Run Firecrawl MCP locally - Firecrawl Docs

Run Firecrawl MCP locally when a client needs to launch a local process, when you need a local HTTP transport, or when the MCP server must connect to a self-hosted Firecrawl API. For the managed service, start with Get Started.

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

Start the server#

Use stdio when the MCP client launches Firecrawl as a local process:

env FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR-API-KEY \  npx -y firecrawl-mcp@3.23.7

Configure the client to run npx -y firecrawl-mcp@3.23.7 and provide FIRECRAWL_API_KEY through the client's protected environment or secret mechanism.

Use HTTP when a client such as n8n connects to an already-running server:

env HTTP_STREAMABLE_SERVER=true \  FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR-API-KEY \  npx -y firecrawl-mcp@3.23.7

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 belongs to the hosted Firecrawl service.

Configure the Firecrawl API#

Environment variable	Purpose
`FIRECRAWL_API_KEY`	Authenticates to the Firecrawl cloud API. It is optional only when a self-hosted API does not require authentication.
`FIRECRAWL_API_URL`	Sends requests to a self-hosted Firecrawl API instead of the cloud API.
`HTTP_STREAMABLE_SERVER`	Set to `true` to start the local Streamable HTTP transport instead of stdio.

export FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR-API-KEYnpx -y firecrawl-mcp@3.23.7

Note

Direct local-file parsing with firecrawl_parse requires FIRECRAWL_API_URL pointing to a self-hosted Firecrawl API. A local MCP server connected only to the cloud API cannot upload a local file through that tool; the hosted server uses a signed upload handoff instead.

Install globally#

Use npx for the shortest setup. To install the same reviewed release globally instead:

npm install -g firecrawl-mcp@3.23.7

Then run:

env FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR-API-KEY firecrawl-mcp

Troubleshooting#

The client reports spawn npx ENOENT

Install Node.js 22 or newer, confirm that npx is on the client's PATH, and fully restart the client. On Windows, run where npx in Command Prompt and configure the client to use the returned npx.cmd path.

The HTTP client cannot connect

Confirm that HTTP_STREAMABLE_SERVER=true, then call http://localhost:3000/health. Use http://localhost:3000/mcp as the client endpoint, not the hosted /v2/mcp path.

A tool is unavailable

Tool availability depends on the Firecrawl services enabled in the target deployment. Compare the connection in Tools and check the local process output for registration or authentication errors.

The server is rate-limited

Rate limits are enforced by the connected Firecrawl API. Review the current rate limits and the limits configured for a self-hosted deployment.