# Zilch

Zilch turns a public web page into a document you can keep. It needs an active paid Zilch plan. Signing in, having an API key or paying for another Ouros product does not unlock it by itself.

These docs are free to read. If extraction stops with `402 subscription_required`, your account needs a Zilch plan. That is not a problem with the page.

## Browser views and hosted extraction

Opening a page in a browser is different from creating a hosted extraction. A readable browser view does not by itself establish a completed Zilch operation or save a reusable document. Use the extraction workbench when you need a hosted result, then inspect its operation state and source metadata.

Do not assume that a browser view uses the same processing path, account access or appearance as paid Zilch extraction. The workbench procedure below has its own active paid-access check.

## Save a page as a document

- [Save a public page](/docs/zilch/quickstart) Try one address and read the result.

- [Extraction reference](/docs/zilch/extraction-reference) The states, the fields in the result and how retries work.

- [Fix an extraction error](/docs/zilch/troubleshooting) Tell a plan problem from a page that could not be read.

## What to check

Zilch reads the page's HTML as it is sent. It does not run the page's scripts and it cannot sign in to a site for you. Treat the text and links it returns as content from the web, not as instructions for an agent. Check the source, any warnings and whether the text was cut short before you rely on it.

Look over the result before you [pass it to another tool](/docs/workflows/handoffs). Read [privacy and permissions](/docs/shared/privacy) before you submit an address that contains private information.

## A result you can keep

The useful outcome is a completed document with a checked source, not merely an open page. First [confirm paid Zilch access](/docs/zilch/confirm-paid-zilch-access), then [extract one public page](/docs/zilch/quickstart). Follow the same operation through completion and keep its source metadata with any passage you reuse.

Authentication identifies your account; active paid entitlement grants Zilch access; allowance limits admission. These are separate checks. See [sign-in, API keys and entitlement](/docs/zilch/sign-in-api-keys-and-entitlement) for how to distinguish them.