# Nimble extract: hit the XHR endpoint directly before rendering

## TL;DR

Extracting with Nimble: prefer the CLI over hand-rolled curl (nimble reads NIMBLE_API_KEY automatically). Read the result from data.markdown in the JSON response (--format markdown keeps it clean). Before extracting a JS-heavy page, investigate how it loads data URIs open it in a browser, capture XHR/fetch requests, and if the data comes from an API endpoint, extract that endpoint directly with --is-xhr (faster and cleaner than rendering).

Use this when you run into the situation in the title.

**When not to use this skill:** unrelated tasks. It covers only the procedure above.

## Compatibility

The steps above apply to the commands named in them. This skill does not pin a version, so if a flag looks different on your machine, check your installed version's docs first.

## Details

If the page needs session cookies, drive it in a browser and intercept with --network-capture matching the API URL pattern. Only use --render for pages where there's no underlying API to hit. Save your investigation script (e.g. .nimble/find-xhr.py) so the next run reuses the endpoint.

Context: Web (Nimble agent-skills playbook + browser-investigation reference): documents extract output shape and the investigation workflow. Extract returns JSON with the content in data.markdown; use --format markdown to get clean content there. The real gotcha: when a site loads data via XHR, extract the underlying API endpoint directly with --is-xhr (fastest), or trigger via browser and intercept with --network-capture on the XHR URL pattern; use --render only for JS-heavy pages that need full rendering.