an explicit agent-browser fallback without changing the default fetch behavior. DocPull does not claim complete browser coverage unless rendering is explicitly enabled and available.

Use --extractor ensemble when a crawl should score multiple local extraction candidates and keep the strongest Markdown. The ensemble always includes the built-in generic extractor and adds trafilatura when docpull[trafilatura] is installed.

How It Compares

Python SDK

from docpull import fetch_one

ctx = fetch_one("https://docs.python.org/3/library/asyncio.html")
print(ctx.title)
print(ctx.markdown[:500])

import asyncio
from docpull import Fetcher, DocpullConfig, EventType, ProfileName

async def main():
    cfg = DocpullConfig(url="https://example.com/blog", profile=ProfileName.LLM)
    async with Fetcher(cfg) as fetcher:
        async for event in fetcher.run():
            if event.type == EventType.FETCH_PROGRESS:
                print(f"{event.current}/{event.total}: {event.url}")

asyncio.run(main())

MCP Server

docpull can run as a stdio MCP server for agent clients:

pip install 'docpull[mcp]'
docpull mcp

Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport stdio docpull -- docpull mcp

Cursor and Claude Desktop use the same mcpServers shape:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "docpull": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "docpull",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

The supported MCP path is the Python stdio server started by docpull mcp. The repository's mcp/ directory is an internal TypeScript/Bun lab and is not part of the package release contract.

Advanced Workflows

• Local pack intelligence can build citation maps, extract cited entities, search pack records, build cited source graphs, prepare the full sidecar bundle, and write eval-grade rights/provenance artifacts with docpull pack citations, docpull pack entities, docpull pack search, docpull pack brief, docpull graph build, docpull graph query, and docpull pack prepare --eval-grade.
• Release commands add policy files, refresh reports, audits, exports, a localhost pack server, explicit rendering, authenticated-source checks, and cron-friendly monitors: docpull policy, docpull refresh, docpull parse, docpull openapi-pack, docpull feed-pack, docpull paper-pack, docpull repo-pack, docpull package-pack, docpull standards-pack, docpull dataset-pack, docpull transcript-pack, docpull wiki-pack, docpull pack validate, docpull pack audit, docpull export, docpull serve, docpull share, docpull render, docpull auth check, and docpull monitor.
• docpull export writes local files for OpenAI vector JSONL, LangChain, LlamaIndex, DSPy, Sheets CSV/TSV, n8n workflow JSON, Vercel AI SDK JSON, CrewAI JSON, warehouse NDJSON, optional Parquet via docpull[parquet], and agent reference bundles.

Security Defaults

• HTTPS-only fetching with robots.txt compliance.
• SSRF protections, private network blocking, DNS rebinding protection, and connect-time address pinning.
• XXE protection for sitemaps.
• Path traversal and CRLF header injection guards.
• Auth headers stripped on cross-origin redirects.

When running with --proxy, DNS pinning is delegated to the proxy. Pass --require-pinned-dns to refuse that configuration.

Troubleshooting

docpull --doctor
docpull render --check
docpull URL --verbose
docpull URL --dry-run
docpull URL --preview-urls

Documentation

• CLI Recipes - common commands and advanced workflows.
• Web Source Boundary - what docpull does and does not fetch.
• Alternatives - when to use browser automation or hosted extraction.
• Corpus Manifest - stable IDs, hashes, and source maps.
• Surface Contract - how the CLI, Python SDK/API, and MCP surfaces align.
• Changelog - release history.

Links

• Website
• PyPI
• GitHub
• Metrics

License

MIT