Using Scrapy to Bypass Cloudflare: Tutorial 2024

A popular online performance and security tool is Cloudflare. Its sophisticated anti-bot system employs cutting-edge methods to recognize and stop artificial traffic, which causes the "ACCESS DENIED" error message to appear.

This post will teach you how to use Python and the Scrapy Cloudflare middleware to get around Cloudflare.

What is the middleware called Scrapy-Cloudflare?

A program called Scrapy Cloudflare middleware works in tandem with the Scrapy web scraping tool to take care of Cloudflare issues on your behalf. In order to intercept and modify requests and replies at different points during the scraping process, it serves as a go-between for your Scrapy spider and the target servers.

Using the middleware in your Scrapy project will improve the likelihood that you will evade detection and blockages.

How Is Scrapy-Cloudflare Operational?

A Scrapy spider creates queries for predetermined URLs as soon as it begins to crawl. After going through the middleware pipeline, Scrapy Cloudflare can alter these requests to mimic human behavior.

The primary purpose of this tool is to get around Cloudflare's "I'm Under Attack Mode" page. The JavaScript challenges are resolved by the Scrapy Cloudflare middleware, which intercepts the response from the Cloudflare challenge server upon receiving a request.

How to Use Scrapy-Cloudflare Middleware to Get Around Cloudflare?

This article will show you how to use Python and Scrapy to get around Cloudflare. You must add the middleware to your DOWNLOADER_MIDDLEWARES settings before submitting your requests.

1. Prepare the scrapy

Make sure Python is installed because Scrapy is an open-source framework that requires Python 3.6 or above. Next, use the following command in your terminal to install Scrapy:

pip install scrapy

Next, execute the below command to start a fresh Scrapy project. Put your project name in lieu of test_project.

scrapy startproject test_project

Open the directory of your newly created project and launch the first spider.

cd test_project
scrapy genspider (SpiderName) (TargetURL)

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2. Set up and incorporate the middleware for Scrapy Cloudflare

Installing the Scrapy Cloudflare middleware requires navigating to the root directory and executing the following command:

pip install scrapy_cloudflare_middleware

Then, open the settings.py file and include the Scrapy Cloudflare middleware. Your settings.py file should look something like this:

BOT_NAME = "test_project"

SPIDER_MODULES = ["test_project.spiders"]
NEWSPIDER_MODULE = "test_project.spiders"

DOWNLOADER_MIDDLEWARES = {
    "test_project.middlewares.TestProjectDownloaderMiddleware": 543,
    "scrapy_cloudflare_middleware.middlewares.CloudFlareMiddleware": 560,
}

Conclusion

The Python Scrapy Cloudflare middleware was dependent on evading fundamental JavaScript Cloudflare problems. But the security system is always updating its defenses, thus the Scrapy Cloudflare middleware is no longer functional.

Thankfully, there is an alternate to Scrapy called Scrapeless that provides a tried-and-true way to stay unblocked. Join today to get a free trial and give it a try!