Include Options

Which surface am I using?

Include works differently depending on where you call Fetch. Pick the surface, then read its rules.

Start with the default

Most requests should start with the default Fetch output. It gives the agent the main working document and preserves enough structure to answer more questions without flooding context.

Add options deliberately:

• Use the default for first-pass reading, summarization, extraction, and agent browsing.
• Add State JSON when frontend state, embedded JSON, or network data may answer questions Markdown cannot.
• Add Appendix when navigation, sidebars, related links, footers, or secondary regions matter.
• Add links when the application needs link inventories rather than prose.
• Add html only when the integration needs raw source.
• Add screenshot when visual inspection or debugging matters.
• Add response when HTTP status, final URL, redirects, or headers matter.

More output is not automatically better output. A larger response costs context and rarely improves the answer.

Include options matrix

State JSON is the product name; the request field is json. meta is page metadata; response is response metadata.

State JSON is core signal, not just an overflow reference, and Appendix is secondary context that is available when needed, not evidence-only.

Body include

Body include asks Fetch to return specific artifacts from the capture. Use it when your application needs structured control over the response. It is the main control surface for the API and SDKs.

A few options take nested configuration:

• links can be configured for filtered link extraction, such as same-domain filtering and include/exclude patterns.
• screenshot.fullPage controls whether screenshot capture is full-page. See Browser Behavior and the API Reference for exact capture defaults.
• response.includeHeaders includes response headers.

See the API Reference for exact nested schemas and field-level defaults.

Markdown include parameter

Markdown ?include= controls document parcels, not every Fetch artifact. It only decides whether statejson and appendix are appended to the Markdown document.

Rules to remember:

• Use the canonical token statejson in URLs. stateJson, state-json, and state_json may work as aliases, but examples should use statejson.
• Unknown tokens are ignored.
• include=appendix does not also include State JSON unless statejson is listed.
• Empty include= is a deliberate opt-out of extra document parcels.

The Markdown document is assembled as parcels:

JSON Mode and mixed includes

JSON Mode is the same capture split into fields. Body include controls requested artifacts, while the URL ?include= parameter still controls Markdown document parcels such as Appendix and State JSON.

Avoid mixing body include and URL ?include= casually. If you need precise behavior, pick one documented surface for the thing you are controlling and verify the output shape in JSON Mode.

Highlights corpus

When Highlights searches a Fetch, include options choose the corpus. They are not just display toggles.

• Markdown is a searchable corpus source.
• State JSON is a searchable corpus source.
• Appendix is a searchable corpus source when included.
• If search is present and no include is provided, Fetch defaults to Markdown plus State JSON.
• A request with no searchable corpus is rejected.

The selected corpus flows into ranked results:

See Highlights for queries, ranking, snippets, scores, citations, and searching an existing snapshotId. To inspect a citation back to its exact source block, see Playground & Replay.

MCP include flags

MCP uses agent-friendly booleans instead of the full body include object.

What the flags mean:

• includeJson means State JSON.
• includeAppendix means Appendix.
• includeMeta means page metadata on fetch.
• includeMarkdown controls whether fetch_search searches stored Markdown.

MCP defaults are chosen for agent usefulness, not to mirror every raw API default. For setup, see Agent Quickstarts; for exact tool schemas, see MCP Tools & Resources.

CLI behavior

The CLI is optimized for the common Fetch path. expandai fetch does not currently expose a public --include flag.

• Use expandai fetch <url> for the common path.
• Use --format json when you need the JSON output shape.
• Use --search, --max-results, and --min-score for CLI Highlights behavior.
• Use the API, SDKs, or MCP when you need fine-grained include control.

When you need to choose individual artifacts, reach for body include rather than the CLI.

Batched Fetch limitations

Batched Fetch accepts shared include options at the start of a run, but the polling path cannot retroactively serve every artifact.

• Batched Fetch covers common Markdown and metadata use cases.
• Polling cannot serve screenshot, json, or appendix as retroactive include fields.
• Highlights is not the Batched Fetch workflow.

See Batched Fetch for status, pagination, and lifecycle behavior.

Next steps

• Output Model: understand the fields and layers each include option returns.
• Highlights: search a capture once the corpus is selected.
• Browser Behavior: screenshot and capture behavior.
• Batched Fetch: include limits when fetching many URLs.
• API Reference: exact schemas and nested include defaults.