--- title: ElderMark API Workaround — Web Scraping with Axiom.ai type: article created: '2026-04-05' updated: '2026-04-05' source_docs: - raw/2026-03-10-cordwainer-crm-call-128794269.md tags: - crm - eldermark - axiom-ai - automation - web-scraping - workaround layer: 2 client_source: null industry_context: null transferable: true --- # ElderMark API Workaround — Web Scraping with Axiom.ai ## Problem ElderMark does not expose a public API and is deliberately restrictive about external data access. This makes it impossible to build real-time integrations or trigger external automations (e.g., email nurture sequences in MailChimp) directly from ElderMark events. The workaround is to automate the manual export process using a browser automation tool, so that contact data can be extracted on a schedule and fed into downstream systems without requiring manual effort from the client. **Affects:** [[wiki/clients/cordwainer/index|Cordwainer]] — see [[wiki/clients/cordwainer/crm-automation-plan|CRM Automation Plan]] for full context. --- ## Chosen Tool: Axiom.ai [Axiom.ai](https://axiom.ai) is a Chrome extension that records a sequence of browser interactions (clicks, text entry, navigation) and replays them on a schedule. It requires no code and can handle login flows, navigation, and file downloads. **Pricing note:** The starter tier (~$30–50/month) supports one bot and is sufficient for a single scheduled export. Factor this into client billing. **Key limitation:** Axiom.ai bots are brittle — if ElderMark changes any UI element (button label, position, DOM structure), the bot will silently fail or error out at that step. Plan for periodic maintenance. --- ## Bot Design: ElderMark Full Prospect Export The goal is to automate a weekly export of the full "All Prospects" contact list as an XLS file. ### Login Flow ElderMark's login page has a redirect quirk: navigating to the root URL causes a redirect that confuses the bot's field-targeting. The fix is to **start the bot at the direct tenant URL** (e.g., `app4.eldermark.com/Anthemian/`) rather than the generic login page. The login form has three fields: 1. **Company Code** — labeled "login" in the help text (confusingly) 2. **Username** — the actual user login 3. **Password** Steps: 1. Navigate to `app4.eldermark.com/[tenant]/` (direct tenant URL) 2. Enter text → Company Code field 3. Enter text → Username field 4. Enter text → Password field 5. Click → Login button Credentials are stored in LastPass. ### Navigation to All Prospects After login, ElderMark may land on different views depending on the user's last session state. To ensure consistent navigation regardless of landing page: 1. Click → hamburger/nine-dot menu (top left) 2. Click → **CRM** in the menu 3. Click → **CRM** link in the top navigation bar (secondary nav) 4. Click → **All Prospects** in the dropdown > **Note:** Steps 2–4 are intentionally redundant to handle variable post-login states. The bot navigates through the full menu path every time rather than assuming a starting view. ### Export Steps Once on the All Prospects list: 1. Click → **Download XLS** button (top right of prospect list) 2. Select → **All Pages** (not Current Page) 3. Click → **Export** button (gray button in the export dialog) The file downloads directly to the local machine. It does **not** email the file — a subsequent automation step (e.g., a folder watch or upload script) would be needed to move it to a shared location. --- ## Current Status: BLOCKED **Blocker:** The bot consistently fails at the **"All Prospects" click step**. The element is visually identified and highlighted during the run, but Axiom.ai reports "couldn't find element: All Prospects" and errors out. This has occurred across multiple bot configurations and navigation path variations. **Attempted mitigations (unsuccessful):** - Added millisecond delays between steps - Tried alternate navigation paths to reach the All Prospects view - Rebuilt the bot from scratch multiple times **Hypothesis:** The All Prospects link may be rendered in a way that Axiom.ai's element selector cannot reliably target (e.g., dynamically injected, inside a frame, or using non-standard click event handling). ElderMark may also have bot-detection that interferes after the login step. **Next action (owner: Mark Hope):** Resume troubleshooting with a fresh session; investigate whether the element can be targeted by XPath or CSS selector rather than visual click recording. --- ## Fallback: Manual Export by Client If the Axiom.ai bot cannot be made reliable, the fallback is to ask the client (Erica) to perform the export manually on a weekly cadence and drop the file in a designated shared folder. - Erica already performs a similar export for another team member (Sebastian), so the process is familiar. - Establish a **file naming convention** (e.g., `eldermark-prospects-YYYY-MM-DD.xls`) so downstream automations can reliably locate the latest file. - The export would then feed into MailChimp audience syncs for the three planned nurture sequences. This is the recommended interim approach while the bot issue is investigated. --- ## Related - [[wiki/clients/cordwainer/crm-automation-plan|Cordwainer CRM Automation Plan]] - [[wiki/clients/cordwainer/index|Cordwainer Client Index]] - [[wiki/knowledge/crm-automation/email-nurture-sequences|Email Nurture Sequence Design]] *(planned)*