Improve --format llm output quality (#37)

Improve LLM-format output for modern news and documentation pages.

- Filter noisy hydration and low-value page chrome structured data while preserving content-bearing Schema.org records
- Fix element/text spacing without detaching punctuation on docs, forums, and reference pages
- Remove common accessibility link chrome from LLM text and link labels
- Bump workspace version to 0.6.0 and update the changelog

Thanks to Nenad Oric (@devnen) for the original PR and contribution.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -3,6 +3,15 @@
 All notable changes to webclaw are documented here.
 Format follows [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/).
 
+## [0.6.0] — 2026-05-10
+
+### Fixed
+- Improved `--format llm` output quality on modern news and documentation pages. Framework hydration blobs and low-value page chrome structured-data records are now filtered out before they can flood the LLM context, while content-bearing Schema.org records are preserved. Thanks and congrats to Nenad Oric (`@devnen`) for the contribution in PR #37.
+- Fixed element-to-text spacing so adjacent inline nodes no longer smash words together, while punctuation stays attached on real pages such as docs, forums, and reference sites.
+- Removed common screen-reader-only link chrome such as "opens new tab" from LLM body text and link labels without stripping ordinary prose that happens to mention external links.
+
+---
+
 ## [0.5.9] — 2026-05-06
 
 ### Fixed

Cargo.lock

@@ -3219,7 +3219,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "webclaw-cli"
-version = "0.5.9"
+version = "0.6.0"
 dependencies = [
  "clap",
  "dotenvy",
@@ -3240,7 +3240,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "webclaw-core"
-version = "0.5.9"
+version = "0.6.0"
 dependencies = [
  "ego-tree",
  "once_cell",
@@ -3258,7 +3258,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "webclaw-fetch"
-version = "0.5.9"
+version = "0.6.0"
 dependencies = [
  "async-trait",
  "bytes",
@@ -3284,7 +3284,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "webclaw-llm"
-version = "0.5.9"
+version = "0.6.0"
 dependencies = [
  "async-trait",
  "reqwest",
@@ -3297,7 +3297,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "webclaw-mcp"
-version = "0.5.9"
+version = "0.6.0"
 dependencies = [
  "dirs",
  "dotenvy",
@@ -3317,7 +3317,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "webclaw-pdf"
-version = "0.5.9"
+version = "0.6.0"
 dependencies = [
  "pdf-extract",
  "thiserror",
@@ -3326,7 +3326,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "webclaw-server"
-version = "0.5.9"
+version = "0.6.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "axum",

Cargo.toml

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ resolver = "2"
 members = ["crates/*"]
 
 [workspace.package]
-version = "0.5.9"
+version = "0.6.0"
 edition = "2024"
 license = "AGPL-3.0"
 repository = "https://github.com/0xMassi/webclaw"

crates/webclaw-core/src/llm/body.rs

@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@ pub(crate) fn process_body(markdown: &str) -> ProcessedBody {
     // 0c. Strip leaked JavaScript (framework hydration, self.__wrap_n, etc.)
     let text = cleanup::strip_leaked_js(&text);
 
+    // 0c2. Strip a11y link chrome ("opens new tab", external link hints)
+    let text = cleanup::strip_a11y_link_chrome(&text);
+
     // 0d. Collapse spaced-out text (CSS animation artifacts like "S t a r t")
     // Must run before any dedup -- spaced text confuses word-based dedup.
     let text = cleanup::collapse_spaced_text(&text);

crates/webclaw-core/src/llm/cleanup.rs

@@ -146,6 +146,45 @@ pub(crate) fn strip_leaked_js(input: &str) -> String {
     out
 }
 
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Accessibility link chrome ("opens new tab", "external link")
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/// Strip screen-reader-only link chrome that bleeds into rendered text.
+///
+/// Sites like Reuters wrap external/new-window links with hidden spans
+/// like `<span class="visually-hidden">, opens new tab</span>`. The noise
+/// filter can't reliably catch these (no consistent class hook across
+/// sites), so they end up duplicated all over the body text. This is a
+/// targeted text-level scrub of the most common phrasings.
+pub(crate) fn strip_a11y_link_chrome(input: &str) -> String {
+    static A11Y_PATTERN: Lazy<Regex> = Lazy::new(|| {
+        Regex::new(
+            r"(?i)(?:\s*,\s*(?:opens (?:in )?(?:a )?new (?:tab|window)|opens external (?:link|website)|external link)\b\.?|\s+\((?:opens (?:in )?(?:a )?new (?:tab|window)|opens external (?:link|website)|external link)\)\.?|\s+external link\b\.?$)",
+        )
+        .unwrap()
+    });
+
+    let mut out = String::with_capacity(input.len());
+    let mut in_code_fence = false;
+    for (i, line) in input.lines().enumerate() {
+        if i > 0 {
+            out.push('\n');
+        }
+        if line.trim().starts_with("```") {
+            in_code_fence = !in_code_fence;
+            out.push_str(line);
+            continue;
+        }
+        if in_code_fence {
+            out.push_str(line);
+            continue;
+        }
+        out.push_str(&A11Y_PATTERN.replace_all(line, ""));
+    }
+    out
+}
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Spaced-out text collapsing (CSS animation artifacts)
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -1356,4 +1395,48 @@ mod tests {
         let input = "```\nImage of something in code\n```";
         assert_eq!(strip_alt_text_noise(input), input);
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a11y_strips_opens_new_tab() {
+        let input = "Download the App, opens new tab and Subscribe, opens new tab.";
+        let out = strip_a11y_link_chrome(input);
+        assert!(!out.to_lowercase().contains("opens new tab"), "leak: {out}");
+        assert!(out.contains("Download the App"));
+        assert!(out.contains("Subscribe"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a11y_strips_external_link_variants() {
+        let cases = [
+            ("Visit our docs, opens external link", "Visit our docs"),
+            ("Click here, opens in a new window.", "Click here"),
+            ("More info external link", "More info"),
+        ];
+        for (input, expected_prefix) in cases {
+            let out = strip_a11y_link_chrome(input);
+            assert!(
+                out.starts_with(expected_prefix),
+                "input={input:?} got={out:?}"
+            );
+            assert!(!out.to_lowercase().contains("opens"), "leak: {out}");
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a11y_preserves_code_blocks() {
+        let input = "```\nopens new tab is a function\n```\nDownload, opens new tab";
+        let out = strip_a11y_link_chrome(input);
+        assert!(
+            out.contains("opens new tab is a function"),
+            "code stripped: {out}"
+        );
+        // Outside the fence, the chrome is removed.
+        assert!(!out.to_lowercase().contains("download, opens new tab"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a11y_preserves_external_link_prose() {
+        let input = "Researchers found an external link between the two incidents.";
+        assert_eq!(strip_a11y_link_chrome(input), input);
+    }
 }

crates/webclaw-core/src/llm/links.rs

@@ -88,10 +88,19 @@ fn is_noise_link(text: &str, href: &str) -> bool {
 static MD_MARKERS_RE: Lazy<Regex> =
     Lazy::new(|| Regex::new(r"#{1,6}\s+|\*{1,2}|_{1,2}|`").unwrap());
 
+static A11Y_LABEL_RE: Lazy<Regex> = Lazy::new(|| {
+    Regex::new(
+        r"(?i)(?:\s*,?\s*(?:opens (?:in )?(?:a )?new (?:tab|window)|opens external (?:link|website))\b\.?|\s*,\s*external link\b\.?|\s+external link\b\.?$)",
+    )
+    .unwrap()
+});
+
 /// Clean a link label: strip markdown, dedup repeated phrases, truncate.
 pub(crate) fn clean_link_label(raw: &str) -> String {
     // Strip markdown markers
     let label = MD_MARKERS_RE.replace_all(raw, "").to_string();
+    // Strip a11y link chrome ("opens new tab", etc.)
+    let label = A11Y_LABEL_RE.replace_all(&label, "").to_string();
     let label = label.split_whitespace().collect::<Vec<_>>().join(" ");
 
     // Dedup repeated phrases in label
@@ -181,4 +190,20 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(is_noise_link("user", "https://hn.com/user?id=foo"));
         assert!(!is_noise_link("Rust docs", "https://rust-lang.org"));
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn link_label_preserves_external_link_prose() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            clean_link_label("Research found an external link between incidents"),
+            "Research found an external link between incidents"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn link_label_strips_terminal_external_link_chrome() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            clean_link_label("Reuters story external link"),
+            "Reuters story"
+        );
+    }
 }

crates/webclaw-core/src/llm/mod.rs

@@ -46,15 +46,73 @@ pub fn to_llm_text(result: &ExtractionResult, url: Option<&str>) -> String {
     }
 
     // -- 4. Structured data (NEXT_DATA, SvelteKit, JSON-LD) --
-    if !result.structured_data.is_empty() {
+    // Only emit useful items: Schema.org records with a meaningful @type,
-        out.push_str("\n\n## Structured Data\n\n```json\n");
+    // and only if the total serialized size stays under a budget. Framework
-        out.push_str(&serde_json::to_string_pretty(&result.structured_data).unwrap_or_default());
+    // hydration blobs (Next.js pageProps full of ad-targeting flags, build
-        out.push_str("\n```");
+    // IDs, schedule paths) explode to hundreds of KB and drown the LLM in
+    // noise — drop them rather than ship them.
+    let useful: Vec<_> = result
+        .structured_data
+        .iter()
+        .filter(|v| is_useful_structured_data(v))
+        .cloned()
+        .collect();
+    if !useful.is_empty() {
+        let serialized = serde_json::to_string_pretty(&useful).unwrap_or_default();
+        const STRUCTURED_DATA_MAX_BYTES: usize = 16 * 1024;
+        if serialized.len() <= STRUCTURED_DATA_MAX_BYTES {
+            out.push_str("\n\n## Structured Data\n\n```json\n");
+            out.push_str(&serialized);
+            out.push_str("\n```");
+        }
     }
 
     out.trim().to_string()
 }
 
+/// Decide whether a structured-data value carries content worth emitting.
+///
+/// Schema.org records with a recognizable content `@type` (Article, NewsArticle,
+/// Product, Recipe, FAQPage, HowTo, Event, Person, Organization, BreadcrumbList,
+/// VideoObject, JobPosting, etc.) are kept. Generic `WebSite` / `WebPage` /
+/// `ItemList` records and Next.js `pageProps`-style blobs without a useful
+/// `@type` are dropped — they're almost always navigation chrome or framework
+/// hydration state.
+fn is_useful_structured_data(v: &serde_json::Value) -> bool {
+    let Some(obj) = v.as_object() else {
+        // SvelteKit can emit compact arrays of page data. Keep those if they
+        // are small enough to be useful, while still dropping giant hydration
+        // arrays under the same budget as untyped objects.
+        if v.is_array() {
+            let serialized = serde_json::to_string(v).unwrap_or_default();
+            return serialized.len() <= 4 * 1024;
+        }
+        return false;
+    };
+    // JSON-LD: @type drives the decision.
+    if let Some(t) = obj.get("@type") {
+        let types: Vec<String> = match t {
+            serde_json::Value::String(s) => vec![s.to_ascii_lowercase()],
+            serde_json::Value::Array(a) => a
+                .iter()
+                .filter_map(|x| x.as_str())
+                .map(str::to_ascii_lowercase)
+                .collect(),
+            _ => Vec::new(),
+        };
+        if types.is_empty() {
+            return false;
+        }
+        // Drop low-info chrome types.
+        const DROP_TYPES: &[&str] = &["website", "webpage", "sitenavigationelement"];
+        return types.iter().any(|t| !DROP_TYPES.iter().any(|d| t == d));
+    }
+    // Next.js pageProps / SvelteKit data without @type: keep only if compact.
+    // Anything over ~4KB is almost certainly hydration state, not content.
+    let serialized = serde_json::to_string(v).unwrap_or_default();
+    serialized.len() <= 4 * 1024
+}
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Integration tests that exercise the full pipeline through to_llm_text
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -700,4 +758,86 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(out.contains("Some content"), "Content before lost: {out}");
         assert!(out.contains("More content"), "Content after lost: {out}");
     }
+
+    // -- Structured-data gating tests --
+
+    fn make_result_with_structured(values: Vec<serde_json::Value>) -> ExtractionResult {
+        let mut r = make_result("# Body");
+        r.structured_data = values;
+        r
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn structured_data_drops_chrome_types() {
+        // WebSite/WebPage records are framework chrome — should be dropped.
+        let r = make_result_with_structured(vec![serde_json::json!({
+            "@type": "WebSite",
+            "name": "Example",
+            "url": "https://example.com"
+        })]);
+        let out = to_llm_text(&r, None);
+        assert!(
+            !out.contains("## Structured Data"),
+            "WebSite chrome leaked into output: {out}"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn structured_data_keeps_article_types() {
+        let r = make_result_with_structured(vec![serde_json::json!({
+            "@type": "NewsArticle",
+            "headline": "Big news",
+            "datePublished": "2026-05-10"
+        })]);
+        let out = to_llm_text(&r, None);
+        assert!(
+            out.contains("## Structured Data"),
+            "NewsArticle dropped: {out}"
+        );
+        assert!(out.contains("Big news"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn structured_data_drops_oversized_blob() {
+        // 32KB pageProps-style blob with no @type — should be dropped.
+        let big = "x".repeat(32 * 1024);
+        let r = make_result_with_structured(vec![serde_json::json!({
+            "buildId": "abc",
+            "isFallback": false,
+            "noise": big
+        })]);
+        let out = to_llm_text(&r, None);
+        assert!(
+            !out.contains("## Structured Data"),
+            "Oversized untyped blob leaked: len={}",
+            out.len()
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn structured_data_keeps_compact_untyped() {
+        // Small untyped record (e.g. a parsed pageProps with real content) — keep.
+        let r = make_result_with_structured(vec![serde_json::json!({
+            "title": "Hi",
+            "body": "small enough to keep"
+        })]);
+        let out = to_llm_text(&r, None);
+        assert!(
+            out.contains("## Structured Data"),
+            "Compact untyped dropped: {out}"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn structured_data_keeps_compact_untyped_array() {
+        // SvelteKit can emit compact arrays rather than objects.
+        let r = make_result_with_structured(vec![serde_json::json!([
+            { "title": "Hi", "body": "small array item" }
+        ])]);
+        let out = to_llm_text(&r, None);
+        assert!(
+            out.contains("small array item"),
+            "Compact untyped array dropped: {out}"
+        );
+    }
 }

crates/webclaw-core/src/markdown.rs

@@ -320,6 +320,9 @@ fn children_to_md(
                 }
             }
             Node::Text(text) => {
+                if !text.is_empty() && !out.is_empty() && needs_separator(&out, text) {
+                    out.push(' ');
+                }
                 out.push_str(text);
             }
             _ => {}
@@ -350,6 +353,9 @@ fn inline_text(
                 }
             }
             Node::Text(text) => {
+                if !text.is_empty() && !out.is_empty() && needs_separator(&out, text) {
+                    out.push(' ');
+                }
                 out.push_str(text);
             }
             _ => {}
@@ -361,11 +367,65 @@ fn inline_text(
 
 /// Check whether a space is needed between two adjacent chunks of output.
 /// Returns true when the left side doesn't end with whitespace and the right
-/// side doesn't start with whitespace — i.e., two words would be mashed together.
+/// side doesn't start with whitespace, except around punctuation that should
+/// bind to the adjacent token.
 fn needs_separator(left: &str, right: &str) -> bool {
-    let l = left.as_bytes().last().copied().unwrap_or(b' ');
+    let l = left.chars().next_back().unwrap_or(' ');
-    let r = right.as_bytes().first().copied().unwrap_or(b' ');
+    let r = right.chars().next().unwrap_or(' ');
-    !l.is_ascii_whitespace() && !r.is_ascii_whitespace()
+
+    if l.is_whitespace() || r.is_whitespace() {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    // Do not create "word ," / "word )" / "word 's" artifacts.
+    if is_closing_punctuation(r) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    // Do not create "( word" / "[ 1" artifacts.
+    if is_opening_punctuation(l) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    // Common inline-code suffixes: `Option`s, `x`'s. Treat them like a
+    // single token rather than separating the text node.
+    if matches!(l, '`' | ')') && starts_with_inline_code_suffix(right) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    true
+}
+
+fn starts_with_inline_code_suffix(s: &str) -> bool {
+    let trimmed = s.trim_start_matches(['*', '_']);
+    let mut chars = trimmed.chars();
+    let Some(first) = chars.next() else {
+        return false;
+    };
+
+    if matches!(first, '\'' | '’') {
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    if !matches!(first, 's' | 'S') {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    match chars.next() {
+        None => true,
+        Some(c) => c.is_whitespace() || is_closing_punctuation(c) || matches!(c, '*' | '_'),
+    }
+}
+
+fn is_closing_punctuation(c: char) -> bool {
+    matches!(
+        c,
+        '.' | ',' | ';' | ':' | '!' | '?' | ')' | ']' | '}' | '%' | '\'' | '’' | '"' | '”'
+    )
+}
+
+fn is_opening_punctuation(c: char) -> bool {
+    matches!(c, '(' | '[' | '{' | '"' | '“')
 }
 
 /// Collect raw text content (no markdown formatting).
@@ -1606,4 +1666,39 @@ mod tests {
             "collapse_whitespace stripped 6-space indent: {output}"
         );
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn text_after_inline_element_keeps_separator() {
+        // Reuters-style markup: <a><time>3h</time>ago</a><a>Tanker crosses...</a>
+        // The "ago" text node sits between two element children. Without a
+        // separator check on the Text branch, "ago" + "Tanker" would smash
+        // together as "agoTanker".
+        let html = r#"<div><span>3h</span>ago<span>Tanker crosses Strait</span></div>"#;
+        let (md, _, _) = convert_html(html, None);
+        assert!(
+            !md.contains("agoTanker"),
+            "Element->Text->Element smashed together: {md}"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn punctuation_after_inline_element_stays_attached() {
+        let html = r#"<p><span>Hello</span>, world. Use <code>package.json</code>.</p>"#;
+        let (md, _, _) = convert_html(html, None);
+        assert!(md.contains("Hello, world"), "punctuation detached: {md}");
+        assert!(
+            md.contains("`package.json`."),
+            "code punctuation detached: {md}"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn inline_code_suffix_stays_attached() {
+        let html = r#"<p><a href="https://example.com"><code>NullPointerException</code></a><em>s</em> are common.</p>"#;
+        let (md, _, _) = convert_html(html, None);
+        assert!(
+            md.contains("[`NullPointerException`](https://example.com)*s* are common"),
+            "code suffix detached: {md}"
+        );
+    }
 }