--- doc_version: "1.0.0" last_updated: "2026-07-14T15:00:57.718Z" title: "Crawling Settings Reference" description: "Complete reference for every ChatbotIQ crawling setting: modes, performance, content cleaning, link discovery, and general options with types, defaults, and descriptions." keywords: [crawling settings, web crawler, static site mode, reader mode, SPA detection, concurrency, ChatbotIQ reference] --- This page documents every crawling and indexing setting available when adding or configuring a website source. For practical recipes by site type, see [Configure Crawling for Your Site](/how-to/configure-crawling-for-your-site/). > **Where these settings live:** Settings appear when you choose **Manual** configuration mode in the Add Source wizard (the default is **AI-assisted**, which picks settings for you). Open **Advanced Options** to reveal the **Performance**, **Content Extraction**, and **Discovery Tuning** sections. **Page limit** and **Include Images** are shown in both AI-assisted and Manual modes. --- ## Discovery Mode In the wizard, "Discovery Mode" selects how pages are found. | UI label | Discovery method | When to use | |------|-----------------|-------------| | **Sitemap Discovery** *(Recommended)* | Reads your sitemap.xml | Most websites. Fast discovery, separate crawl step. | | **Link Crawling** | Follows links from the starting URL | Sites without a sitemap, SPAs, or when the sitemap is missing pages. Single-pass: content is captured during discovery. | --- ## Site Presets In Manual mode, **Advanced Options** opens with a **Site Preset** picker that fills in all settings for a common site type. You can still adjust any value afterward (which switches the preset to **Custom**). | Preset (UI label) | Best for | What it sets | |---|---|---| | **Standard Website** | Most websites | Browser rendering, Reader Mode on, Concurrency 10, no wait delay | | **SPA / JavaScript App** | React, Vue, Angular | Advanced Link Detection on, Reader Mode off, Concurrency 5, 3-second content wait | | **Confluence / Wiki** | Confluence, wikis | Reader Mode on, Concurrency 2 (avoids rate limits), 3-second content wait | | **Static Site / Blog** | Plain HTML, blogs | Simple Mode on (no browser), Concurrency 20, fast HTTP crawling | | **Custom** | Manual control | Whatever you set by hand | --- ## Performance These settings live under **Advanced Options → Performance**. | Setting (UI label) | Available in | Type | Default | Description | |---------|-------------|------|---------|-------------| | **Max Depth** | Link Crawling only | Number (1-100) | 10 | How many links deep to follow from the starting URL. Depth 1 = only links on the starting page. Increase for deeply nested documentation. | | **Max Pages** | Both | Number (1-10,000) | Your remaining plan budget | Maximum pages to discover. Discovery stops at this limit. Start with 100 for your first crawl, then increase. (Also shown as the **Page limit** field in both modes.) | | **Concurrency** | Both | Number (1-50) | 5 | Pages processed simultaneously. Higher = faster but may trigger rate limiting. Use 2-3 for Confluence and rate-sensitive sites. | | **Simple Mode** | Both | Toggle | Off | Uses direct HTTP requests instead of a browser. ~30x faster for static HTML sites. Disables all JavaScript-dependent settings. | --- ## Content Extraction These settings live under **Advanced Options → Content Extraction**. | Setting (UI label) | Available in | Type | Default | Description | |---------|-------------|------|---------|-------------| | **Reader Mode** | Both | Toggle | On | Strips navigation, sidebars, footers, and other UI chrome. Extracts only the main article content, similar to your browser's Reader View. Essential for CMS platforms, wikis, and sites with heavy page layout. | | **Content Area Selector** | Both (Reader Mode only) | Text | *(empty)* | Narrows extraction to a specific part of the page. Only content inside that section is indexed. Available when Reader Mode is on. Your developer can help you find the right value for your site (common examples: `#main-content` for Confluence, `article` for blogs). | | **Wait for Page Element (Optional)** | Both (browser only) | Text | *(empty)* | Wait until a specific page element appears before extracting content. Useful for pages that show a loading spinner first. Your developer can provide the right value (e.g., `#main-content`). Not available when Simple Mode is on. | | **Wait Time for Page Content (seconds)** | Both (browser only) | Number (0-10 seconds, 0.5 steps) | 0 | Extra seconds to wait before capturing the page. The crawler already waits for content to stabilize, but slow sites may need more time. Not available when Simple Mode is on. | --- ## Discovery Tuning (Link Crawling only) These settings live under **Advanced Options → Discovery Tuning** and only appear in **Link Crawling** mode. | Setting (UI label) | Type | Default | Description | |---------|------|---------|-------------| | **Keep URL Parameters** | Toggle | Off | When off, `example.com/page` and `example.com/page?v=2` are treated as the same page. Enable only when different URL parameters lead to different content (e.g., versioned docs). | | **Advanced Link Detection** | Toggle | Off | Finds hidden navigation links in modern web apps (React, Vue, Angular) that normal link discovery misses. Essential for single-page applications. Not available when Simple Mode is on. | | **Add Specific Pages (Optional)** | Text (one URL per line) | *(empty)* | Additional starting URLs for the crawler. Useful when your docs have multiple unlinked sections. | | **Skip Menu and Footer Links** | Toggle | Off | Ignores links in navigation areas (header, footer, sidebar menus). Only follows links in the main content. Available when Add Specific Pages is configured. | --- ## Shown in both configuration modes | Setting (UI label) | Type | Default | Description | |---------|------|---------|-------------| | **Page limit** | Number (1-10,000) | Your remaining plan budget | Maximum pages to discover. Same as Max Pages, but shown at the top level in both AI-assisted and Manual modes. | | **Include Images** | Toggle | Off | Preserve image references in extracted content. When enabled, your bot can include relevant images in responses. | --- ## Auto-recrawl Website sources are automatically re-crawled on a schedule to keep your knowledge base up to date. | Setting | Type | Default | Description | |---------|------|---------|-------------| | **Auto-Recrawl Enabled** | Toggle | On | Automatically re-crawl this source on a schedule. Disable to only crawl manually. | The recrawl frequency depends on your plan: | Plan | Frequency | |------|-----------| | Free | Not available | | Personal | Not available | | Standard | Weekly (every 7 days) | | Business | Daily (every 24 hours) | Auto-recrawl only applies to website sources. PDF, QA, and file sources are not recrawled. The source must have completed its initial discovery before scheduled recrawls begin. --- ## Speed benchmarks | Configuration | Approximate speed | Best for | |---|---|---| | Sitemap Discovery + Simple Mode | ~100+ pages/min | Static HTML with sitemap | | Sitemap Discovery + Browser (default) | ~20-30 pages/min | CMS/WordPress with sitemap | | Link Crawling + Browser | ~10-20 pages/min | SPAs, no-sitemap sites | | Link Crawling + Reader Mode | ~5-15 pages/min | JS-heavy sites, clean extraction | | Link Crawling + Reader Mode + Low Concurrency | ~2-5 pages/min | Confluence, rate-limited sites | --- ## Related - [Configure Crawling for Your Site](/how-to/configure-crawling-for-your-site/) - practical recipes by site type - [How Web Crawling Works](/explanation/how-crawling-works/) - conceptual overview - [Add a Website Source](/how-to/add-a-website-source/) - getting started with sources ## Sitemap Full documentation index: [sitemap.md](/sitemap.md) and [llms.txt](/llms.txt).