Deploy and Host Crawl4AI on Sealos

Crawl4AI is an open-source LLM-friendly web crawler and scraper. This template deploys the official Crawl4AI API server with its dashboard and playground on Sealos Cloud.

About Hosting Crawl4AI

Crawl4AI runs as a single API/Web service on port 11235. The deployment exposes the dashboard, playground, crawl API, task API, and browser-backed scraping features through a public HTTPS URL.

The template provisions persistent storage for browser shared memory and runtime cache paths. Sealos handles TLS, ingress routing, restart management, and resource controls.

Common Use Cases

• LLM-ready extraction: Crawl pages and produce markdown or structured content for AI workflows.
• Scraping API: Submit crawl jobs through /crawl and retrieve results through /task/{id}.
• Interactive testing: Use /playground to test requests and generate example code.
• Self-hosted crawling backend: Run Crawl4AI as a shared service for internal automation.

Dependencies for Crawl4AI Hosting

The Sealos template includes the Crawl4AI Docker server image, persistent cache storage, public HTTPS ingress, and the App shortcut.

Deployment Dependencies

• Crawl4AI Documentation - Official documentation
• Self-Hosting Guide - Docker server reference
• Crawl4AI GitHub Repository - Source code and releases

Implementation Details

Architecture Components:

• Crawl4AI StatefulSet: Runs unclecode/crawl4ai:0.8.9 on port 11235.
• Persistent /dev/shm volume: Provides browser shared-memory space through a persistent volume because Sealos templates use persistent volumes for runtime storage.
• Persistent cache volume: Stores /app/.cache.
• Ingress and App: Publish /playground, /dashboard, and API endpoints through HTTPS.

Configuration:

• The App shortcut opens /playground.
• API base URL is the root deployment URL.
• Health checks use /health.

License Information:

Crawl4AI is licensed under Apache-2.0. This Sealos template is provided under the repository license.

Why Deploy Crawl4AI on Sealos?

Sealos is an AI-assisted Cloud Operating System built on Kubernetes that unifies the entire application lifecycle, from development in cloud IDEs to production deployment and management. By deploying Crawl4AI on Sealos, you get:

• One-Click Deployment: Deploy the Crawl4AI API server quickly.
• Public HTTPS API: Use the crawl API from browsers, scripts, and AI tools.
• Persistent Runtime Paths: Keep runtime cache paths across restarts.
• Easy Resource Tuning: Increase CPU and memory from the Canvas for heavier crawl jobs.
• Integrated Management: Restart, inspect logs, and adjust settings from Sealos.

Deployment Guide

1. Open the Crawl4AI template and click Deploy Now.
2. Review the default resources and deploy.
3. Wait for deployment to complete. After deployment, you will be redirected to the Canvas.
4. Access the application via:
   • Playground: https://<your-app-url>/playground
   • Dashboard: https://<your-app-url>/dashboard
   • API: https://<your-app-url>/crawl

Configuration

After deployment, configure Crawl4AI through:

• Playground: Test crawl requests interactively.
• API clients: Send requests to /crawl and poll /task/{id}.
• Resource Cards: Increase CPU, memory, or storage for larger crawls.

Troubleshooting

Browser-backed crawls fail under load

• Cause: The deployment needs more CPU, memory, or browser shared-memory space for the requested workload.
• Solution: Increase StatefulSet CPU and memory from the Canvas, then retry with a smaller crawl batch.

API request times out

• Cause: The target site is slow or the crawl job is large.
• Solution: Use async task polling through /task/{id} and increase proxy read timeout only for long-running internal workloads.

Additional Resources

• Crawl4AI Documentation
• Docker Examples
• Self-Hosting Guide

License

This Sealos template is provided under the repository license. Crawl4AI itself is licensed under Apache-2.0.