Run Firecrawl MCP locally

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

Confirm the installed Node.js version:

node --version

Run over stdio

env FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR_API_KEY npx -y [email protected]

This is the default transport for clients that launch the MCP server as a local process.

Run with Streamable HTTP

Use HTTP transport for clients such as n8n that connect to an already-running MCP server:

env HTTP_STREAMABLE_SERVER=true \
  FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR_API_KEY \
  npx -y [email protected]

Connect the client to:

http://localhost:3000/mcp

Confirm the server is ready:

curl http://localhost:3000/health

The health check returns ok. The local route is /mcp; /v2/mcp is the hosted Firecrawl route.

Install globally

npm install -g [email protected]

Then run:

env FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR_API_KEY firecrawl-mcp

Configuration

Environment Variables

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)

Configuration Examples

For cloud API usage:

export FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=your-api-key

For self-hosted instance:

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

Custom configuration with Claude Desktop

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

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

Hosted MCP vs local MCP

The hosted MCP server is optimized for safe remote use. Some options that are available when running the MCP server locally are narrowed or unavailable remotely:

• 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.

Rate Limiting

Rate limits are enforced by Firecrawl. Use an API key for higher limits and access to the full tool set.