> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.coresignal.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.coresignal.com/employee-data/real-time-employee-api/post-request.md).

# POST Request: Real-time Employee API

Learn how to send POST requests to the Real-time Employee API. Retrieve the freshest available employee profile data by URL with configurable cache age.

{% 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-data/real-time-employee-api/url-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 %}


---

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