Enhanced Mode
Use enhanced proxies for reliable scraping on complex sites
Firecrawl provides different proxy types to help you scrape websites with varying levels of complexity. Set the proxy parameter to control which proxy strategy is used for a request.
Proxy types
Firecrawl supports three proxy types:
| Type | Description | Speed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
basic | Standard proxies suitable for most sites | Fast | 1 credit |
enhanced | Enhanced proxies for complex sites | Slower | 5 credits per request |
auto | Tries basic first, then retries with enhanced on failure | Varies | 1 credit if basic succeeds, 5 credits if enhanced is needed |
If you do not specify a proxy, Firecrawl defaults to auto.
Basic usage
Set the proxy parameter to choose a proxy strategy. The following example uses auto, which lets Firecrawl decide when to escalate to enhanced proxies.
from firecrawl import Firecrawl
firecrawl = Firecrawl(
# No API key needed to get started — add one for higher rate limits:
# api_key='fc-YOUR-API-KEY',
)
# Choose proxy strategy: 'basic' | 'enhanced' | 'auto'
doc = firecrawl.scrape('https://example.com', formats=['markdown'], proxy='auto')
print(doc.warning or 'ok')Enhanced proxy requests cost 5 credits per request. When using auto, the 5-credit cost only applies if the basic proxy fails and the enhanced retry succeeds.
Are you an AI agent that needs a Firecrawl API key? See firecrawl.dev/agent-onboarding/SKILL.md for automated onboarding instructions.