Sitemap Parse API
Parses a sitemap, a sitemap index or a bare origin into a flat, bounded list of URLs with lastmod, changefreq and priority.
- Endpoint
POST /v1/sitemap-parse- Price
- $0.002 per call
- Family
- Feeds & site structure
01When to use it
- Needs the network, follows a sitemap index across many documents and normalises four different legal sitemap formats. An agent that does it itself either writes an XML parser with the XXE and fan-out defences, or fetches an unbounded tree of documents a stranger chose.
When not to use it
- The input is over 10 MB (10,485,760 bytes): sitemap-parse answers too_large (413).
- The destination needs more than 14 s to answer: the call ends with upstream_timeout (424).
- The destination is on a private or local network: the network guard refuses it with blocked_target (403).
02Parameters
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| url | string | yes | Absolute http(s) URL, up to 2048 characters, of a sitemap, a sitemap index or a bare origin (path / and no query); a bare origin is resolved through robots.txt Sitemap: lines or /sitemap.xml. |
| limit | integer | no | Maximum number of URLs returned across every document read, 1 to 50000 (default 5000); past it the list is cut and reported as truncated. Default: 5000. |
| include_metadata | boolean | no | When true each URL carries its lastmod, changefreq and priority; when false (default) those three fields are null. Default: false. |
| max_sitemaps | integer | no | Maximum number of sitemap documents fetched, entry document included, 1 to 50 (default 10); children past it are reported as skipped with reason sitemap_limit. Default: 10. |
| discover_from_robots | boolean | no | Only for a bare origin: when true (default) the Sitemap: lines of /robots.txt are read first with /sitemap.xml as the fallback, when false /sitemap.xml is used directly. Default: true. |
03Limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Size cap | 10 MB (10,485,760 bytes) |
| Timeout | 14 s |
04Example
The published example of sitemap-parse, verbatim: the request body and the response it returns.
POST /v1/sitemap-parse
content-type: application/json
payment-signature: <base64 x402 payload>
{
"url": "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/sitemap-index.xml",
"limit": 100,
"include_metadata": true
}200 OK
payment-response: <base64 settlement receipt>
{
"requested_url": "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/sitemap-index.xml",
"entry_url": "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/sitemap-index.xml",
"source_url": "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/sitemap-index.xml",
"discovery": "direct",
"kind": "mixed",
"format": "xml",
"urls": [
{
"loc": "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/index.html",
"lastmod": "2026-08-25T00:00:00Z",
"changefreq": "daily",
"priority": 1
},
{
"loc": "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/about.html",
"lastmod": "2026-08-20T00:00:00Z",
"changefreq": "yearly",
"priority": 0.3
},
{
"loc": "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/notes/first-frost.html",
"lastmod": "2026-08-24T06:30:00Z",
"changefreq": "monthly",
"priority": 0.6
},
{
"loc": "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/notes/rain-gauge.html",
"lastmod": "2026-08-25T06:15:00Z",
"changefreq": null,
"priority": 0.6
}
],
"count": 4,
"total_seen": 4,
"truncated": false,
"stopped_reason": null,
"sitemap_count": 3,
"sitemaps_visited": [
{
"url": "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/sitemap-index.xml",
"kind": "sitemapindex",
"url_count": 0,
"http_status": 200,
"bytes": 407,
"gzip": false,
"depth": 0
},
{
"url": "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/sitemap-pages.xml",
"kind": "urlset",
"url_count": 2,
"http_status": 200,
"bytes": 479,
"gzip": false,
"depth": 1
},
{
"url": "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/sitemap-notes.xml",
"kind": "urlset",
"url_count": 2,
"http_status": 200,
"bytes": 493,
"gzip": false,
"depth": 1
}
],
"sitemaps_skipped": [],
"sitemaps_skipped_total": 0,
"sitemaps_skipped_by_reason": {
"depth_limit": 0,
"sitemap_limit": 0,
"cross_host": 0,
"too_large": 0,
"malformed": 0,
"duplicate": 0,
"time_budget": 0,
"not_fetchable": 0
},
"invalid_loc_count": 0,
"invalid_lastmod_count": 0,
"robots_sitemaps": null,
"fetched_at": "2026-09-01T12:00:00.000Z"
}Sample file: web/fieldnotes/sitemap-index.xml. Sitemap index of the Field Notes sample site pointing at its two urlset sitemaps. Sample file: web/fieldnotes/sitemap-pages.xml. Urlset sitemap listing the home and about pages of the Field Notes sample site, with lastmod, changefreq and priority. Sample file: web/fieldnotes/sitemap-notes.xml. Urlset sitemap listing the two Field Notes article pages, with lastmod in two time zones and priority. Sample file: web/fieldnotes/index.html. Sample file: web/fieldnotes/about.html. About page of the Field Notes sample site, a short plain HTML page. Sample file: web/fieldnotes/notes/first-frost.html. Sample file: web/fieldnotes/notes/rain-gauge.html. Plain Field Notes article page with only a title, a description meta tag and an icon link.
| Response field | Type | In the example |
|---|---|---|
| requested_url | string | "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/sitemap-index.xml" |
| entry_url | string | "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/sitemap-index.xml" |
| source_url | string | "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/sitemap-index.xml" |
| discovery | string | "direct" |
| kind | string | "mixed" |
| format | string | "xml" |
| urls | array | 4 items, each with loc, lastmod, changefreq and priority |
| count | number | 4 |
| total_seen | number | 4 |
| truncated | boolean | false |
| stopped_reason | null | null |
| sitemap_count | number | 3 |
| sitemaps_visited | array | 3 items, each with url, kind, url_count, http_status, bytes, gzip and depth |
| sitemaps_skipped | array | 0 items |
| sitemaps_skipped_total | number | 0 |
| sitemaps_skipped_by_reason | object | an object with depth_limit, sitemap_limit, cross_host, too_large, malformed, duplicate, time_budget and not_fetchable |
| invalid_loc_count | number | 0 |
| invalid_lastmod_count | number | 0 |
| robots_sitemaps | null | null |
| fetched_at | string | "2026-09-01T12:00:00.000Z" |
05Call it from code
// sitemap-parse: $0.002 per call, paid in USD Coin on eip155:8453 via x402
// Install: npm install @x402/fetch@2 @x402/evm@2 viem@2
// Save as client.mjs (ES module, Node 18+), export EVM_PRIVATE_KEY with the paying wallet's key in your shell, then run: node client.mjs
// The wrapper reads the 402 (payment-required), signs and retries with payment-signature.
import { wrapFetchWithPayment, x402Client, decodePaymentResponseHeader } from '@x402/fetch'
import { ExactEvmScheme } from '@x402/evm/exact/client'
import { privateKeyToAccount } from 'viem/accounts'
const account = privateKeyToAccount(process.env.EVM_PRIVATE_KEY)
const client = new x402Client().register('eip155:8453', new ExactEvmScheme(account))
const fetchWithPayment = wrapFetchWithPayment(fetch, client)
const body = {
"url": "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/sitemap-index.xml",
"limit": 100,
"include_metadata": true
}
const res = await fetchWithPayment('https://grist.tools/v1/sitemap-parse', {
method: 'POST',
headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' },
body: JSON.stringify(body),
})
console.log(res.status, await res.json())
const settle = res.headers.get('payment-response')
if (settle) console.log(decodePaymentResponseHeader(settle).transaction)# sitemap-parse: $0.002 per call, paid in USD Coin on eip155:8453 via x402
# Install: pip install "x402[requests,evm]>=2.24,<3"
# The session reads the 402 (payment-required), signs and retries with payment-signature.
import os
from eth_account import Account
from x402 import x402ClientSync
from x402.http import decode_payment_response_header
from x402.http.clients.requests import x402_requests
from x402.mechanisms.evm.exact import register_exact_evm_client
from x402.mechanisms.evm.signers import EthAccountSigner
account = Account.from_key(os.environ["EVM_PRIVATE_KEY"])
client = x402ClientSync()
register_exact_evm_client(client, EthAccountSigner(account), networks="eip155:8453")
session = x402_requests(client)
payload = {
"url": "https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/sitemap-index.xml",
"limit": 100,
"include_metadata": True
}
res = session.post("https://grist.tools/v1/sitemap-parse", json=payload)
print(res.status_code, res.json())
settle = res.headers.get("payment-response")
if settle:
print(decode_payment_response_header(settle).transaction)# sitemap-parse: $0.002 per call, paid in USD Coin on eip155:8453 via x402
# 1. Unpaid call: HTTP 402, the requirements in the payment-required header (base64 JSON) and in the body.
curl -i -X POST 'https://grist.tools/v1/sitemap-parse' -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{"url":"https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/sitemap-index.xml","limit":100,"include_metadata":true}'
# 2. Same call with the signed payment (an EIP-3009 authorization, EIP-712 signed: it cannot be
# typed by hand). x-payment is accepted as the v1 alternative. HTTP 200 carries payment-response.
curl -i -X POST 'https://grist.tools/v1/sitemap-parse' -H 'content-type: application/json' -H 'payment-signature: <base64 x402 payload>' -d '{"url":"https://grist.tools/samples/web/fieldnotes/sitemap-index.xml","limit":100,"include_metadata":true}'06Errors
| Code | HTTP | For this service |
|---|---|---|
| invalid_input | 400 | The body does not match the schema; its fields are url, limit, include_metadata, max_sitemaps and discover_from_robots. |
| blocked_target | 403 | |
| unreachable_target | 424 | |
| upstream_status | 424 | |
| upstream_timeout | 424 | |
| unsupported_content_type | 415 | |
| too_large | 413 | |
| unprocessable | 422 | |
| internal | 500 |
Input that is rejected before the tool runs (malformed JSON, schema mismatch, body over the size limit) is never charged.
When each code is raised, and what it means for payment: /docs/sitemap-parse.
07Questions
- How much does a sitemap-parse call cost?
- $0.002 per call, paid in USDC on Base via x402, with no account and no API key.
- What does sitemap-parse return?
- A JSON object with 20 top-level fields: requested_url, entry_url, source_url, discovery, kind, format, urls, count, total_seen, truncated, stopped_reason, sitemap_count, sitemaps_visited, sitemaps_skipped, sitemaps_skipped_total, sitemaps_skipped_by_reason, invalid_loc_count, invalid_lastmod_count, robots_sitemaps and fetched_at. The example on this page is a real call over web/fieldnotes/sitemap-index.xml, web/fieldnotes/sitemap-pages.xml, web/fieldnotes/sitemap-notes.xml, web/fieldnotes/index.html, web/fieldnotes/about.html, web/fieldnotes/notes/first-frost.html and web/fieldnotes/notes/rain-gauge.html.
- What happens when a sitemap-parse call fails?
- The tool answers with a typed JSON error from the errors table. Payment is settled only after the tool has produced its result; a call that fails inside the tool is never settled. A 503 upstream_unavailable can follow a settled call; the x402 payments guide covers it, 429, 402 and an uncertain 500.