firecrawl-mcp-server

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# Firecrawl MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that brings [Firecrawl](https://github.com/firecrawl/firecrawl) to MCP-compatible AI agents — search, scrape, and interact with the live web for clean, agent-ready context.

> Big thanks to [@vrknetha](https://github.com/vrknetha), [@knacklabs](https://www.knacklabs.ai) for the initial implementation!

## Features

- Search the web and get full page content
- Scrape any URL into clean, structured data
- Interact with pages — click, navigate, and operate
- Deep research with autonomous agent
- Automatic retries and rate limiting
- Cloud and self-hosted support
- SSE support

> Play around with [our MCP Server on MCP.so's playground](https://mcp.so/playground?server=firecrawl-mcp-server) or on [Klavis AI](https://www.klavis.ai/mcp-servers).

## Installation

### Hosted MCP (keyless free tier)

Connect to the remote hosted server with no setup:

```
https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp
```

On the keyless free tier, `scrape`, `search`, and `interact` work without an API key (rate-limited). Other tools such as `crawl`, `map`, `agent`, and `extract` still need a key.

Prefer an API key or OAuth whenever the human can sign up. It unlocks the full tool set and higher limits. With a key, use:

```
https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/{FIRECRAWL_API_KEY}/v2/mcp
```

See the [MCP server docs](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/mcp-server) and the [agent onboarding guide](https://www.firecrawl.dev/agent-onboarding/SKILL.md) for setup details.

#### Search-only endpoint

A read-only, search-only surface is also hosted at:

```
https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp-search
```

It exposes a fixed set of six read-only tools: `firecrawl_search` and the five `firecrawl_research_*` tools. It performs no page-content fetching and has its own OAuth identity; the full endpoint above is unchanged. See [docs/search-profile.md](docs/search-profile.md) for the full contract.

### Running with npx

```bash
env FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR_API_KEY npx -y firecrawl-mcp
```

### Manual Installation

```bash
npm install -g firecrawl-mcp
```

### Running on Cursor

Configuring Cursor 🖥️
Note: Requires Cursor version 0.45.6+
For the most up-to-date configuration instructions, please refer to the official Cursor documentation on configuring MCP servers:
[Cursor MCP Server Configuration Guide](https://docs.cursor.com/context/model-context-protocol#configuring-mcp-servers)

To configure Firecrawl MCP in Cursor **v0.48.6**

1. Open Cursor Settings
2. Go to Features > MCP Servers
3. Click "+ Add new global MCP server"
4. Enter the following code:
   ```json
   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "firecrawl-mcp": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": ["-y", "firecrawl-mcp"],
         "env": {
           "FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "YOUR-API-KEY"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   ```

To configure Firecrawl MCP in Cursor **v0.45.6**

1. Open Cursor Settings
2. Go to Features > MCP Servers
3. Click "+ Add New MCP Server"
4. Enter the following:
   - Name: "firecrawl-mcp" (or your preferred name)
   - Type: "command"
   - Command: `env FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=your-api-key npx -y firecrawl-mcp`

> If you are using Windows and are running into issues, try `cmd /c "set FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=your-api-key && npx -y firecrawl-mcp"`

Replace `your-api-key` with your Firecrawl API key. If you don't have one yet, you can create an account and get it from https://www.firecrawl.dev/app/api-keys

After adding, refresh the MCP server list to see the new tools. The Composer Agent will automatically use Firecrawl MCP when appropriate, but you can explicitly request it by describing your web scraping needs. Access the Composer via Command+L (Mac), select "Agent" next to the submit button, and enter your query.

### Running on Windsurf

Add this to your `./codeium/windsurf/model_config.json`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-server-firecrawl": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "firecrawl-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

### Running with Streamable HTTP Local Mode

To run the server using Streamable HTTP locally instead of the default stdio transport:

```bash
env HTTP_STREAMABLE_SERVER=true FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR_API_KEY npx -y firecrawl-mcp
```

Use the url: http://localhost:3000/mcp

### Installing via Smithery (Legacy)

To install Firecrawl for Claude Desktop automatically via [Smithery](https://smithery.ai/server/@mendableai/mcp-server-firecrawl):

```bash
npx -y @smithery/cli install @mendableai/mcp-server-firecrawl --client claude
```

### Running on VS Code

For one-click installation, click one of the install buttons below...

[![Install with NPX in VS Code](https://img.shields.io/badge/VS_Code-NPM-0098FF?style=flat-square&logo=visualstudiocode&logoColor=white)](https://insiders.vscode.dev/redirect/mcp/install?name=firecrawl&inputs=%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22promptString%22%2C%22id%22%3A%22apiKey%22%2C%22description%22%3A%22Firecrawl%20API%20Key%22%2C%22password%22%3Atrue%7D%5D&config=%7B%22command%22%3A%22npx%22%2C%22args%22%3A%5B%22-y%22%2C%22firecrawl-mcp%22%5D%2C%22env%22%3A%7B%22FIRECRAWL_API_KEY%22%3A%22%24%7Binput%3AapiKey%7D%22%7D%7D) [![Install with NPX in VS Code Insiders](https://img.shields.io/badge/VS_Code_Insiders-NPM-24bfa5?style=flat-square&logo=visualstudiocode&logoColor=white)](https://insiders.vscode.dev/redirect/mcp/install?name=firecrawl&inputs=%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22promptString%22%2C%22id%22%3A%22apiKey%22%2C%22description%22%3A%22Firecrawl%20API%20Key%22%2C%22password%22%3Atrue%7D%5D&config=%7B%22command%22%3A%22npx%22%2C%22args%22%3A%5B%22-y%22%2C%22firecrawl-mcp%22%5D%2C%22env%22%3A%7B%22FIRECRAWL_API_KEY%22%3A%22%24%7Binput%3AapiKey%7D%22%7D%7D&quality=insiders)

For manual installation, add the following JSON block to your User Settings (JSON) file in VS Code. You can do this by pressing `Ctrl + Shift + P` and typing `Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)`.

```json
{
  "mcp": {
    "inputs": [
      {
        "type": "promptString",
        "id": "apiKey",
        "description": "Firecrawl API Key",
        "password": true
      }
    ],
    "servers": {
      "firecrawl": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "firecrawl-mcp"],
        "env": {
          "FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "${input:apiKey}"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Optionally, you can add it to a file called `.vscode/mcp.json` in your workspace. This will allow you to share the configuration with others:

```json
{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "apiKey",
      "description": "Firecrawl API Key",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "firecrawl": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "firecrawl-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "${input:apiKey}"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

## Configuration

### Environment Variables

#### Required for Cloud API

- `FIRECRAWL_API_KEY`: Your Firecrawl API key
  - Required when using cloud API (default)
  - Optional when using self-hosted instance with `FIRECRAWL_API_URL`
- `FIRECRAWL_API_URL` (Optional): Custom API endpoint for self-hosted instances
  - Example: `https://firecrawl.your-domain.com`
  - If not provided, the cloud API will be used (requires API key)

#### MCP OAuth (Bearer access tokens)

Hosted Firecrawl can issue OAuth **access tokens** (`fco_…`) via the authorization server on [firecrawl.dev](https://firecrawl.dev). This MCP server forwards whichever credential it resolves to the Firecrawl API as `Authorization: Bearer …`.

- **HTTP stream transports** (`CLOUD_SERVICE=true`, `HTTP_STREAMABLE_SERVER=true`, or `SSE_LOCAL=true`): Clients should send `Authorization: Bearer <fco_access_token>` on MCP requests. An OAuth bearer token takes precedence over `x-firecrawl-api-key` / `x-api-key` when both are present.
- **stdio:** Use `FIRECRAWL_OAUTH_TOKEN` for a static access token, or keep using `FIRECRAWL_API_KEY` for an API key.

Use **access** tokens (`fco_…`) only. Refresh tokens (`fcr_…`) must be exchanged at the token endpoint, not passed to the scrape/search API.

#### Search-only surface (hosted)

In hosted mode (`CLOUD_SERVICE=true`) a second in-process instance serves the [search-only endpoint](#search-only-endpoint). The bundled service has a fixed deployment contract: nginx routes `/v2/mcp-search` to the instance on local port `3001`, and the OAuth protected-resource identifier is `https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp-search`.

`FIRECRAWL_MCP_SEARCH_ENABLED` (default `true`) is the supported operational toggle; set it to `false` to prevent the search instance from starting. The Node process also accepts `FIRECRAWL_MCP_SEARCH_PORT`, `FIRECRAWL_MCP_SEARCH_ENDPOINT`, and `FIRECRAWL_MCP_SEARCH_RESOURCE_URL` for isolated tests. Those overrides do not reconfigure the bundled nginx routes or the authorization server allowlist and must not be used independently in the hosted deployment.

The search instance requires authentication for every request (including `tools/list`) and rejects OAuth tokens whose audience does not match its own resource.

### Configuration Examples

For cloud API usage:

```bash
export FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=your-api-key
```

For self-hosted instance:

```bash
# Required for self-hosted
export FIRECRAWL_API_URL=https://firecrawl.your-domain.com

# Optional authentication for self-hosted
export FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=your-api-key  # If your instance requires auth
```

### Usage with Claude Desktop

Add this to your `claude_desktop_config.json`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-server-firecrawl": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "firecrawl-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

## How to Choose a Tool

Use this guide to select the right tool for your task:

- **If you know the exact URL you want: