Authenticated flows

CrawlVolt can automate form-based login for accounts the API customer owns or is explicitly authorized to use.

Login pattern

1. Create a short-lived CrawlVolt session.
2. Submit the current login values with fill or type actions.
3. Click the form submit control and wait for a selector that confirms login.
4. Reuse the returned session_id for later scrape or browse calls.
5. Revoke the session when the workflow ends.

curl --request POST https://www.crawlvolt.com/v1/browse \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $CRAWLVOLT_API_KEY" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "url": "https://app.example.com/login",
    "session_id": "ses_01f4...",
    "actions": [
      { "action": "fill", "selector": "input[name=email]", "value": "agent@example.com" },
      { "action": "fill", "selector": "input[name=password]", "value": "..." },
      { "action": "click", "selector": "button[type=submit]" },
      { "action": "wait", "selector": "main[data-authenticated=true]" }
    ],
    "formats": ["markdown", "metadata"]
  }'

The response includes session metadata but never browser cookie values. Session requests return private, non-cacheable responses.

One-time codes

When your application already has an authorized one-time code, submit it as a normal fill action and wait for the authenticated page signal before the next step.

Operational safety

Use a dedicated least-privilege account, a short session lifetime and one in-flight request per session. Require human approval before irreversible or high-impact actions such as purchases, account deletion or permission changes.

See Persistent sessions for creation, inspection and revocation.