Scraping · Web

Firecrawl Setup

Getting Firecrawl credentials into a project properly — the key in .env rather than the source, the right SDK for the language, and a first call that proves the setup before any feature is built on top of it.

Skill name: firecrawl-build-onboarding
Triggers on: Get Firecrawl credentials and SDK setup into a project. Use when an application needs `FIRECRAWL_API_KEY`, when an agent should add Firecrawl to `.env`, when the user wants to authenticate Firecrawl for app code, or when choosing the first SDK and docs for a new Firecrawl integration. This skill includes its own browser auth flow, so it does not depend on the website onboarding skill.
Read time: 2 min · 4 files · free to use and edit

Download full skill

This skill ships 4 files. The references are where the method lives — SKILL.md on its own will point at files you do not have, so take the archive rather than the markdown.

SKILL.md
references/auth-flow.md
references/project-setup.md
references/sdk-installation.md

Prefer just the instructions? Download SKILL.md alone.

Use it in your assistant

Claude Code — drop the file in your skills folder and it loads on the next session. Use ~/.claude/skills for every project, or .claude/skills inside a repo to keep it to that project.

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
curl -L https://growsteady.io/skills/firecrawl-build-onboarding/archive | tar xz -C ~/.claude/skills

Claude apps (web and desktop) — Settings → Capabilities → Skills → add a skill. Extract the archive and upload the whole firecrawl-build-onboarding folder, references included (zip it if an archive is asked for).

No install— paste the file into a Claude Project's custom instructions with “Copy as prompt”. Same behaviour, scoped to that project. Note that a paste carries the instructions only: this skill's references do not come with it, so use a real install if you want the full method.

Use this skill for the application-integration path from Firecrawl's onboarding flow.

Install

If you haven't installed yet, one command sets up both the CLI tools (for live web work) and the build skills (for app integration):

npx -y firecrawl-cli@latest init --all --browser

This installs the Firecrawl CLI, the CLI skills, and these build skills together. It also opens browser auth so the human can sign in or create an account. No separate npx skills add step is needed.

Use This When

a project needs FIRECRAWL_API_KEY
the user wants Firecrawl wired into .env
you are adding Firecrawl to an app for the first time
you need to choose the first SDK or REST path

If the human still needs to sign up, sign in, or authorize access in the browser, use the auth flow reference in this skill.

Quick Start

If the user already has an API key, place it in .env:

FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-...

If the project is self-hosted, also set:

FIRECRAWL_API_URL=https://your-firecrawl-instance.example.com

Then decide which integration path applies:

Fresh project -> choose the target stack, install the SDK, add the first Firecrawl call, and run a smoke test
Existing project -> inspect the repo first, then integrate Firecrawl where the project already handles third-party APIs and env vars

What Do You Need?

Task	Reference
Run the browser auth flow and save `FIRECRAWL_API_KEY`	references/auth-flow.md
Install the right SDK	references/sdk-installation.md
Put credentials into `.env` or project config	references/project-setup.md
Choose the right endpoint after setup	firecrawl-build
Need live web tooling during this task	The CLI skills are already installed from the same command
Start implementation from a known URL	firecrawl-build-scrape
Start implementation from a query	firecrawl-build-search

Docs (Source of Truth)

Read the source-of-truth page for your project language for SDK usage, schemas, and examples:

Node / TypeScript: docs.firecrawl.dev/agent-source-of-truth/node
Python: docs.firecrawl.dev/agent-source-of-truth/python
Rust: docs.firecrawl.dev/agent-source-of-truth/rust
Java: docs.firecrawl.dev/agent-source-of-truth/java
Elixir: docs.firecrawl.dev/agent-source-of-truth/elixir
cURL / REST: docs.firecrawl.dev/agent-source-of-truth/curl

After Setup

Once the key is present:

decide whether this is a fresh project or an existing codebase
ask what Firecrawl should do in the product
pick the narrowest endpoint that matches that behavior
read the source-of-truth page for the project language before writing code
add the SDK or REST call in code
run a smoke test that proves one real Firecrawl request succeeds
use the endpoint-specific skills in this repo for implementation guidance
if you also need live web tooling during the current task, the CLI skills are already installed — use firecrawl/cli

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