> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.decodo.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Web API & Site Unblocker

# Using our scraping products

This article includes common steps that may help you when facing issues with our **Web Scraping API** or **Site Unblocker**.

## Unable to scrape the target

We are sometimes not able to scrape the requested target. Some possible reasons may be:

* The target URL returns 500, which we interpret as a failure.
* The target can only be reached from a specific country.
* The target times out (we retry automatically, but we give up after several retries).
* The target domain DNS name cannot be resolved.

It is not easy to deduce the exact reason for each specific failed request, but common troubleshooting steps include:

* Confirm you can open the target on a browser window (unless the target is rate-limiting your IP address)
* Enable JavaScript rendering
* Change the geolocation (country) of the request
* Retry the request later (target websites may go down from time to time)

## Enable or disable JavaScript rendering

If your target does not scrape, try sending the same request with JavaScript rendering **enabled or disabled**. This feature is added when you include the `"headless": "html"` parameter to your request.

### Web Scraping API

<CodeGroup>
  ```shellscript cURL theme={null}
  curl --request 'POST' \
          --url 'https://scraper-api.decodo.com/v2/scrape' \
          --header 'Accept: application/json' \
          --header 'Authorization: Basic <TOKEN>' \
          --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
          --data '
      {
        "url": "https://ip.decodo.com",
        "headless": "html"
      }
  '
  ```
</CodeGroup>

### Site Unblocker

<CodeGroup>
  ```shellscript cURL theme={null}
  curl -k -x https://unblock.decodo.com:60000 'https://ip.decodo.com' \
      -H 'X-SU-Headless: html' \
      -U 'Username:Password'
  ```
</CodeGroup>

## Other parameters to look out for

While not having the biggest effect, changing `device_type` and `locale` can improve the response rate for your targeted website:

* `device_type` by default is set to `desktop`. Try changing it to `mobile`.
* `locale` should be used in specific situations, as it will change the language of the response, possibly even the content.

Examples of how to add these parameters:

### Web Scraping API

<CodeGroup>
  ```shellscript cURL theme={null}
  curl --request 'POST' \
          --url 'https://scraper-api.decodo.com/v2/scrape' \
          --header 'Accept: application/json' \
          --header 'Authorization: Basic <TOKEN>' \
          --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
          --data '
      {
        "url": "https://ip.decodo.com",
        "headless": "html",
        "locale": "en-us",
        "device_type": "mobile"
      }
  '
  ```
</CodeGroup>

### Site Unblocker

<CodeGroup>
  ```shellscript cURL theme={null}
  curl -k -x https://unblock.decodo.com:60000 'https://ip.decodo.com' \
      -H 'X-SU-Locale: en-us' \
      -H 'X-SU-Device-Type: mobile' \
      -H 'X-SU-Headless: html' \
      -U 'Username:Password'
  ```
</CodeGroup>

<br />

## Peak times

Scraper API is most actively used on the hour (12:00, 21:00, etc.) throughout the day. When making a significant number of synchronous requests, consider splitting the requests across minute intervals (12:05, 12:10, etc) to avoid having requests hang at peak times.

***

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