How do I install the Firecrawl Lean skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add alexsmedile/firecrawl-lean in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Firecrawl Lean safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Firecrawl Lean?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Firecrawl Lean free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Firecrawl Lean?

alexsmedile (@alexsmedile) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Firecrawl Lean by alexsmedile — Agent Skill

Name: Firecrawl Lean
Author: alexsmedile

Firecrawl Lean

Web scraping, search, crawling, and browser interaction via Firecrawl CLI. Use when user wants to search the web, fetch a URL, scrape content, crawl docs, download a site, extract structured data, or interact with JS-heavy/login-gated pages. Triggers on: "search for", "scrape", "fetch this URL", "get the page", "crawl", "download the site", "extract structured data", "click the button", "fill the form", "log in to". Do NOT use for local files, git, or code editing. For advanced use (bulk crawl, AI agent extraction, browser profiles, parallel jobs): install firecrawl-crawl, firecrawl-agent, or firecrawl-instruct skills.

alexsmedile 501268e 5 files · 10.2 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Firecrawl CLI — lean reference

Check status: firecrawl --status (shows auth + credits + concurrency limit). Not installed? Run: npm install -g firecrawl-cli && firecrawl auth Auth commands: firecrawl login, firecrawl logout, firecrawl view-config

WebFetch vs Firecrawl

Try WebFetch first (free). Use Firecrawl when:

Need web search (WebFetch can't search)
JS-heavy SPA / marketing pages
Full article content (WebFetch truncates long pages)
WebFetch output < 1000 chars or looks incomplete

Escalation pattern

search → scrape → map+scrape → crawl* → interact*

* = advanced, install dedicated skill if needed

Commands

Search — no URL yet, find pages:

firecrawl search "query" --limit 5 -o .firecrawl/results.json --json
firecrawl search "query" --scrape -o .firecrawl/results.json --json        # include full content
firecrawl search "query" --sources news --tbs qdr:d --json                 # news, past day
firecrawl search "query" --country US --location "New York" --json         # geo-targeted

Scrape — have a URL:

firecrawl scrape "<url>" -o .firecrawl/page.md
firecrawl scrape "<url>" --only-main-content -o .firecrawl/page.md        # strip nav/footer
firecrawl scrape "<url>" --wait-for 3000 -o .firecrawl/page.md            # wait for JS
firecrawl scrape "<url>" --query "What is the enterprise price?"            # targeted Q (5 credits)
firecrawl scrape "<url>" --format markdown,html,screenshot -o .firecrawl/page.md  # multi-format
firecrawl scrape "<url>" --format json --schema '{"price":"string"}' -o .firecrawl/data.json  # structured

Map — find URLs within a site:

firecrawl map "<url>" --search "authentication" -o .firecrawl/urls.txt
firecrawl map "<url>" --limit 200 --json -o .firecrawl/urls.json
firecrawl map "<url>" --include-subdomains --sitemap -o .firecrawl/urls.json

Crawl — bulk extract site section (advanced — install firecrawl-crawl for full docs):

firecrawl crawl "<url>" --include-paths /docs --limit 50 --wait -o .firecrawl/crawl.json
firecrawl crawl "<url>" --max-depth 3 --delay 500 --exclude-paths /blog --wait -o .firecrawl/crawl.json

Download — save site as local files (advanced):

firecrawl download "<url>" --limit 20 -y -o .firecrawl/site/

Interact — click/fill forms after scrape (advanced — install firecrawl-instruct for full docs):

firecrawl scrape "<url>"
firecrawl interact --prompt "Click the login button"
firecrawl interact stop

Agent — AI-powered structured extraction (advanced — install firecrawl-agent for full docs):

firecrawl agent "extract all pricing tiers" --wait -o .firecrawl/data.json
firecrawl agent "extract pricing" --urls "<url>" --schema '{"tiers":[]}' --wait -o .firecrawl/data.json

Browser — CDP/Playwright-style automation (distinct from interact):

firecrawl browser launch-session "<url>"
firecrawl browser execute --code "document.querySelector('button').click()"
firecrawl browser list
firecrawl browser close <session-id>

Output rules

Always write to .firecrawl/ with -o to avoid context bloat
Add .firecrawl/ to .gitignore
Always quote URLs (? and & are shell special chars)
Never read entire output at once: head -50 file.md or grep "keyword" file.md
Naming: .firecrawl/search-{query}.json, .firecrawl/{site}-{path}.md

Extract URLs from JSON results

jq -r '.data.web[].url' .firecrawl/search.json

Credits

firecrawl credit-usage

---name: firecrawl-leandescription: Web scraping, search, crawling, and browser interaction via Firecrawl CLI. Use when user wants to search the web, fetch a URL, scrape content, crawl docs, download a site, extract structured data, or interact with JS-heavy/login-gated pages. Triggers on: "search for", "scrape", "fetch this URL", "get the page", "crawl", "download the site", "extract structured data", "click the button", "fill the form", "log in to". Do NOT use for local files, git, or code editing. For advanced use (bulk crawl, AI agent extraction, browser profiles, parallel jobs): install firecrawl-crawl, firecrawl-agent, or firecrawl-instruct skills.---# Firecrawl CLI — lean referenceCheck status: `firecrawl --status` (shows auth + credits + concurrency limit).Not installed? Run: `npm install -g firecrawl-cli && firecrawl auth`Auth commands: `firecrawl login`, `firecrawl logout`, `firecrawl view-config`## WebFetch vs FirecrawlTry WebFetch first (free). Use Firecrawl when:- Need web search (WebFetch can't search)- JS-heavy SPA / marketing pages- Full article content (WebFetch truncates long pages)- WebFetch output < 1000 chars or looks incomplete## Escalation pattern```search → scrape → map+scrape → crawl* → interact*````*` = advanced, install dedicated skill if needed## Commands**Search** — no URL yet, find pages:```bashfirecrawl search "query" --limit 5 -o .firecrawl/results.json --jsonfirecrawl search "query" --scrape -o .firecrawl/results.json --json # include full contentfirecrawl search "query" --sources news --tbs qdr:d --json # news, past dayfirecrawl search "query" --country US --location "New York" --json # geo-targeted```**Scrape** — have a URL:```bashfirecrawl scrape "<url>" -o .firecrawl/page.mdfirecrawl scrape "<url>" --only-main-content -o .firecrawl/page.md # strip nav/footerfirecrawl scrape "<url>" --wait-for 3000 -o .firecrawl/page.md # wait for JSfirecrawl scrape "<url>" --query "What is the enterprise price?" # targeted Q (5 credits)firecrawl scrape "<url>" --format markdown,html,screenshot -o .firecrawl/page.md # multi-formatfirecrawl scrape "<url>" --format json --schema '{"price":"string"}' -o .firecrawl/data.json # structured```**Map** — find URLs within a site:```bashfirecrawl map "<url>" --search "authentication" -o .firecrawl/urls.txtfirecrawl map "<url>" --limit 200 --json -o .firecrawl/urls.jsonfirecrawl map "<url>" --include-subdomains --sitemap -o .firecrawl/urls.json```**Crawl** — bulk extract site section (advanced — install `firecrawl-crawl` for full docs):```bashfirecrawl crawl "<url>" --include-paths /docs --limit 50 --wait -o .firecrawl/crawl.jsonfirecrawl crawl "<url>" --max-depth 3 --delay 500 --exclude-paths /blog --wait -o .firecrawl/crawl.json```**Download** — save site as local files (advanced):```bashfirecrawl download "<url>" --limit 20 -y -o .firecrawl/site/```**Interact** — click/fill forms after scrape (advanced — install `firecrawl-instruct` for full docs):```bashfirecrawl scrape "<url>"firecrawl interact --prompt "Click the login button"firecrawl interact stop```**Agent** — AI-powered structured extraction (advanced — install `firecrawl-agent` for full docs):```bashfirecrawl agent "extract all pricing tiers" --wait -o .firecrawl/data.jsonfirecrawl agent "extract pricing" --urls "<url>" --schema '{"tiers":[]}' --wait -o .firecrawl/data.json```**Browser** — CDP/Playwright-style automation (distinct from `interact`):```bashfirecrawl browser launch-session "<url>"firecrawl browser execute --code "document.querySelector('button').click()"firecrawl browser listfirecrawl browser close <session-id>```## Output rules- Always write to `.firecrawl/` with `-o` to avoid context bloat- Add `.firecrawl/` to `.gitignore`- Always quote URLs (`?` and `&` are shell special chars)- Never read entire output at once: `head -50 file.md` or `grep "keyword" file.md`- Naming: `.firecrawl/search-{query}.json`, `.firecrawl/{site}-{path}.md`## Extract URLs from JSON results```bashjq -r '.data.web[].url' .firecrawl/search.json```## Credits```bashfirecrawl credit-usage```

Frequently asked questions