> **firecrawl-build-scrape** — chapter 3 of 7 in [firecrawl/skills](https://skillsdocs.com/firecrawl/skills).
>
> Book (all chapters, one file): https://skillsdocs.com/firecrawl/skills.md
> Machine manifest: https://skillsdocs.com/firecrawl/skills/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json
> Install the book: `npx skills add firecrawl/skills`
> Upstream: https://github.com/firecrawl/skills/blob/main/skills/firecrawl-build-scrape/SKILL.md @ `main`
> Raw bytes, no header: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/firecrawl/skills/main/skills/firecrawl-build-scrape/SKILL.md
> Base for relative paths: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/firecrawl/skills/main/skills/firecrawl-build-scrape/
> Licence: ISC — https://spdx.org/licenses/ISC.html
>
> Bundled files (1), referenced from this skill's directory:
>   - `references/freshness-and-liveness.md` — https://raw.githubusercontent.com/firecrawl/skills/main/skills/firecrawl-build-scrape/references/freshness-and-liveness.md
>
> Content © its authors, served unmodified. Takedown: https://github.com/kyleledbetter/skillsdocs/issues/new?labels=takedown&title=Takedown+request

<!-- Verbatim upstream SKILL.md follows, YAML frontmatter included. -->

---
name: firecrawl-build-scrape
description: Integrate Firecrawl `/scrape` into product code for single-page extraction. Use when an app already has a URL and needs markdown, HTML, links, screenshots, metadata, or structured page output. Prefer this skill over broader crawl patterns when the feature is page-level.
license: ISC
metadata:
  author: firecrawl
  version: "0.1.0"
  homepage: https://www.firecrawl.dev
  source: https://github.com/firecrawl/skills
inputs:
  - name: FIRECRAWL_API_KEY
    description: Firecrawl API key for hosted Firecrawl requests.
    required: true
  - name: FIRECRAWL_API_URL
    description: Optional base URL for self-hosted Firecrawl deployments.
    required: false
references:
  - references/freshness-and-liveness.md
---

# Firecrawl Build Scrape

Use this when the application already has the URL and needs content from one page.

## Use This When

- the feature starts from a known URL
- you need page content for retrieval, summarization, enrichment, or monitoring
- you want the default extraction primitive before considering `/interact`

## Default Recommendations

- Return `markdown` unless the feature truly needs another format.
- Use `onlyMainContent` for article-like pages where nav and chrome add noise.
- Add waits or other rendering options only when the page needs them.

## Freshness and Liveness

- Firecrawl reuses recently indexed content, which is what makes repeat reads of the same URL fast. Set `maxAge` (milliseconds) to bound how old a reused copy may be, or `maxAge: 0` to skip index reuse for a freshness-critical read.
- Read `metadata.cacheState` and `metadata.cachedAt` to see what you actually got.
- A successful scrape reports what the page returned. Whether the thing the page describes is still active is a source-specific judgment your code makes.
- See [references/freshness-and-liveness.md](references/freshness-and-liveness.md) for the tradeoff, the metadata, and the decision rule.

## Common Product Patterns

- knowledge ingestion from known URLs
- enrichment from a company, product, or docs page
- pricing, changelog, and documentation extraction
- page-level quality checks or monitoring

## Escalation Rules

- If you do not have the URL yet, start with [firecrawl-build-search](../firecrawl-build-search/SKILL.md).
- If content requires clicks, typing, or multi-step navigation, escalate to [firecrawl-build-interact](../firecrawl-build-interact/SKILL.md).

## Implementation Notes

- Keep the integration narrow: one feature, one URL, one extraction contract.
- Treat `/scrape` as the default primitive for downstream LLM or indexing pipelines.
- Request richer formats only when the consumer needs them, such as links, screenshots, or branding data.

## Docs (Source of Truth)

Read the source-of-truth page for your project language before writing integration code:

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

## See Also

- [firecrawl-build](../firecrawl-build/SKILL.md)
- [firecrawl-build-search](../firecrawl-build-search/SKILL.md)
- [firecrawl-build-interact](../firecrawl-build-interact/SKILL.md)