Firecrawl MCP Server - install, status & alternatives [2026]

01 · Install Firecrawl MCP Server

before you install - you'll need

Set FIRECRAWL_API_KEY before connecting. FIRECRAWL_API_URL is optional or environment-specific per the README.

Claude Code

claude mcp add firecrawl-firecrawl-mcp-server --transport http https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor / VS Code - add to config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "firecrawl-firecrawl-mcp-server": {
      "url": "https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Same JSON for Cursor. For VS Code, rename the top-level key from `mcpServers` to `servers`.

Using another client? Same JSON, different key

Claude Desktop · mcpServers

Cursor · mcpServers

VS Code · servers

Windsurf · mcpServers

Zed · context_servers

Cline · mcpServers

Roo Code · mcpServers

Continue · mcpServers

LibreChat · mcpServers

Gemini CLI · mcpServers

Codex CLI · mcp_servers

Full setup guides: every client.

02 · Evidence

https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp

transport: streamable-http

endpoint alive - responded to MCP initialize · probed 2026-09-30

Security posture

What to check before giving this server access to your agent - from the registry, GitHub, and our own probes. We don't score safety; we show what's verifiable.

runs as local process (stdio) - runs on your machine with your user's permissions · remote - your agent's requests go to mcp.firecrawl.dev

endpoint auth accepted our unauthenticated MCP initialize - no credentials needed to connect

license MIT - declared in the repository

npm package firecrawl-mcp - unscoped; check the name against the project README before installing

registry namespace io.github.firecrawl is GitHub-verified and matches the repo owner

03 · What Firecrawl MCP Server can do

Prose above is summarized from the project's README and registry record - no invented capabilities.

What you can build

With this server connected, an agent can search paper metadata and abstracts with a natural-language query, with optional author, category, and date filters, retrieve canonical metadata for one paper ID (arXiv, PMC, PMID, or DOI), and read full-text passages from a specific paper.

The 4 tools it gives your agent

Extracted from the project's README - what Firecrawl MCP Server lets an agent do.

firecrawl_research_search_papers: - search paper metadata and abstracts with a natural-language query, with optional author, category, and date filters.
firecrawl_research_inspect_paper: - retrieve canonical metadata for one paper ID (arXiv, PMC, PMID, or DOI).
firecrawl_research_related_papers: - expand from one or more anchor papers through the citation graph.
firecrawl_research_read_paper: - read full-text passages from a specific paper.

Latest releases

v3.2.1 · 2025-09-26

Adjusted search to include query operators in the prompt

v3.2.0 · 2025-09-16

Fixed an issue where self host instances where requiring an API_KEY even if a custom base url was set.

v3.0.0 · 2025-09-11

(feat/versioning) Support for v1 and v2 · wrap safeLogs outside of try-catch and name anon functions for better debugging · Fastmcp · New Contributors · @mogery made their first contribution in

In the wild · how people use Firecrawl MCP Server

Public posts that name a concrete use case. Linked source posts - not MCPhq reviews, ratings, or endorsements.

@firecrawl · 2025-02-21 · Official scrape tools in Cursor/Claude

“Introducing the Official Firecrawl MCP Server - Give web scraping abilities to Cursor, Claude Desktop and more.”

view post on X ↗
@firecrawl · 2026-06-24 · PDF/spreadsheet parse for agents

“We're launching 5x faster document parsing in the Firecrawl MCP. Use /parse to turn PDFs, spreadsheets, and docs into LLM-ready data for your agents.”

view post on X ↗
@_avichawla · 2025-03-26 · Scrape inside Cursor/Claude

“Firecrawl MCP server - This adds powerful web scraping capabilities to Cursor, Claude, and any other LLM clients using @firecrawl.”

view post on X ↗

04 · Who maintains Firecrawl MCP Server

Firecrawl MCP Server is maintained by firecrawl. It's the only MCP server we track from this author; the repo dates to Dec 2024.

05 · Facts

repository: github.com/firecrawl/firecrawl-mcp-server
category: web scraping - ranked #1 of 97 actively-maintained web scraping servers as of 2026-09-30.
registry: io.github.firecrawl/firecrawl-mcp-server (active, first published 2025-10-19 · 25 versions)
packages: npm:firecrawl-mcp

06 · Firecrawl MCP Server FAQ

Is Firecrawl MCP Server still maintained?

Yes - as of 2026-09-30, its last commit was 2026-09-30. We re-verify nightly.

What can Firecrawl MCP Server do?

With this server connected, an agent can search paper metadata and abstracts with a natural-language query, with optional author, category, and date filters, retrieve canonical metadata for one paper ID (arXiv, PMC, PMID, or DOI), and read full-text passages from a specific paper.

How do I install Firecrawl MCP Server?

Run `npx -y firecrawl-mcp`. The README documents 2 environment variables (FIRECRAWL_API_KEY, FIRECRAWL_API_URL) to set first. Set FIRECRAWL_API_KEY before connecting. FIRECRAWL_API_URL is optional or environment-specific per the README. You can also paste the ready-made client config above.

Does Firecrawl MCP Server require authentication?

No - the endpoint accepted our unauthenticated MCP initialize when probed on 2026-09-30; you can connect without credentials.

07 · Alternatives to Firecrawl MCP Server

Alternatives to Firecrawl MCP Server

Maintained web scraping servers if Firecrawl MCP Server isn't the fit.

Pairs well with

Servers that cover what Firecrawl MCP Server doesn't - only shown when the pairing reason fits the companion.

head to head · Firecrawl MCP Server vs Tavily MCP

More web scraping MCP servers · Fouradata MCP Server · Glim Sh · Gmapsscraper MCP Server · GoAnyAPI MCP · CN Scraper MCP

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