Firecrawl MCP Server for Claude Desktop: Setup & Config

What you can do with Firecrawl in Claude Desktop

Combine web discovery, structured extraction, live interaction, and recurring monitoring for agents.

• Extract selected fields from a known web page into JSON.
• Discover site URLs before choosing pages to scrape.
• Research a question across multiple sources asynchronously.

Before you start: Firecrawl in Claude Desktop

• An MCP-compatible client
• npx for the local package
• Firecrawl credentials for full cloud API access

The command describes local stdio operation. The remote URL offers a limited keyless tier. Set FIRECRAWL_API_URL for a self-hosted backend, where authentication may be optional.

Firecrawl Claude Desktop configuration

1. Choose Claude Desktop configuration scope

   For Firecrawl MCP Server, open macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json. Merge under mcpServers via Settings → Developer → Edit Config when available.

2. Add Firecrawl MCP Server to Claude Desktop

   Use the firecrawl-mcp-server entry below in mcpServers. Keep Firecrawl MCP Server's documented stdio connection fields and your other Claude Desktop entries.

3. Check Firecrawl MCP Server in Claude Desktop

   Firecrawl MCP Server: Fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop; check developer diagnostics.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "firecrawl-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "firecrawl-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "<your Firecrawl API key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Firecrawl tools available to Claude Desktop

Firecrawl's stored tool list documents 27 tools; compare it with Claude Desktop's connected tool list, because the stored list is not a live check.

firecrawl_scrape

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_scrape from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

Extract one page into chosen formats, including schema-shaped JSON.

firecrawl_map

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_map from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

Discover indexed URLs belonging to a website.

firecrawl_search

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_search from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

Find ranked web, news, or image results with search operators and filters.

firecrawl_search_feedback

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_search_feedback from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

Record validated quality feedback for an earlier search result set.

firecrawl_feedback

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_feedback from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

Send compact quality feedback about a completed collection job.

firecrawl_crawl

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_crawl from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

Collect multiple site pages within configured scope and return final crawl results.

firecrawl_check_crawl_status

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_check_crawl_status from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

Read progress and available results for an existing crawl.

firecrawl_extract

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_extract from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

Deprecated extraction entry point; use JSON scraping for known URLs instead.

firecrawl_agent

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_agent from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

Launch asynchronous multi-source research from a prompt and optional schema.

firecrawl_agent_status

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_agent_status from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

Check whether an agent research task is still running or has final results.

firecrawl_interact

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_interact from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

Use a live browser session for navigation, actions, or executable browser work.

firecrawl_interact_stop

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_interact_stop from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

Release resources by closing an interaction session.

firecrawl_parse

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_parse from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

Convert supported documents to readable content or schema-shaped output.

firecrawl_monitor_create

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_monitor_create from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

Schedule recurring collection checks with change comparison.

firecrawl_monitor_list

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_monitor_list from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

firecrawl_monitor_get

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_monitor_get from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

firecrawl_monitor_update

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_monitor_update from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

firecrawl_monitor_delete

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_monitor_delete from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

firecrawl_monitor_run

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_monitor_run from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

firecrawl_monitor_checks

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_monitor_checks from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

firecrawl_monitor_check

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_monitor_check from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

firecrawl_research_search_papers

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_research_search_papers from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

firecrawl_research_inspect_paper

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_research_inspect_paper from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

firecrawl_research_related_papers

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_research_related_papers from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

firecrawl_research_read_paper

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_research_read_paper from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

firecrawl_research_search_github

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_research_search_github from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

firecrawl_developer_search

When Claude Desktop requests firecrawl_developer_search from Firecrawl, review the action before approving it.

Firecrawl: full stored tool descriptions

Troubleshooting Firecrawl in Claude Desktop

• Fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop for Firecrawl MCP Server. If npx firecrawl-mcp (Node.js/npm) is missing, check the desktop process's PATH, which may differ from your terminal.
• In Claude Desktop's Firecrawl MCP Server entry, check FIRECRAWL_API_KEY. Keep secrets out of shared screenshots and repositories.
• Firecrawl MCP Server uses stdio here: Claude Desktop must keep the configured process running; protocol output belongs on stdout and diagnostics on stderr.
• Known limitation: The keyless tier is rate-limited and excludes several tools.
• Known limitation: Large crawls and full-page markdown can consume substantial model context.
• Known limitation: The extract compatibility tool is deprecated in favor of schema-based scraping.
• General Claude Desktop troubleshooting lives in the /clients/claude-desktop guide.

Frequently asked questions