firecrawl-install-auth

Apps & Automation

Install and configure Firecrawl SDK authentication for web scraping. Use when setting up a new Firecrawl integration, configuring API keys, or initializing Firecrawl in your project. Trigger with phrases like "install firecrawl", "setup firecrawl", "firecrawl auth", "configure firecrawl API key".

QUICK START

How to use this skill

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Open your project in Codex.
Copy the prompt below and paste it into your agent.
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Prompt to paste

I want to install this Agent Skill for this project in Codex.

Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills/blob/HEAD/plugins/saas-packs/firecrawl-pack/skills/firecrawl-install-auth/SKILL.md

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Copying this prompt does not install or run the skill. Review third-party files before use. Codex skill guide

Firecrawl Install & Auth

Overview

Install the Firecrawl SDK and configure API key authentication. Firecrawl turns any website into LLM-ready markdown or structured data. The SDK is published as @mendable/firecrawl-js on npm and firecrawl-py on PyPI.

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+ or Python 3.10+
Package manager (npm, pnpm, yarn, or pip)
Firecrawl API key from firecrawl.dev/app (free tier available)

Instructions

Step 1: Install the SDK

set -euo pipefail
# Node.js (official npm package)
npm install @mendable/firecrawl-js

# Python
pip install firecrawl-py

Step 2: Configure Your API Key

# Set the environment variable (SDK reads FIRECRAWL_API_KEY automatically)
export FIRECRAWL_API_KEY="fc-YOUR_API_KEY"

# Or add to .env file (use dotenv in your app)
echo 'FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR_API_KEY' >> .env

All Firecrawl API keys start with fc-. Get yours at firecrawl.dev/app.

Step 3: Verify Connection — TypeScript

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

const firecrawl = new FirecrawlApp({
  apiKey: process.env.FIRECRAWL_API_KEY!,
});

// Quick connection test: scrape a simple page
const result = await firecrawl.scrapeUrl("https://example.com", {
  formats: ["markdown"],
});

if (result.success) {
  console.log("Firecrawl connected. Page title:", result.metadata?.title);
  console.log("Content length:", result.markdown?.length, "chars");
} else {
  console.error("Firecrawl error:", result.error);
}

Step 4: Verify Connection — Python

from firecrawl import FirecrawlApp

firecrawl = FirecrawlApp(api_key="fc-YOUR_API_KEY")

# Quick connection test
result = firecrawl.scrape_url("https://example.com", params={
    "formats": ["markdown"]
})

print(f"Title: {result.get('metadata', {}).get('title')}")
print(f"Content: {len(result.get('markdown', ''))} chars")

Step 5: Self-Hosted Setup (Optional)

// Point to your own Firecrawl instance instead of api.firecrawl.dev
const firecrawl = new FirecrawlApp({
  apiKey: "any-key",  // required even for self-hosted
  apiUrl: "http://localhost:3002",  // self-hosted Firecrawl URL
});

Output

@mendable/firecrawl-js installed in node_modules/
FIRECRAWL_API_KEY environment variable configured
Successful scrape confirming API connectivity

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
`401 Unauthorized`	Invalid or missing API key	Verify key starts with `fc-` and is set in env
`402 Payment Required`	Credits exhausted	Check balance at firecrawl.dev/app
`MODULE_NOT_FOUND`	Wrong package name	Use `@mendable/firecrawl-js` not `firecrawl-js`
`ECONNREFUSED`	Wrong API URL for self-hosted	Verify `apiUrl` and Docker container is running
`429 Too Many Requests`	Rate limit exceeded	Wait for `Retry-After` header duration

Examples

TypeScript with dotenv

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

const firecrawl = new FirecrawlApp({
  apiKey: process.env.FIRECRAWL_API_KEY!,
});

Python with Environment Variable

import os
from firecrawl import FirecrawlApp

firecrawl = FirecrawlApp(api_key=os.environ["FIRECRAWL_API_KEY"])

Verify .gitignore Protects Secrets

set -euo pipefail
# Ensure .env files are gitignored
grep -q "^\.env" .gitignore 2>/dev/null || echo -e "\n.env\n.env.local\n.env.*.local" >> .gitignore

Resources

Next Steps

After successful auth, proceed to firecrawl-hello-world for your first real scrape.