Setting the skill. One moment.
Core
Skill 9 of 29
Convert a local file (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, HTML, …) to markdown, or answer questions about its content.
1 minute · 135 words · 3 sections
Install
npx skills add firecrawl/skills --skill firecrawl-parsenpx skills add firecrawl/skills/plugin marketplace add firecrawl/skillsThe first command installs just this skill, by the name in its SKILL.md; the second installs the whole repository.
Turn a local document into clean markdown on disk. Supports PDF, DOCX, DOC, ODT, RTF, XLSX, XLS, HTML/HTM.
Always save to .firecrawl/ with -o — parsed docs can be hundreds of KB and blow up context if streamed to stdout. Add .firecrawl/ to .gitignore.
mkdir -p .firecrawl
# File → markdown
firecrawl parse ./paper.pdf -o .firecrawl/paper.md
# AI summary
firecrawl parse ./paper.pdf -S -o .firecrawl/paper-summary.md
# Ask a question about the doc
firecrawl parse ./paper.pdf -Q "What are the main conclusions?" \
-o .firecrawl/paper-qa.mdThen read the output incrementally with head, grep, or rg.
Run firecrawl parse --help for the full option list.
Done when: the markdown, summary, or answer is written under .firecrawl/ and you have inspected it with bounded reads.
firecrawl parse "./My Doc.pdf" -o .firecrawl/mydoc.md..firecrawl/ before re-parsing the same file.firecrawl credit-usage (requires authentication).Convert a local file (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, HTML, …) to markdown, or answer questions about its content. Use whenever the input is a file path, not a URL.
The verbatim description from this skill’s front matter — the string an agent matches on to decide whether to load it.
Bash(firecrawl *)Bash(npx firecrawl-cli *)skills/core/firecrawl-parse/SKILL.mdmain, last pushed 22 September 2026.SKILL.md, not by matching a directory convention. 2 distinct layouts observed: skills/core/*/SKILL.md, skills/workflows/*/SKILL.md.h1 and no skipped levels:.claude-plugin/marketplace.json by Firecrawl, declaring 1 plugin. It is read for editorial metadata only — never as the skill index, which is always the repository tree./firecrawl/skills.md, and each skill at its own .md URL.