firecrawl-mcp

Firecrawl web search

firecrawl_search

Read-only

Search web, news, or image sources and return ranked results with query-relevant highlights. Each web result is a title, URL, and description; use firecrawl_scrape on a result URL when the excerpt is not enough.

Authenticated search also returns matching Alexandria data providers in data.tools (companies, people, jobs, finance and filings, public records and government spending, real estate, places and restaurants, retail and prices, package registries and developer data, news, research, and more). Prefer a provider over scraping pages when the task needs the same fields across several entities, exact figures or timestamps, provenance, or many records; use web results when they already answer the question. A search with sources: ["web"] omits semantic provider discovery; domainTools: true can still return website-matched tools. Web-only results use domainTools: false.

On an authenticated session, tool matches describe available capabilities; firecrawl_find_tools returns their contracts and firecrawl_scrape with an alexandria body executes a selected capability. Keyless sessions get no Alexandria matches in data.tools.

For a programming question, add categories: ["developer"]; its hits return in data.web with category: "developer". categories: ["research"] restricts web results to research-affiliated websites; the firecrawl_research_* tools are a separate surface over paper abstracts and full text (PubMed, bioRxiv, medRxiv, arXiv). Query operators, domain filters, categories, toolDetail and scrapeOptions are described on their parameters. Returns source-type result groups and usage metadata. Authenticated responses can include an id for optional search feedback.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description
`tbs`	No
`limit`	No
`query`	Yes	Query for web and semantic tool discovery. Operators include quoted phrases, `-term`, `site:host`, `inurl:term`, `intitle:term`, and `related:host`; the set is non-exhaustive. Catalogue browsing is available through firecrawl_find_tools.
`filter`	No
`sources`	No	Search sources; authenticated sessions default to web + alexandria, keyless sessions to web only. A search with sources: ["web"] omits semantic provider discovery; domainTools: true can still return website-matched tools. Web-only results use domainTools: false. Use ["alexandria"] alone for provider discovery without web results.
`location`	No
`objective`	No	Optional broader goal for this search, if known. Avoid sensitive information.
`categories`	No	Limit results to specific source types. `research` restricts ordinary web results to research-affiliated websites and returns page snippets, which is separate from the `firecrawl_research_*` tools that search paper abstracts and full text across biomedical (PubMed, bioRxiv, medRxiv) and arXiv literature; `pdf` searches PDF results; `developer` searches an index built for coding agents over public repositories, GitHub issues, merged pull requests, repository READMEs, and code documentation. `developer` returns hits in `data.web` with `category: "developer"`; the other categories also filter `data.web`.
`enterprise`	No
`highlights`	No	Return query-relevant page excerpts for web and news results when available (default). Highlights appear in web `description` and news `snippet`; otherwise, original snippets are returned. Set to false to keep the original search snippets.
`toolDetail`	No	Compact by default. Compact returns only provider, capability and description; full includes contracts. Inspect selected compact tools with firecrawl_find_tools providers and capabilities.
`clientModel`	No	Optional model identifier, if known.
`domainTools`	No	Include domain-matched tools for result URLs. Defaults to true when Alexandria is combined with web, news or images; semantic-only search leaves domain matching off.
`scrapeOptions`	No	Attach page content for web results in the same call. These fetches ignore maxAge, so use firecrawl_scrape when you need a live fetch. scrapeOptions fetches web pages, never Alexandria provider tools.
`excludeDomains`	No	Hostnames to leave out of results. Mutually exclusive with includeDomains.
`includeDomains`	No	Hostnames to restrict results to. Mutually exclusive with excludeDomains.

Output Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description
`id`	No	Search identifier, for optional `firecrawl_search_feedback`.
`data`	No	Ranked results grouped by source, such as `web`, `news`, `images`, and `alexandria`.
`error`	No	Error message or error object when the call did not succeed.
`tools`	No	Domain-matched Alexandria tools for the results.
`success`	No	Whether the API call succeeded.
`warning`	No	Non-fatal warning about the result.
`nextTool`	No	A follow-up tool call that continues this search.
`agent_hints`	No	Optional response guidance from the Firecrawl API.
`creditsUsed`	No	Credits this search consumed.
`feedbackTool`	No	Pointer to the feedback tool for this search.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed2 schema fields changedOct 1, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / clientModel

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Optional model identifier, if known.",
+  "maxLength": 128,
+  "minLength": 1,
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / objective

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Optional broader goal for this search, if known. Avoid sensitive information.",
+  "maxLength": 5000,
+  "minLength": 1,
+  "type": "string"
+}

Changed1 schema field changedSep 28, 2026

addedOutput schema / properties / agent_hints

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Optional response guidance from the Firecrawl API.",
+  "items": {
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

Changed1 schema field changedSep 25, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / sources / description

Previous value: -"Search sources; authenticated sessions default to web + alexandria, keyless sessions to web only. Passing sources without alexandria in it (for example [\"web\"] or [\"news\"]) excludes Alexandria provider matches; omit sources unless you specifically need web-only or news-only results, or include \"alexandria\" alongside them. Use [\"alexandria\"] alone for provider discovery without web results."New value: +"Search sources; authenticated sessions default to web + alexandria, keyless sessions to web only. A search with sources: [\"web\"] omits semantic provider discovery; domainTools: true can still return website-matched tools. Web-only results use domainTools: false. Use [\"alexandria\"] alone for provider discovery without web results."

Changed1 schema field changedSep 24, 2026

changedOutput schema / (root)

Previous value: -nullNew value: +{
+  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
+  "additionalProperties": false,
+  "description": "Ranked search results grouped by source.",
+  "properties": {
+    "creditsUsed": {
+      "anyOf": [
+        {
+          "type": "number"
+        },
+        {
+          "type": "null"
+        }
+      ],
+      "description": "Credits this search consumed."
+    },
+    "data": {
+      "description": "Ranked results grouped by source, such as `web`, `news`, `images`, and `alexandria`."
+    },
+    "error": {
+      "description": "Error message or error object when the call did not succeed."
+    },
+    "feedbackTool": {
+      "description": "Pointer to the feedback tool for this search."
+    },
+    "id": {
+      "anyOf": [
+        {
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        {
+          "type": "null"
+        }
+      ],
+      "description": "Search identifier, for optional `firecrawl_search_feedback`."
+    },
+    "nextTool": {
+      "description": "A follow-up tool call that continues this search."
+    },
+    "success": {
+      "anyOf": [
+        {
+          "type": "boolean"
+        },
+        {
+          "type": "null"
+        }
+      ],
+      "description": "Whether the API call succeeded."
+    },
+    "tools": {
+      "description": "Domain-matched Alexandria tools for the results."
+    },
+    "warning": {
+      "anyOf": [
+        {
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        {
+          "type": "null"
+        }
+      ],
+      "description": "Non-fatal warning about the result."
+    }
+  },
+  "type": "object"
+}

Changed4 schema fields changedSep 23, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / excludeDomains / description

Added value: +"Hostnames to leave out of results. Mutually exclusive with includeDomains."

addedInput schema / properties / includeDomains / description

Added value: +"Hostnames to restrict results to. Mutually exclusive with excludeDomains."

changedInput schema / properties / query / description

Previous value: -"Query for web and semantic tool discovery. Catalogue browsing is available through firecrawl_find_tools."New value: +"Query for web and semantic tool discovery. Operators include quoted phrases, `-term`, `site:host`, `inurl:term`, `intitle:term`, and `related:host`; the set is non-exhaustive. Catalogue browsing is available through firecrawl_find_tools."

addedInput schema / properties / scrapeOptions / description

Added value: +"Attach page content for web results in the same call. These fetches ignore maxAge, so use firecrawl_scrape when you need a live fetch. scrapeOptions fetches web pages, never Alexandria provider tools."

Changed2 schema fields changedSep 22, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / query / description

Previous value: -"Query for web and semantic tool discovery. Catalogue browsing is available on the full MCP surface."New value: +"Query for web and semantic tool discovery. Catalogue browsing is available through firecrawl_find_tools."

changedInput schema / properties / toolDetail / description

Previous value: -"Compact by default. Compact returns only provider, capability and description; full includes contracts. Inspect selected compact tools on the full MCP surface using firecrawl_find_tools providers and capabilities."New value: +"Compact by default. Compact returns only provider, capability and description; full includes contracts. Inspect selected compact tools with firecrawl_find_tools providers and capabilities."

Changed3 schema fields changedSep 22, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / categories / description

Previous value: -"Limit results to specific source types. `github` searches GitHub repositories, code, issues, and docs; `research` restricts ordinary web results to research-affiliated websites and returns page snippets, which is separate from the `firecrawl_research_*` tools that search paper abstracts and full text across biomedical (PubMed, bioRxiv, medRxiv) and arXiv literature; `pdf` searches PDF results; `developer` searches an index built for coding agents over repositories, GitHub issues, merged pull requests, repository READMEs, and curated documentation sites. `developer` returns hits in `data.web` with `category: \"developer\"`; the other categories also filter `data.web`."New value: +"Limit results to specific source types. `research` restricts ordinary web results to research-affiliated websites and returns page snippets, which is separate from the `firecrawl_research_*` tools that search paper abstracts and full text across biomedical (PubMed, bioRxiv, medRxiv) and arXiv literature; `pdf` searches PDF results; `developer` searches an index built for coding agents over public repositories, GitHub issues, merged pull requests, repository READMEs, and code documentation. `developer` returns hits in `data.web` with `category: \"developer\"`; the other categories also filter `data.web`."

changedInput schema / properties / categories / items / enum

Previous value: -[
-  "github",
-  "research",
-  "pdf",
-  "developer"
-]New value: +[
+  "research",
+  "pdf",
+  "developer"
+]

changedInput schema / properties / highlights / description

Previous value: -"Return query-relevant highlights for each search result. Set to false to keep the original search snippets."New value: +"Return query-relevant page excerpts for web and news results when available (default). Highlights appear in web `description` and news `snippet`; otherwise, original snippets are returned. Set to false to keep the original search snippets."

Changed1 schema field changedSep 22, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / sources / description

Previous value: -"Search sources; authenticated sessions default to web + alexandria, keyless sessions to web only. Use alexandria alone for semantic tool discovery."New value: +"Search sources; authenticated sessions default to web + alexandria, keyless sessions to web only. Passing sources without alexandria in it (for example [\"web\"] or [\"news\"]) excludes Alexandria provider matches; omit sources unless you specifically need web-only or news-only results, or include \"alexandria\" alongside them. Use [\"alexandria\"] alone for provider discovery without web results."

Changed8 schema fields changedSep 22, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / domainTools

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Include domain-matched tools for result URLs. Defaults to true when Alexandria is combined with web, news or images; semantic-only search leaves domain matching off.",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / query / description

Added value: +"Query for web and semantic tool discovery. Catalogue browsing is available on the full MCP surface."

addedInput schema / properties / sources / description

Added value: +"Search sources; authenticated sessions default to web + alexandria, keyless sessions to web only. Use alexandria alone for semantic tool discovery."

addedInput schema / properties / sources / items / anyOf

Added value: +[
+  {
+    "enum": [
+      "web",
+      "images",
+      "news",
+      "alexandria",
+      "exchange"
+    ],
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  {
+    "additionalProperties": false,
+    "properties": {
+      "type": {
+        "enum": [
+          "web",
+          "images",
+          "news",
+          "alexandria",
+          "exchange"
+        ],
+        "type": "string"
+      }
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "type"
+    ],
+    "type": "object"
+  }
+]

removedInput schema / properties / sources / items / properties

Removed value: -{
-  "type": {
-    "enum": [
-      "web",
-      "images",
-      "news"
-    ],
-    "type": "string"
-  }
-}

removedInput schema / properties / sources / items / required
```
Removed value: -[
-  "type"
-]
```
removedInput schema / properties / sources / items / type
```
Removed value: -"object"
```

addedInput schema / properties / toolDetail

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Compact by default. Compact returns only provider, capability and description; full includes contracts. Inspect selected compact tools on the full MCP surface using firecrawl_find_tools providers and capabilities.",
+  "enum": [
+    "compact",
+    "summary",
+    "full"
+  ],
+  "type": "string"
+}

Changed4 schema fields changedSep 20, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / categories / description

Added value: +"Limit results to specific source types. `github` searches GitHub repositories, code, issues, and docs; `research` restricts ordinary web results to research-affiliated websites and returns page snippets, which is separate from the `firecrawl_research_*` tools that search paper abstracts and full text across biomedical (PubMed, bioRxiv, medRxiv) and arXiv literature; `pdf` searches PDF results; `developer` searches an index built for coding agents over repositories, GitHub issues, merged pull requests, repository READMEs, and curated documentation sites. `developer` returns hits in `data.web` with `category: \"developer\"`; the other categories also filter `data.web`."

addedInput schema / properties / highlights / description

Added value: +"Return query-relevant highlights for each search result. Set to false to keep the original search snippets."

changedInput schema / properties / scrapeOptions / properties / queryOptions / required
```
Previous value: -[
-  "prompt",
-  "mode"
-]New value: +[
+  "prompt"
+]
```
removedInput schema / properties / sources / items / additionalProperties
```
Removed value: -false
```

Changed3 schema fields changedAug 31, 2026
- addedInput schema / properties / limit / maximum
```
Added value: +100
```
- addedInput schema / properties / limit / minimum
```
Added value: +1
```
- changedInput schema / properties / limit / type
```
Previous value: -"number"New value: +"integer"
```

Changed1 schema field changedJul 31, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / categories / items / enum

Previous value: -[
-  "github",
-  "research",
-  "pdf"
-]New value: +[
+  "github",
+  "research",
+  "pdf",
+  "developer"
+]

Changed1 schema field changedJul 20, 2026
- addedInput schema / properties / highlights
```
Added value: +{
+  "type": "boolean"
+}
```

Changed3 schema fields changedJul 8, 2026

changedInput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"New value: +"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"

removedInput schema / properties / categories / description

Removed value: -"Limit results to specific source types. `github` searches GitHub repositories, code, issues, and docs; `research` searches academic and research sources; `pdf` searches PDF results."

changedInput schema / properties / scrapeOptions / properties / jsonOptions / properties / schema / additionalProperties
```
Previous value: -{}New value: +false
```

Changed1 schema field changedJul 2, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / categories

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Limit results to specific source types. `github` searches GitHub repositories, code, issues, and docs; `research` searches academic and research sources; `pdf` searches PDF results.",
+  "items": {
+    "enum": [
+      "github",
+      "research",
+      "pdf"
+    ],
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

First observedJun 23, 2026

TDQS

A4.8/5.0

Behavior5/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations already declare readOnly/openWorld/non-destructive, and the description goes well beyond them: keyless vs authenticated session behavior, defaults for sources and domainTools, when data.tools is omitted, the optional id for feedback, and the note that highlights is on by default. These are real operational traits an agent needs.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness4/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

It is dense and long, but front-loaded and organized: core behavior first, then provider discovery, then category guidance. Most sentences carry new information, though some routing detail is repeated across the description and the schema's own parameter descriptions.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness5/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a 16-parameter, nested-schema tool with an output schema present, the description covers the decision-relevant behavior: source defaults, authentication effects, provider discovery flow, and category semantics. Return-value detail is appropriately left to the output schema.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters4/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema coverage is 69%, and the description meaningfully supplements it for sources, categories, toolDetail, domainTools, highlights, and scrapeOptions defaults and interactions. Some parameters (tbs, filter, location, objective, enterprise, clientModel) receive no explanation anywhere, so it is not fully compensating for the gap, but the added value is substantial.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

The opening sentence names the specific action (search) and resources (web, news, image sources) and states the return shape (ranked results with query-relevant highlights). It also distinguishes itself from siblings by naming firecrawl_scrape and firecrawl_find_tools and explaining the Alexandria provider surface.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines5/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

Gives explicit when-to-use routing: prefer a provider over scraping when the task needs consistent fields across entities, exact figures, provenance, or many records; use web results when they already answer the question. It also explains how sources, categories, and domainTools change what is returned, and contrasts with the separate firecrawl_research_* surface.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

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