crw-migrate

Apps & Automation

Coming from Firecrawl? Switch to fastCRW in one line. Use when the user has existing Firecrawl SDK code (firecrawl-py, firecrawl-js, REST calls, or an MCP config) and wants to point it at fastCRW — managed or self-hosted. Covers the exact base_url swap, which endpoints are drop-in, which have gaps, and how to verify the switch worked.

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crw-migrate — Coming from Firecrawl?

Switch in one line. The v2 API is a drop-in for the official firecrawl-py v4 SDK and firecrawl-js — swap the base URL and keep your code.

When to use

You have existing Firecrawl SDK code or REST calls you want to repoint.
You're replacing a firecrawl-mcp-server entry in your MCP config.
You want to know exactly which Firecrawl endpoints are covered vs. which need adaptation.

The one-line swap

firecrawl-py v4 (Python SDK)

Managed fastCRW:

from firecrawl import FirecrawlApp

app = FirecrawlApp(
    api_url="https://api.fastcrw.com",
    api_key="crw_live_..."
)

Self-hosted fastCRW (default port 3000, no auth):

app = FirecrawlApp(
    api_url="http://localhost:3000",
    api_key="any"          # self-host ignores the key when auth is not configured
)

firecrawl-js (TypeScript/Node SDK)

import FirecrawlApp from "@mendable/firecrawl-js";

const app = new FirecrawlApp({
  apiUrl: "https://api.fastcrw.com",   // or "http://localhost:3000"
  apiKey: "crw_live_...",
});

REST / curl

Replace https://api.firecrawl.dev with https://api.fastcrw.com (or your self-hosted http://localhost:3000). Auth header stays the same: Authorization: Bearer <key>.

# Before
curl -X POST https://api.firecrawl.dev/v1/scrape \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer fc-..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://example.com","formats":["markdown"]}'

# After — change exactly two things: host + key
curl -X POST https://api.fastcrw.com/v1/scrape \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer crw_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://example.com","formats":["markdown"]}'

Compatibility matrix

Drop-in endpoints (no code change needed)

Endpoint	Notes
`POST /v1/scrape`	Full markdown/html/links/json formats, `onlyMainContent`, `waitFor`, `renderJs`, `includeTags`/`excludeTags`
`POST /v1/crawl` + `GET /v1/crawl/:id` + `DELETE /v1/crawl/:id`	Async BFS crawl, polling shape matches
`POST /v1/map`	URL discovery
`POST /v1/search`	Own search backend instead of Fire-engine; same response shape
`POST /v2/scrape`	v2 surface with `parsers` field for PDFs
`POST /v2/crawl` + `GET /v2/crawl/active`	v2 crawl
`POST /v2/map`	v2 map
`POST /v2/search`	v2 search
`POST /v2/batch/scrape`	Batch scrape
`POST /v2/parse`	PDF → markdown (see gaps below)

Gaps — what needs adaptation

Firecrawl feature	fastCRW equivalent	Action
`POST /v1/extract` (standalone LLM extraction route)	Supported. Async: returns a job id, poll `GET /v1/extract/{id}`. `POST /v1/scrape` with `formats: ["json"]` + `jsonSchema` also works inline for a single URL.	None, but switch to polling if you port the route as-is.
`POST /v1/extract` multi-URL batch	Supported. Pass `urls: [...]`; the cap is `limits.maxExtractUrls` on `GET /v1/capabilities` (default 50).	None.
`POST /v1/deep-research`	Not implemented — cloud-only Firecrawl feature.	No equivalent.
`POST /v1/agent` (Spark models)	Not implemented.	No equivalent.
`/v2/parse` — DOCX/XLSX/RTF/ODT	PDF only. fastCRW uses `pdf-inspector` (no OCR).	Keep Firecrawl for non-PDF docs, or convert to PDF first.
`parsers: [{mode: "ocr"}]`	Accepted for wire-compat; degrades to text-layer extraction with a `pdf_ocr_unsupported` warning (no OCR engine).	If OCR is required, keep Firecrawl.
MCP tool names `firecrawl_*`	fastCRW MCP uses `crw_*` (see below).	Update MCP config.
Fire-engine anti-bot	Not available. fastCRW uses LightPanda → Chrome stealth ladder.	For heavy Cloudflare sites, test coverage; consider proxy pool.

`jsonSchema` alias

Firecrawl's /v1/extract uses extract.schema. fastCRW's /v1/scrape accepts both the jsonSchema top-level field and the extract.schema alias for closer Firecrawl parity:

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "formats": ["json"],
  "jsonSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": { "title": { "type": "string" } }
  }
}

Requires [extraction.llm] configured in config.toml (or CRW_EXTRACTION__LLM__API_KEY env var). See crw-self-host.

Switching your MCP config

Firecrawl MCP uses firecrawl-mcp-server; fastCRW's MCP server is crw-mcp. Tool names change from firecrawl_* to crw_*:

Firecrawl MCP tool	fastCRW MCP tool
`firecrawl_scrape`	`crw_scrape`
`firecrawl_crawl`	`crw_crawl`
`firecrawl_check_crawl_status`	`crw_check_crawl_status`
`firecrawl_map`	`crw_map`
`firecrawl_search`	`crw_search`
`firecrawl_extract`	`crw_scrape` with `formats=["json"]` + `jsonSchema`
—	`crw_parse_file` (PDF upload; no Firecrawl MCP equivalent)

Claude Code — replace in `~/.claude/claude_desktop_config.json` (or settings)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crw": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["crw-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CRW_API_URL": "https://api.fastcrw.com",
        "CRW_API_KEY": "crw_live_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

For self-hosted (no auth, no env needed):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crw": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["crw-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Embedded mode (npx crw-mcp with no CRW_API_URL) runs the engine in-process — zero server to stand up, ~6 MB RAM.

Verify the swap — checklist

Run these after pointing at fastCRW. Each should return "success": true:

# 1. Health check (no auth)
curl http://localhost:3000/health
# → {"status":"ok",...}

# 2. Basic scrape
curl -X POST "$CRW_API_URL/v1/scrape" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CRW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://example.com","formats":["markdown"]}' | jq .success
# → true

# 3. Map (URL discovery)
curl -X POST "$CRW_API_URL/v1/map" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CRW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://example.com"}' | jq '.data | length'
# → N (should be > 0)

# 4. Search (requires a search backend — managed always works; self-host needs sidecar)
curl -X POST "$CRW_API_URL/v1/search" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CRW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query":"fastCRW scraper","limit":3}' | jq .success
# → true

# 5. Structured extraction (requires [extraction.llm] configured)
curl -X POST "$CRW_API_URL/v1/scrape" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CRW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url":"https://example.com",
    "formats":["json"],
    "jsonSchema":{"type":"object","properties":{"title":{"type":"string"}}}
  }' | jq '.data.json'

Compare the data.markdown / data.metadata shape from your existing Firecrawl responses — the field names on the overlap surface (title, description, sourceURL, statusCode) match. A few metadata sub-fields diverge; inspect with jq .data.metadata if your code reads specific keys.