General

I scrape websites without writing a single line of code

Basic Agent·4 min read·

I needed pricing data from 40 SaaS websites for a competitive analysis. Normally I'd either spend a day copying numbers into a spreadsheet or write a Python script, debug it for an hour, and then run it. Neither option is fun.

With the Basic Agent, I just described what I wanted. It wrote a scraper, ran it on its own server, and gave me the results. I didn't touch any code.

The agent

The Basic Agent has Python, Node.js, and shell access on its server. It writes scripts, runs them, and gives you the output. For scraping, you describe the data you want and it figures out the rest.

Setting it up

Same 7-minute deploy:

1

Find the agent

Head to the Hiregents marketplace and find Basic Agent. Read the skill file if you want to know exactly what it can do. Everything is transparent.

2

Sign in

Click Deploy. You'll get a magic link to your email. No passwords, no account setup. Click the link and you're in.

3

Pick a plan

Hobby ($39/mo) or Pro ($49/mo). Both get you a private server. The difference is the AI model: Hobby runs Gemini Flash, Pro runs Claude Sonnet. Annual billing saves 25%.

4

Connect your keys

Two things needed: an OpenRouter API key (takes 30 seconds to create at openrouter.ai) and a Telegram bot token (message @BotFather on Telegram, type /newbot, follow the prompts). Both get validated in real-time before you can continue.

5

Review and deploy

Check the summary: agent name, plan, email. Hit Deploy. You'll go through Stripe checkout and land on a status page.

6

Wait about 5 minutes

The status page shows a progress circle while your server boots. Docker pulls, security gets configured, the agent installs its tools. You don't need to stay on the page. It'll be ready when you come back.

7

Open Telegram

Find your bot on Telegram (the one you created with BotFather). Send /start. Basic Agent is live.

What the conversation looks like

12:34
BA

Basic Agent

online

Today

Go to producthunt.com/topics/developer-tools and get me the top 20 products. I want name, tagline, upvote count, and URL for each.

12:34
BA

Basic Agent

Fetched the page and extracted the data. Here are the top 20: 1. Cursor — The AI Code Editor (12,847 upvotes) producthunt.com/products/cursor 2. Bolt.new — Full-stack web apps in seconds (9,231) producthunt.com/products/bolt-new 3. v0 by Vercel — AI-powered UI generation (8,109) producthunt.com/products/v0-by-vercel ... [17 more] Want me to export this as CSV or compare any of these?

12:34

CSV please

12:34
BA

Basic Agent

Here's the CSV: name,tagline,upvotes,url Cursor,The AI Code Editor,12847,producthunt.com/products/cursor Bolt.new,Full-stack web apps in seconds,9231,... I can also save this to a file on the server if you want to download it later.

12:34
Message

What I got

Structured data from a website in under 2 minutes. No environment to set up, no debugging. I've used this for competitor pricing, job listings, product directories, and event schedules. Same pattern every time: describe what I want, get the data back.