Parse
Upload a local or non-public document and convert it into clean, LLM-ready data. /parse accepts file bytes via multipart/form-data and returns Markdown, JSON, HTML, links, images, or a summary — with reading order and tables preserved.
- Turn PDF, DOCX, XLSX, HTML, and more into Markdown or structured JSON
- Up to 5x faster parsing via a Rust-based engine
- Files up to 50 MB per request
- Zero Data Retention support
When to use /parse
Use /parse when the source document is a local file or not publicly accessible by URL. If you have a public URL that points to a document, prefer /scrape — it auto-detects the file type from the extension or content type and parses it the same way.
| Source | Endpoint |
|---|---|
Public URL to a document (e.g. https://example.com/report.pdf) | POST /scrape |
| Local file or non-public bytes (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, HTML, …) | POST /parse (this endpoint) |
Using Firecrawl through MCP? Use firecrawl_parse for local files. Local MCP can read the file directly when configured with FIRECRAWL_API_URL. Remote hosted MCP returns a short-lived upload command first, then parses the returned uploadRef. Public document URLs should still use /scrape.