Firecrawl

Firecrawl helps agents search first, scrape clean content, interact with live pages when plain extraction is not enough, and produce finished deliverables from web data.

Install

One command installs everything — the Firecrawl CLI for live web work, the build skills for integrating Firecrawl into application code, and the workflow skills for producing repeatable deliverables. It also opens browser auth so the human can sign in or create an account.

npx -y firecrawl-cli@latest init --all --browser

This gives you:

• CLI tools — firecrawl search, firecrawl scrape, firecrawl interact, firecrawl ask, firecrawl docs-search, and more
• CLI skills (firecrawl/cli) — teach the agent how to drive the Firecrawl CLI during its own session: which command to run, when to scrape vs search vs interact, how to chain results, and how to recover when a job fails. Use these when the agent itself needs web data right now.
• Build skills (firecrawl/skills) — teach the agent how to add Firecrawl to a product's codebase: pick the right API endpoint, install the matching SDK, store FIRECRAWL_API_KEY safely, write the call site to match the project's conventions, and ship a smoke-tested integration. Use these when the agent is shipping code that other people will run, not running the agent's own web tools.
• Workflow skills (firecrawl/firecrawl-workflows) — turn Firecrawl web data into finished deliverables such as research briefs, SEO audits, lead lists, QA reports, knowledge bases, and design clones. Use these when the agent's job is to produce a finished artifact, not raw extraction or product code.
• Browser auth — walks the human through sign-in or account creation

The three skill segments map to three different jobs:

Before doing real work, verify the install:

mkdir -p .firecrawl
firecrawl --status
firecrawl scrape "https://firecrawl.dev" -o .firecrawl/install-check.md

Get Credentials

Firecrawl users can get an API key in two ways:

• Dashboard or CLI (default) — browser sign-in, CLI --browser auth, install skills/MCP, or create an API key in the dashboard. Continue with Path D below, or run the install command first.
• WorkOS ID-JAG (supported agent platforms only) — if your platform can mint a WorkOS ID-JAG identity assertion, fetch https://www.firecrawl.dev/auth.md and follow it end-to-end. Do not run the browser or CLI auth flow in Path D.

Which should I use? Stay on this page unless you know your platform supports WorkOS ID-JAG.

How you might arrive:

• Docs or website sent you here — continue with Choose Your Path below for CLI/skills/MCP onboarding.
• API 401 with discovery metadata — if ID-JAG applies, use the WorkOS ID-JAG option above. Everyone else: use Path D.
• Direct URL — you are reading the right doc for browser/CLI onboarding.
• Already have FIRECRAWL_API_KEY — skip credential setup; pick Path A–E below.

Human-readable overview: https://docs.firecrawl.dev/ai-onboarding#get-credentials

Choose Your Path

All paths use the same install above. The difference is what you do next.

• Need web data during this session -> Path A (live tools)
• Need to add Firecrawl to app code -> Path B (app integration)
• Need a finished deliverable from web data -> Path C (workflow skills)
• Need more than one of the above -> do them in sequence; the install already covers everything
• Agent platform with WorkOS ID-JAG -> see Get Credentials above (not Path D)
• Need an account or API key (browser or CLI) -> Path D
• Don't want to install anything -> Path E (REST API directly)

Path A: Live Web Tools

Use this when you need web data during your work: searching the web, scraping known URLs, interacting with live pages, crawling docs, or mapping a site.

After install, hand off to the CLI skill:

• firecrawl/cli for the overall command workflow
• firecrawl-search when you need search first
• firecrawl-scrape when you already have a URL
• firecrawl-interact when the page needs clicks, forms, or login
• firecrawl-crawl for bulk extraction
• firecrawl-map for URL discovery
• firecrawl-ask when a Firecrawl call fails or returns unexpected output — pass the failing jobId and the AI support agent diagnoses it from your team's job logs and account state
• firecrawl-docs-search for "how does Firecrawl handle X?" questions — answers grounded in current docs with source citations

Default flow for live web work:

1. start with search when you need discovery
2. move to scrape when you have a URL
3. use interact only when the page needs clicks, forms, or login
4. if any step fails or returns unexpected output, run firecrawl ask with the failing jobId instead of guessing

If the task becomes "wire Firecrawl into product code," switch to Path B.

Path B: Integrate Firecrawl Into an App

Use this when you're building an application, agent, or workflow that calls the Firecrawl API from code — meaning the integration will run inside the user's product (a web app, backend service, script, agent loop, or pipeline) rather than from the agent's own terminal session.

This is the key difference from Path A: Path A runs firecrawl ... commands during the current session to fetch data for the agent itself. Path B writes code that will keep running long after the agent stops, using FIRECRAWL_API_KEY from the project's .env or runtime config and the matching Firecrawl SDK in the project's language.

The build skills are already installed from the same command above. No separate install needed.

Choose the project mode before writing code:

• Fresh project -> pick the stack, install the SDK, add env vars, and run a smoke test
• Existing project -> inspect the repo first, then integrate Firecrawl where the project already handles APIs and secrets

If you already have a key, save it to the project's environment:

FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-...

Then hand off to the build skill that fits the step:

• firecrawl-build for the overall build workflow and endpoint routing
• firecrawl-build-onboarding for auth and project setup (API key, SDK install, smoke test)
• firecrawl-build-scrape when the feature scrapes a known URL
• firecrawl-build-search when the feature starts with a query and discovers pages
• firecrawl-build-interact when the feature needs clicks, forms, or navigation after a scrape
• firecrawl-build-parse when the feature parses local or non-public document files (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, etc.)

The required question in the build path is:

• What should Firecrawl do in the product?

Use the answer to route to /search, /scrape, /interact, /parse, /crawl, or /map, then run one real Firecrawl request as a smoke test.

If you do not have a key yet, do Path D first.

Path C: Repeatable Deliverables

Use this when the goal is a finished artifact powered by Firecrawl web data — a research brief, SEO audit, QA report, lead list, knowledge base, competitive intel digest, or a cloned design system — not raw web extraction and not product-code integration.

Workflow skills infer from context first and only ask short clarifying questions when an input would block the work. They also call out independently parallelizable units so sub-agents can fan out across competitors, pages, or sources.

Start with the umbrella firecrawl-workflows skill — it inspects the user's request and routes to the right workflow (research, SEO, lead gen, QA, knowledge base, design clone, and others). If the agent already knows which workflow to run, hand off to that workflow skill directly.

The full skill list lives in the workflows repo.

Default flow for workflow deliverables:

1. confirm the workflow and final artifact with the user
2. collect web evidence with Firecrawl through the CLI or equivalent tool surface
3. save or cite source evidence so claims are traceable
4. run independent research units in parallel when available
5. synthesize findings into the requested deliverable
6. include a short "rerun inputs" block when the workflow could be automated

If the underlying web work fails or the request shifts to "wire Firecrawl into product code," switch to Path A or Path B.

Path D: Account Authorization Or API Key

Use this when the human still needs to sign up, sign in, authorize access, or obtain an API key.

This is the default credential path for coding agents and human-in-the-loop auth. If WorkOS ID-JAG applies, use Get Credentials above instead — do not run this section.

If you ran the install command above with --browser, the human was already prompted to sign in. Check if the key is available before running this flow.

If you already have a valid FIRECRAWL_API_KEY, skip this path.

If you're the human reading this in the browser, create an account or sign in at:

• https://www.firecrawl.dev/signin?view=signup&source=agent-suggested

If you're an agent and need the human to authorize an API key, use this flow:

Step 1 — Generate auth parameters:

SESSION_ID=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
CODE_VERIFIER=$(openssl rand -base64 32 | tr '+/' '-_' | tr -d '=\n' | head -c 43)
CODE_CHALLENGE=$(printf '%s' "$CODE_VERIFIER" | openssl dgst -sha256 -binary | openssl base64 -A | tr '+/' '-_' | tr -d '=')

Step 2 — Ask the human to open this URL:

https://www.firecrawl.dev/cli-auth?code_challenge=$CODE_CHALLENGE&source=coding-agent#session_id=$SESSION_ID

If they already have a Firecrawl account, they'll sign in and authorize. If not, they'll create one first and then authorize. The API key comes back to you automatically after they click "Authorize."

Step 3 — Poll for the API key:

POST https://www.firecrawl.dev/api/auth/cli/status
Content-Type: application/json

{"session_id": "$SESSION_ID", "code_verifier": "$CODE_VERIFIER"}

Poll every 3 seconds. Responses:

• {"status": "pending"} — keep polling
• {"status": "complete", "apiKey": "fc-...", "teamName": "..."} — done

Step 4 — Save the key and continue:

echo "FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-..." >> .env

Path E: Use Firecrawl Without Installing Anything

Use this when you don't want to install a CLI or skills package. This works for both use cases:

• Live web work — an agent calling the API directly for search, scrape, or interact during a session
• Building with Firecrawl — integrating the REST API into app code

You still need an API key. Two ways to get one:

• Human pastes it in — if you already have a key, just set FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-... in your environment or pass it directly
• Automated flow — do Path D to walk the human through browser auth and receive the key automatically

If WorkOS ID-JAG applies, see Get Credentials above instead of Path D.

Base URL: https://api.firecrawl.dev/v2

Auth header: Authorization: Bearer fc-YOUR_API_KEY

Available endpoints

• POST /search — discover pages by query, returns results with optional full-page content
• POST /scrape — extract clean markdown from a single URL
• POST /interact — browser actions on live pages (clicks, forms, navigation)
• POST /support/ask — diagnose a failing Firecrawl call. Pass { question, jobId? }; returns a prose answer plus machine-readable fixParameters to retry with. Auto-scoped to your team via the bearer key
• POST /support/docs-search — answer "how do I…" questions from Firecrawl's official docs. Pass { question }; returns the answer plus citations to the docs pages used

Documentation and references

The API docs are the source of truth for request/response schemas, parameters, and SDKs:

• API reference: https://docs.firecrawl.dev
• Skills repo (for agent integration patterns): https://github.com/firecrawl/skills