Skip to main content
Whichever way you start in Octoparse, you end up with a task: a scraper you can run again. This page explains the terms you’ll see across Octoparse and how they fit together.

​
Task

A task is a reusable scraper saved to your account. It knows which site to open, how to get to the data, which fields to collect, and how to run. Every run of a task follows the same rules, so you get the same fields every time. You can get a task in three ways: All your tasks are in your task list.

​
Template

A template is a ready-made scraper for a popular site or common data, built and maintained by Octoparse. You fill in the inputs and run it. If no template fits, build your own task with AI Assistant or Octoparse Desktop.

​
AI Assistant and chats

AI Assistant is where you describe the data you need, in your own words. A chat is the conversation where you do this. A chat and a task are different things: the task is what you keep, and only chats that build a Browser Use or Cloud Agent task are saved with it. See Chats and tasks.

​
Routes

A route is the way AI Assistant gets your data:
  • Templates: AI Assistant recommends a matching template first, when one fits.
  • Browser Use: builds a task that runs in your own browser, so it can use your sign-ins.
  • Cloud Agent: builds a scraper that runs on Octoparse Cloud, on a schedule.
  • Auto-detect: generates an Octoparse Desktop task from one page URL.
See Ways to get your data.

​
Field

A field is a column in your data, such as product name, price, rating, URL, or review date. Clear field names make the exported data easier to use:

​
Workflow actions

In Octoparse Desktop, a task is a workflow of actions, such as opening a page, clicking, looping through a list, paging through results, scrolling, and extracting data. Templates and AI Assistant set these up for you. See No-code builder.

​
Run

A run is one execution of a task. Run a task again whenever you need fresh data. Where it runs depends on how the task was built:

​
Export

Export sends the data out of Octoparse so you can use it elsewhere. Export it yourself, or automatically to files, spreadsheets, databases, and cloud storage. Data from every kind of task can be exported the same way.

​
How these concepts fit together

1

Get a task

Pick a template, describe the data to AI Assistant, or build the task in Octoparse Desktop.
2

Run it

Run it on your computer or on Octoparse Cloud, once or on a schedule.
3

Export the data

Send the data to the file, spreadsheet, database, or cloud storage you need.