Firecrawl
Scrape content from a single URL with advanced options. This is the most powerful, fastest and most reliable scraper tool, if available you should always default to using this tool for any web scrap
What is Firecrawl?
Firecrawl is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code to scrape content from a single url with advanced options. this is the most powerful, fastest and most reliable scraper tool, if available you should always default to using this tool for any web scrap
Scrape content from a single URL with advanced options. This is the most powerful, fastest and most reliable scraper tool, if available you should always default to using this tool for any web scrap
This server falls under the Search & Data Extraction category on MCPgee, the world's largest MCP server directory with 33,000+ servers.
Features
- firecrawl_scrape
- firecrawl_map
- firecrawl_crawl
- firecrawl_check_crawl_status
- firecrawl_search
Use Cases
Maintainer
Works with
Installation
NPM
npx -y firecrawl-mcpManual Installation
npx -y firecrawl-mcpConfiguration
Configuration Details
claude_desktop_config.json
Performance
Response Metrics
Resource Usage
How to Set Up and Use Firecrawl
Firecrawl MCP Server integrates Firecrawl's web scraping, crawling, and search capabilities into any MCP-compatible AI agent, enabling it to extract clean structured content from websites, handle JavaScript-rendered pages, map entire site URL trees, run web searches with content extraction, and even interact with browser elements like clicking and typing. Developers and researchers use it when they need an AI assistant to autonomously gather, extract, and reason over live web content as part of a workflow — from competitive research to data pipelines.
Prerequisites
- Node.js 18+ and npx installed
- A Firecrawl API key (FIRECRAWL_API_KEY) from firecrawl.dev, or a self-hosted Firecrawl instance URL
- An MCP-compatible client such as Claude Desktop or Cursor
Get a Firecrawl API key
Sign up at firecrawl.dev and create an API key from your dashboard. Free tier is available for testing.
Test the server locally with npx
Run the MCP server directly to verify the API key works before adding it to a client config.
env FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-your_api_key_here npx -y firecrawl-mcpConfigure Claude Desktop
Add the firecrawl-mcp server to your Claude Desktop configuration with the API key in the env block.
Configure Cursor
In Cursor, go to Settings → Features → MCP Servers and add a new server entry for firecrawl-mcp.
Tune retry and credit monitoring settings (optional)
Set environment variables to control retry behavior and get warnings when credits run low.
Firecrawl Examples
Client configuration
Claude Desktop claude_desktop_config.json for the Firecrawl MCP server with all key environment variables.
{
"mcpServers": {
"firecrawl-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "firecrawl-mcp"],
"env": {
"FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "fc-your_api_key_here",
"FIRECRAWL_RETRY_MAX_ATTEMPTS": "3",
"FIRECRAWL_RETRY_INITIAL_DELAY": "1000",
"FIRECRAWL_RETRY_MAX_DELAY": "10000",
"FIRECRAWL_RETRY_BACKOFF_FACTOR": "2",
"FIRECRAWL_CREDIT_WARNING_THRESHOLD": "1000",
"FIRECRAWL_CREDIT_CRITICAL_THRESHOLD": "100"
}
}
}
}Prompts to try
Example prompts for web scraping and research tasks with the Firecrawl MCP server.
- "Scrape the pricing page at https://example.com/pricing and return it as JSON"
- "Map all URLs on docs.example.com to understand the documentation structure"
- "Search the web for 'best open source LLM 2025' and extract the top 5 results with summaries"
- "Crawl https://blog.example.com up to 20 pages deep and summarize the main themes"
- "Extract the founder names and LinkedIn URLs from the about page at example.com/team"
- "Monitor https://example.com/pricing every day and alert me if the price changes"Troubleshooting Firecrawl
API returns 401 or 'invalid API key' error
Verify FIRECRAWL_API_KEY is set correctly in the env block of your MCP config and starts with fc-. Do not include quotes around the value inside the JSON string. Regenerate the key at firecrawl.dev if needed.
Scrape returns empty content for JavaScript-heavy sites
Firecrawl handles JavaScript rendering by default for the scrape tool. If content is still missing, try adding a waitFor parameter in your prompt (e.g., 'scrape the page and wait 3 seconds for JavaScript to load').
Credit warning threshold triggered — requests start failing
Top up credits at firecrawl.dev or lower FIRECRAWL_CREDIT_CRITICAL_THRESHOLD. For development, use the map tool (low credit cost) instead of crawl when exploring site structure.
Frequently Asked Questions about Firecrawl
What is Firecrawl?
Firecrawl is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that scrape content from a single url with advanced options. this is the most powerful, fastest and most reliable scraper tool, if available you should always default to using this tool for any web scrap It connects AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface.
How do I install Firecrawl?
Install via npm with the command: npx -y firecrawl-mcp. Then add the server configuration to your AI client's JSON config file (e.g., claude_desktop_config.json or .cursor/mcp.json).
Which AI clients work with Firecrawl?
Firecrawl works with all major MCP-compatible AI clients including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf, and Cline.
Is Firecrawl free to use?
Yes, Firecrawl is open source and available under the MIT license. You can use it freely in both personal and commercial projects.
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Set Up Firecrawl in Your Editor
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Quick Config Preview
Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json or .cursor/mcp.json
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