Run Firecrawl MCP locally

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Prerequisites

• Node.js 22 or newer
• npm and npx, included with Node.js
• A Firecrawl API key for the cloud API, or a self-hosted Firecrawl API URL

node --version

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Run over stdio

env FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR_API_KEY npx -y firecrawl-mcp@3.23.0

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Run with Streamable HTTP

env HTTP_STREAMABLE_SERVER=true \
  FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR_API_KEY \
  npx -y firecrawl-mcp@3.23.0

http://localhost:3000/mcp

curl http://localhost:3000/health

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Install globally

npm install -g firecrawl-mcp@3.23.0

env FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR_API_KEY firecrawl-mcp

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Configuration

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Environment Variables

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Cloud and self-hosted 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)

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Configuration Examples

export FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=your-api-key

export FIRECRAWL_API_URL=https://firecrawl.your-domain.com
export FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=your-api-key  # If your instance requires auth

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Custom configuration with Claude Desktop

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

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Hosted MCP vs local MCP

• Hosted keyless mode exposes only Search, Scrape, and Parse and is rate-limited per IP.
• Local-only file reads are available only when you run the MCP server locally.
• Webhooks and local file paths should be configured from a local or self-hosted MCP server when the agent needs access to local resources.

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Rate Limiting