ax, the AI-era curl: fetch, discover, extract

One command: ax <url|file|-> [selector] [flags]. Never write regex over HTML, and never use bare curl (it returns nothing on empty bodies).

Cheatsheet

ax https://api.site.example/users                    # {status, ok, url, redirected, ms, headers, body}
ax https://api.site.example/users -H 'authorization: Bearer x' -X POST -d '{"a":1}'
ax https://api.site.example/users -d @payload.json  # @file reads it, implies POST; --data-raw = literal @string
# curl reflexes work: -u -I -o -k -m -f --data-raw (and -L/-i/-s are no-ops)
ax https://site.example --outline                    # discover: repeating structures
ax https://site.example --locate 'some text'         # discover: which selector holds this
ax https://site.example '.card' --count              # confirm a hypothesis
ax https://site.example '.card' --row 'title=a, href=a@href, id=@data-id'
ax https://site.example '.private' -H 'authorization: Bearer x' --text
ax https://site.example 'table' --table --where 'Stars >= 30000'
ax https://site.example 'table' --table --where '`Col With Spaces` ~ /x/'
ax https://docs.site.example/guide --md --budget 800 # read docs as markdown

The workflow: fetch/--outline once → --locate/--count to confirm → ONE --row/--table call. Repeat fetches of the same URL are cached ~2min, so probing is free (--fresh to bypass). Parse requests with -H or -u bypass the cache automatically.

Speed discipline

Aim for ≤3 tool calls: one batched look (ax URL --outline; ax URL '.guess' --count), one extraction call, then answer. Turns cost more than commands, semicolons are free. Every --row/--table run prints N rows extracted + empty-field counts on stderr, that IS the verification; do not re-probe. Answer with the data, concisely, no methodology narration.

Output rules