From Recording to Reasoning with AI

17.12.2025 · Karishma

What is Extract in Maxun?

Extract is Maxun’s core.

It emulates real user behavior in a real browser to collect structured data from any website — no code required.
If a human can navigate a site, Extract can automate it.

This includes

  1. JavaScript-heavy websites
  2. Pagination and dynamic content
  3. Real-world user flows

The output is clean, structured data you can use in APIs, spreadsheets, or downstream systems.


How Extract Works

Until now, Extract worked through Recorder Mode.

You would

  1. Open a website
  2. Click, scroll, and navigate as a real user
  3. Capture the data you want
  4. Save the flow as a reusable extraction robot

Maxun converts these actions into a deterministic workflow that can be replayed reliably at scale.

Recorder Mode is powerful — and it’s still here.


From Recording to Reasoning

This is where Extract evolves.

Instead of teaching the system how to extract data step-by-step, you can now describe what you want — and let the system reason about the rest.

We call this AI Mode.


Recorder Mode vs AI Mode

Both modes solve different problems.


Recorder Mode

  1. Fully deterministic
  2. Best for complex flows and long-running jobs
  3. Ideal when reliability matters most

AI Mode

  1. Intent-driven
  2. Fastest way to get started
  3. Best for exploratory extraction

They are not replacements for each other.
They run on the same browser-based engine.
You choose based on the problem.


AI Mode: Describe What You Want

With AI Mode, you describe the data you want in natural language.

The LLM reasons about

  1. Page structure
  2. Navigation
  3. Field boundaries
  4. Extraction logic

The result is clean, structured output — just like Recorder Mode.


Support for Closed and Open-Source LLMs

AI Mode supports multiple model backends.

  1. Local LLMs via Ollama for privacy and self-hosting
  2. Cloud models (OpenAI, Anthropic) for higher accuracy on complex pages

You control where inference runs and which model is used.


Example: Extract Top 50 Movies from IMDb

Prompt: Extract the names, ratings, and duration of the top 50 movies.


AI Mode extracting the top 50 movies from IMDb using a natural language prompt.


Without recording any steps, Extract:

  1. Navigates the page
  2. Identifies the correct list
  3. Extracts structured fields
  4. Returns clean data

Where This Is Going

Recording gives determinism. AI adds reasoning.

Together, they make Extract flexible enough for exploration and reliable enough for production.

This is the next step in how we think about web extraction — and it’s just getting started.

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