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No trial signup flow is described. A free API key provides 1,000 credits, and some commands run keyless on a rate-limited free tier.
Learn moreFirecrawl CLI
Firecrawl's web context API, driven from the terminal or by coding agents
Advanced API
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What is Firecrawl CLI?
Firecrawl CLI is an AI search tool. A terminal client for Firecrawl that searches, scrapes, crawls and maps websites, queries developer and government indexes, and runs Alexandria data tools. It ships agent skills so Codex, Claude Code, Cursor and OpenCode can call Firecrawl automatically.
Firecrawl CLI brings the Firecrawl web data platform to the command line. It is a terminal client for the same service that powers Firecrawl's hosted scraping stack: one binary that can search the web, scrape a single page into markdown or structured JSON, crawl and map sites, interact with live pages, run agent jobs and watch pages for changes. The pitch is simple: anything a developer would otherwise wire up with a script and an HTTP client can be issued as a single shell command, with output that pipes cleanly into files or other tools. The CLI is also built to be consumed by AI coding agents. Firecrawl ships skills that Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, Hermes Agent and OpenCode can discover and use on their own, and a single init command installs those skills across every detected agent and walks through browser authentication. For teams already running agent workflows, this turns the CLI into a retrieval layer that the agent calls when it needs current web content rather than whatever happened to be in its context window. Day to day, the work happens through a small set of commands. Scrape defaults to markdown and accepts flags for formats, JavaScript wait times, screenshots, tag filtering, proxy mode and PII redaction. Search returns web, news and image results with category, time and geo filters. Two specialised indexes sit alongside: a Developer Index covering issues, merged pull requests and READMEs from public repositories, and a Government Index covering statutes, regulations and court opinions from US sources. Alexandria, Firecrawl's catalogue of third party data providers, rounds this out with discoverable tools that run on demand. The CLI suits engineers, data teams and technical researchers who prefer shell pipelines to dashboards, and it can be pointed at a self-hosted Firecrawl instance with a custom API URL. Commands that do not require a key fall back to a keyless free tier with per-IP rate limits, which makes it easy to evaluate before committing to an account. Compared with writing bespoke scrapers, the trade is less control at the HTTP level and more reliance on Firecrawl's infrastructure and credit model.
How do you use Firecrawl CLI?
1Install the CLI and agent skills
Run npx -y firecrawl-cli@latest init --all --browser to initialize every detected coding agent and open the browser for authentication. Alternatively install globally with npm install -g firecrawl-cli.
2Authenticate with your API key
Use firecrawl login --browser, or firecrawl login --api-key with your fc- key, or export FIRECRAWL_API_KEY. Commands without a key fall back to the keyless free tier where supported.3Confirm status and credits
Run firecrawl --status to check the installed version, the authentication method, remaining credits and your parallel job concurrency limit.4Scrape your first page
Start with firecrawl scrape https://example.com --only-main-content to get clean markdown, then add flags such as --format json --schema for structured extraction or -o to save output.5Search and query indexes
Use firecrawl search for web results with filters, firecrawl developer for repository issues and READMEs, and firecrawl gov for US statutes and court opinions.
6Optionally self-host the API
Follow the self-hosting guide to get a local scrape working, then point the CLI at it with --api-url or FIRECRAWL_API_URL. Custom API URLs skip Cloud API-key authentication.
Pros and cons
Pros
- One CLI covers scraping, search, crawling, mapping, screenshots and change tracking without separate scriptsAI
- Agent skills install across detected coding agents with a single init commandAI
- Developer and Government indexes add specialised search over code repositories and US legal sourcesAI
- Flexible output: markdown, HTML, JSON schemas, images and screenshots, all pipeable to filesAI
- Can target a self-hosted Firecrawl instance instead of the hosted APIAI
Cons
- Usage is metered in credits, and credit consumption per scrape or crawl is not explained on this pageAI
- Keyless free tier is rate limited per IP and only supported for some commandsAI
- Some capabilities depend on the deployment or third party providers, so self-hosted setups lose Cloud-only commandsAI
- Alexandria provider terms must be accepted by an org admin in the web app, which the CLI cannot doAI
- No GUI or visual crawl configuration; everything is flags and JSON argumentsAI
How much does Firecrawl CLI cost?
Pricing
The CLI itself is distributed free via npm. Usage draws on Firecrawl API credits, and a free key grants 1,000 credits with higher limits. Commands run without a key on a keyless free tier that is rate limited per IP. Alexandria tool runs cost the price listed per tool; exact credit rates are not stated on this page.
Learn moreIntegrations
Ships skills for Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, Hermes Agent and OpenCode, and can be pointed at a self-hosted Firecrawl deployment via a custom API URL.
Features
Scrape pages into markdown, HTML, raw HTML, links, screenshots, images, summaries or schema-driven JSON, with main-content extraction, JavaScript wait times, tag filters, proxy selection and PII redaction. Search the web with source, category, time and location filters. Crawl and map sites, interact with pages, run agent jobs and track changes. Query the Developer and Government indexes or run Alexandria third party tools.
Frequently asked questions about Firecrawl CLI
How much does Firecrawl CLI cost?
The CLI itself is distributed free via npm. Usage draws on Firecrawl API credits, and a free key grants 1,000 credits with higher limits. Commands run without a key on a keyless free tier that is rate limited per IP. Alexandria tool runs cost the price listed per tool; exact credit rates are not stated on this page.Does Firecrawl CLI offer a free trial?
No trial signup flow is described. A free API key provides 1,000 credits, and some commands run keyless on a rate-limited free tier.Does Firecrawl CLI have an API?
Yes, Firecrawl CLI offers an API.How do you use Firecrawl CLI?
The walkthrough on this page covers 6 steps: 1. Install the CLI and agent skills 2. Authenticate with your API key 3. Confirm status and credits 4. Scrape your first page 5. Search and query indexes 6. Optionally self-host the API.What platforms does Firecrawl CLI support?
Firecrawl CLI is available on MacOS, Windows and Linux.What does Firecrawl CLI integrate with?
Ships skills for Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, Hermes Agent and OpenCode, and can be pointed at a self-hosted Firecrawl deployment via a custom API URL.
