Assess a page

Run analog assess when you know which page you need but have not chosen how to use it. It answers one question before extraction: Would structured records help this task more than reading the page directly?

If the task already answers that question, skip the check. Go straight to extraction when you need to filter, compare, export, or revisit the page’s records. Read the page directly when you need its prose or one answer from one page.

analog assess https://example.com/catalog

The command renders the page in a browser on your machine, performs no extraction, and makes no backend call. It does not require an account.

Start with the default steer

The first line recommends a default path:

• analog ✓ worth extracting — use structured extraction when you need to work with the page’s records:

  analog get https://example.com/catalog

• markdown → read the page directly — use local Markdown when you need to read the page rather than work with records:

  analog get https://example.com/catalog --mode local

The steer is advice, not a gate. A small page may be easier to read once but still worth extracting when you plan to query, revisit, or compare its records. If the check recommends Markdown but also says the page contains substantial structured content, let the task decide. If it expects a thin extraction, read directly unless the available records are exactly what you need.

Act on what the page reports

After the steer, the check reports facts that may change the next step:

• The page continues beyond the current view. Carry the suggested --pages option into extraction. Fetching explains pagination, load-more controls, and collapsed details.
• The page or its platform offers a data feed. Consider the feed when you need a complete catalog or recent items. A declared or responding feed is an available source, not a claim that it is authoritative; compare it with the rendered page when that matters.
• The page exposes navigation or a sitemap. Use the site’s own map when the task belongs on another page or requires many pages rather than one. The assessment lists sitemap locations but does not fetch the sitemap files.
• The page returned no HTML content. There is nothing to assess or extract yet. Use Troubleshooting to check the fetch before choosing a mode.

The approximate Markdown size describes the full rendered page. It helps compare a direct read with a saved result; it does not estimate what another tool will spend summarizing the page.

Reuse or refresh the check

When a result for the same URL was saved within the last 15 minutes, analog assess reuses its stored assessment instead of rendering the page again. The output names the saved result and its age. Live feed and sitemap checks still run; pass --fresh to render the page again.

Use --no-probe to skip those additional network checks. Feeds and navigation declared in the page itself remain part of the assessment because they require no additional request.

In its default auto mode, analog get runs the local part of the same check, attaches the assessment to the result, and still performs the extraction. The Python API reference documents the returned FitAssessment fields.