Firecrawl API SOP

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Firecrawl MCP + Claude Code ​

Updated Feb 2026

Set up Firecrawl's MCP server in Claude Code (Anthropic's CLI) with a single command. Give Claude web scraping, searching, and crawling capabilities directly in your terminal.

Source: docs.firecrawl.dev/developer-guides/mcp-setup-guides/claude-code

Prerequisites ​

One-Line Setup ​

Add the Firecrawl MCP server with a single command:

bash
claude mcp add firecrawl -e FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-your-api-key -- npx -y firecrawl-mcp

This registers the Firecrawl MCP server in your Claude Code configuration and makes all Firecrawl tools available immediately.

Manual Configuration ​

Alternatively, edit your Claude Code MCP configuration file directly. Add the following to ~/.claude/.mcp.json (or your project's .mcp.json):

json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "firecrawl": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "firecrawl-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "fc-your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Remote MCP (Alternative) ​

Use Firecrawl's remote MCP endpoint instead of running the server locally:

bash
claude mcp add firecrawl --url "https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/YOUR_API_KEY_HERE/v2/mcp"

Or in the config file:

json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "firecrawl": {
      "url": "https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/YOUR_API_KEY_HERE/v2/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Remote URL Contains Your Key

The remote MCP URL embeds your API key directly. Avoid committing this to version control.

Available Tools ​

Once configured, these tools become available in Claude Code:

ToolDescription
firecrawl_scrapeScrape a single URL and return markdown
firecrawl_searchSearch the web and return results
firecrawl_crawlCrawl a website starting from a URL
firecrawl_mapDiscover all URLs on a website
firecrawl_extractExtract structured data from pages
firecrawl_batch_scrapeScrape multiple URLs in one request

Verify Setup ​

After adding the MCP server:

  1. Start a new Claude Code session (or restart the current one)
  2. Ask: "Scrape https://firecrawl.dev and summarize it"
  3. Claude should invoke the firecrawl_scrape tool and return a summary

You can also verify the server is registered:

bash
claude mcp list

Managing the Server ​

Remove the Firecrawl MCP server:

bash
claude mcp remove firecrawl

Update the API key:

bash
claude mcp remove firecrawl
claude mcp add firecrawl -e FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-new-key -- npx -y firecrawl-mcp

Self-Hosted Option ​

If you run a self-hosted Firecrawl instance:

bash
claude mcp add firecrawl \
  -e FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-your-api-key \
  -e FIRECRAWL_API_URL=http://localhost:3002 \
  -- npx -y firecrawl-mcp

Further Reading ​