Get API key from firecrawl.dev/app/api-keys Skill

What This Skill Does

Enables AI agents to interact with web content through the Firecrawl MCP server. Core capabilities:

Scrape: Convert any URL to clean markdown, HTML, or structured JSON
Crawl: Multi-page extraction with BFS traversal
Search: Web search with optional content scraping
Map: Discover all URLs on a website
Extract: LLM-powered structured data extraction
Agent: Autonomous multi-source research

When It Activates

Activate this skill when you see phrases like:

"scrape this website" or "get content from this URL"
"crawl the documentation" or "extract all pages from..."
"search the web for..." with content extraction
"find all URLs on this site"
"extract structured data from this page"
"what does this website say about..."
"gather information from multiple pages"

Installation

Option A: Cloud (Fastest)

# Get API key from firecrawl.dev/app/api-keys
# Add to MCP config:
b00t mcp add firecrawl -- npx -y firecrawl-mcp
# Set env: FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR_KEY

Option B: Self-Hosted (CRW - Recommended)

# Single binary, 6MB RAM, no server needed
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/us/crw/main/install.sh | CRW_BINARY=crw sh

# Add to MCP config:
b00t mcp add crw -- npx crw-mcp
# No API key required in embedded mode

Available Tools

Core Scraping

| Tool | Best For | Returns | |------|----------|---------| | firecrawl_scrape | Single URL extraction | markdown/JSON/HTML | | firecrawl_batch_scrape | Multiple known URLs | markdown[] | | firecrawl_map | Discover URLs on site | URL[] |

Web Discovery

| Tool | Best For | Returns | |------|----------|---------| | firecrawl_search | Find info across web | results[] | | firecrawl_crawl | Multi-page extraction | markdown[] |

Advanced

| Tool | Best For | Returns | |------|----------|---------| | firecrawl_extract | Structured data extraction | JSON (schema-defined) | | firecrawl_agent | Autonomous research | JSON (async) | | firecrawl_interact | Click/navigate pages | execution result |

Usage Patterns

Quick Scrape (Markdown)

{
  "name": "firecrawl_scrape",
  "arguments": {
    "url": "https://docs.example.com/api",
    "formats": ["markdown"],
    "onlyMainContent": true
  }
}

Structured Extraction (JSON)

{
  "name": "firecrawl_scrape",
  "arguments": {
    "url": "https://example.com/product",
    "formats": [{
      "type": "json",
      "prompt": "Extract product details",
      "schema": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "name": {"type": "string"},
          "price": {"type": "number"},
          "inStock": {"type": "boolean"}
        }
      }
    }]
  }
}

Web Search with Content

{
  "name": "firecrawl_search",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "best practices for async Rust 2025",
    "limit": 5,
    "scrapeOptions": {
      "formats": ["markdown"],
      "onlyMainContent": true
    }
  }
}

Site Crawling

{
  "name": "firecrawl_crawl",
  "arguments": {
    "url": "https://docs.example.com/*",
    "maxDepth": 2,
    "limit": 50
  }
}

Decision Guide

Know exact URL? → scrape (single) or batch_scrape (multiple)
Need to find URLs? → search (web) or map (site discovery)
Need all pages? → crawl (with limits!)
Want specific data? → scrape with JSON format + schema
Complex research? → agent (async, poll for results)

Self-Hosted Options

CRW (Recommended)

| Metric | CRW | Firecrawl Self-Host | |--------|-----|---------------------| | RAM | 6 MB | 4 GB+ | | Containers | 0 | 5+ | | Cold Start | 85ms | 30-60s | | Setup | Single binary | Docker Compose |

# CRW embedded mode - no server, no config
npx crw-mcp

# CRW cloud mode - adds web search
CRW_API_URL=https://fastcrw.com/api CRW_API_KEY=xxx npx crw-mcp

Firecrawl Self-Hosted

git clone https://github.com/firecrawl/firecrawl
cd firecrawl
docker compose up -d

# MCP config:
FIRECRAWL_API_URL=http://localhost:3002 npx -y firecrawl-mcp

Important Notes

Format Selection

JSON format (preferred): Use with schema to extract only needed data
Markdown format: Only when full content is required (articles, summaries)

Token Management

Use onlyMainContent: true to skip navigation/footer
Set limit on crawls to avoid context overflow
Use JSON extraction instead of full markdown when possible

Rate Limits

Built-in exponential backoff (configurable)
Batch operations are async - poll for status

Troubleshooting

"API key required" - Set FIRECRAWL_API_KEY env var or use CRW in embedded mode

"Rate limited" - Increase FIRECRAWL_RETRY_MAX_ATTEMPTS, wait and retry

"Context too large" - Use JSON format with schema, reduce crawl depth

"Self-hosted connection refused" - Verify Docker containers are running, check FIRECRAWL_API_URL

Related Skills

context7: Live library documentation
browser-use: Interactive browser automation
playwright: UI testing and scraping

References

Firecrawl MCP: https://github.com/firecrawl/firecrawl-mcp-server
Firecrawl API: https://github.com/firecrawl/firecrawl
CRW Alternative: https://github.com/us/crw
API Docs: https://docs.firecrawl.dev

Agent Skills: Get API key from firecrawl.dev/app/api-keys

Install this agent skill to your local

Skill Files