AI-Powered Web Scraping & Automated PDF Reporting

 AI-Powered Web Scraping Tool Development for Automated Report Generation

A research and analytics client approached iWeb Data Scraping with a vision: “We want a single platform that can pull relevant data from targeted online databases, intelligently analyze it, and generate a clean, professional PDF report—automatically.” The end goal was a web application where the user could The application let users define a topic, run an AI-powered scraper on pre-approved sources, automatically analyze and summarize the results, and instantly populate findings into a pre-designed PDF. 

This streamlined process turned complex, hours-long research into a fast, automated “research-to-report” workflow, ensuring accurate, concise, and professional output every time.We designed and delivered a full-stack solution combining secure scraping, AI-driven text processing, and automated PDF generation, creating a seamless “research-to-report” workflow.

Objectives & Deliverables

Primary Objectives

Build a secure, login-protected web application.

Develop a backend AI-enabled scraper targeting specific, client-approved databases and sites.

Implement text cleaning, summarization, and entity extraction using AI models.

Map processed data into a custom PDF report template.

Enable export, download, and archive of generated reports.

Key deliverables:

Responsive frontend dashboard for managing scraping jobs and reports.

Scalable backend API for scraping and AI processing.

Customizable PDF template with dynamic placeholders.

Data storage with secure retrieval for past reports.

Challenges

1. Balancing speed with compliance

Sources were public but had rate limits; AI processing needed to work asynchronously to avoid bottlenecks.

2. Extracting only relevant content

Avoiding noise and unrelated data required topic-focused AI filtering.

3. Consistent formatting in reports

The output needed to match corporate branding with tables, bullet points, and graphs.

4. Dynamic data sources

Sources had varied HTML structures and update schedules; scrapers needed modularity for quick adaptation.

Approach

1. System Architecture Design

Frontend: React-based dashboard with secure login and job management

Backend: Python FastAPI for scraper orchestration and AI text processing

Data Layer: PostgreSQL + object storage for report assets

2. AI-Powered Data Processing

Used NLP models for:

Keyword extraction

Named entity recognition (NER)

Summarization (extractive + abstractive)

Topic clustering for multi-section reports

Applied custom prompt templates to ensure concise, factual summaries for PDFs.

3. Scraper Development

Modular scrapers for each approved source, using Playwright and BeautifulSoup.

Smart retry logic with proxy rotation for robust uptime.

HTML cleaning pipeline to remove ads, navigation elements, and boilerplate text.

4. PDF Template Population

Built PDF templates in ReportLab with placeholders for:

Executive summary

Key statistics (auto-generated tables and charts)

Detailed analysis sections

References and source list

AI outputs mapped directly into placeholders for consistent styling.

5. Compliance & Security

Only scraped approved, public sources.

API keys and credentials stored in secure vault.

Rate limits respected; scraping intervals configurable.

Technical Stack

Frontend: React, TailwindCSS, Redux Toolkit

Backend: FastAPI (Python), Celery for job queues

Scraping: Playwright, BeautifulSoup4, Requests

AI/NLP: OpenAI API / HuggingFace Transformers (summarization, NER)

PDF Generation: ReportLab, Matplotlib for embedded charts

Database: PostgreSQL

Storage: AWS S3 for PDF archives

Deployment: Docker + Kubernetes for scalability

Sample Output Flow

Step 1: User enters “Electric Vehicle Battery Recycling” into dashboard

Step 2: Scraper visits approved databases (e.g., DOE, EPA, trade publications)

Step 3: AI processes text, extracts:

Industry trends

Major players

Regulatory updates

Step 4: AI populates PDF template:

Executive Summary: 300-word plain language overview

Data Table: Top 10 companies in the space

Charts: EV battery recycling volume growth (2018–2025)

References: URLs and publication dates

Illustrative PDF snippet:

Executive Summary:

Electric vehicle battery recycling in the U.S. is projected to grow 18% annually...

Key Statistics:

Number of operational recycling facilities: 37

Largest operator by capacity: Redwood Materials

Sources:

U.S. Department of Energy, "Battery Recycling Trends" (2025)

Environmental Protection Agency, "Circular Economy in EVs" (2025)

Results

Average report generation time: 12 minutes from topic input to downloadable PDF

Data relevance score: 92% after QA audits

Reduction in manual research time: 80%

Scalability: Supports 100+ simultaneous scraping/report generation jobs

Client Impact

Faster research cycles: Teams could generate dozens of topic reports daily without analyst bottlenecks.

Consistent quality: Every PDF adhered to a unified corporate style.

Better decision-making: Reports provided concise, data-backed overviews for executives and clients.

Compliance

All scraping conducted on pre-approved public sources.

No bypassing of authentication walls without permission.

AI outputs audited for factual accuracy before final PDF export.