# POST Request: Real-time Employee API

{% columns %}
{% column width="16.666666666666664%" %}
Data type:

Query type

URL:
{% endcolumn %}

{% column %}
Base Employee

Real-time data scraping

<https://api.coresignal.com/rtapi/v2/employee/scrape>
{% endcolumn %}
{% endcolumns %}

***

## Overview

Use `/rtapi/v2/employee/scrape` endpoint to request the scraping of a specific employee profile. Simply provide the profile URL and specify the `max_age`.

Explore the fields in the endpoint payload and their descriptions to gain insights into Real-time Employee API usage.

## Request parameters

### `url`

The `url` field requires an employee profile URL. Learn more about valid URLs on [URLs Validation](/employee-api/real-time-employee-api/post-request/urls-validation.md) page.

### `max_age`

This is the maximum number of hours a URL can be cached for and still remain valid. If you choose a greater `max_age` value than the scraped profile is stored in cache, then the data from cache is returned. If lower – scraping is done right away.

{% hint style="success" %}
`0` – current data, `24` – up to 1 day old, `168` – up to 1 week
{% endhint %}

{% code title="Request body" %}

```json
{
  "url": "string",
  "max_age": number
}
```

{% endcode %}

## cURL request

{% hint style="warning" %}
The request may last for up to 30 seconds. If it fails to scrape within 30 seconds, a `408` timeout response will be returned, and you can try sending the request again.
{% endhint %}

{% code title="Request" %}

```json
curl -X 'POST' \
  'https://api.coresignal.com/rtapi/v2/employee/scrape' \
  -H 'accept: application/json' \
  -H 'apikey: {API Key}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "url": "https://www.professional-network.com/john-doe",
  "max_age": 72
}'
```

{% endcode %}


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.coresignal.com/employee-api/real-time-employee-api/post-request.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.
