Page Existence Check
Assess whether a URL returns page content or missing-page signals. Returns an existence result, confidence and supporting checks.
page-exists Example
{
"url": "https://example.com",
"title": "Example Domain",
"exists": true,
"reason": "ok",
"signals": [],
"final_url": "https://example.com/",
"checked_at": "2026-08-12T12:00:00.000Z",
"confidence": "medium",
"redirected": false,
"status_code": 200,
"content_length": 559
} Inputs
| Field | Type | Required | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
url | string | Yes | URL to check for content-level existence |
timeout_ms | integer | No | Request timeout in milliseconds (clamped to 1000-30000, default 10000) |
Output fields
How reliably each field appears in a successful answer.
| Field | Type | Appears |
|---|---|---|
url | string | Always (present in every successful answer) |
error | string | Sometimes (present only for some inputs) |
title | string or null | Usually (present for most inputs) |
exists | boolean or null | Usually (present for most inputs) |
reason | one of ok, non_html_content, hard_404, soft_404_title, soft_404_body, soft_404_body_and_redirect, redirected_to_generic, thin_content, access_blocked, server_error, unexpected_status, timeout, redirect_loop, dns_error, network_error | Always (present in every successful answer) |
signals | array | Always (present in every successful answer) |
final_url | string or null | Usually (present for most inputs) |
checked_at | string | Always (present in every successful answer) |
confidence | one of high, medium, low, null | Usually (present for most inputs) |
redirected | boolean | Always (present in every successful answer) |
status_code | integer or null | Usually (present for most inputs) |
content_length | integer or null | Usually (present for most inputs) |
How to call it
The same tool through each route. MCP clients reach it through Strale’s server at https://api.strale.io/mcp; the call below is what the agent sends.
# Needs an API key. max_price_cents caps what this call may cost.
curl -X POST https://api.strale.io/v1/do \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $STRALE_API_KEY" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"capability_slug": "page-exists",
"inputs": {
"url": "https://strale.dev"
},
"max_price_cents": 2
}' {
"tool": "strale_execute",
"arguments": {
"slug": "page-exists",
"inputs": {
"url": "https://strale.dev"
},
"max_price_cents": 2
}
} import { Strale } from "straleio";
const strale = new Strale({ apiKey: process.env.STRALE_API_KEY! });
const result = await strale.do({
capability_slug: "page-exists",
inputs: {
"url": "https://strale.dev"
},
max_price_cents: 2,
}); import os
from straleio import Strale, DoRequest
strale = Strale(api_key=os.environ["STRALE_API_KEY"])
result = strale.do(DoRequest(
capability_slug="page-exists",
inputs={
"url": "https://strale.dev",
},
max_price_cents=2,
)) # No account. The first request answers 402 with the price in USDC;
# an x402 client pays it from your wallet and repeats the request.
curl -i -X POST https://api.strale.io/x402/v2/page-exists \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"url": "https://strale.dev"
}' Limitations
Single-page apps can hide missing pages
Some JavaScript applications return the same HTTP 200 page for every URL, including removed listings. These can return `exists` true with medium confidence even when the requested listing is missing.
What to do instead: For known SPA domains, corroborate with a rendered check (screenshot-url) before trusting exists:true.
Soft-404 phrase heuristics are English-only
Removal and error-page phrases are recognised only in English. Non-English error pages can be misclassified as existing content.
What to do instead: For non-English sites, verify the returned title and final_url yourself rather than trusting exists alone.
Blocked pages return unknown and are still billed
Pages returning HTTP 401 or 403 produce `exists` null with reason access_blocked, rather than a determination that the page exists. This completed check is billed, and unknown results can be common on sites that block automated requests.
What to do instead: Treat exists:null as "unknown" and fall back to a manual check or a different data source for these domains.
Low-confidence negatives can misread live pages
Redirects to generic pages and thin-content checks can classify legitimate pages as missing with low confidence. Confirm low-confidence negatives before acting.
What to do instead: Only act automatically on confidence high/medium; route confidence:low results to a secondary check.
Related tools
- Mail Server Lookup €0.02
- Port Check €0.05
- Redirect Trace €0.05
- Robots.txt Parser €0.02
- Sitemap Parser €0.05
- SSL Certificate Chain €0.05