FreeCrawl MCP Server

A production-ready Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for web scraping and document processing, designed as a self-hosted replacement for Firecrawl.

🚀 Features

• JavaScript-enabled web scraping with Playwright and anti-detection measures
• Document processing with fallback support for various formats
• Concurrent batch processing with configurable limits
• Intelligent caching with SQLite backend
• Rate limiting per domain
• Comprehensive error handling with retry logic
• Easy installation via uvx or local development setup
• Health monitoring and metrics collection

MCP Config (using uvx)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "freecrawl": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["freecrawl-mcp"],
    }
  }
}

📦 Installation & Usage

Quick Start with uvx (Recommended)

The easiest way to use FreeCrawl is with uvx, which automatically manages dependencies:

# Install browsers on first run
uvx freecrawl-mcp --install-browsers

# Test functionality
uvx freecrawl-mcp --test

Local Development Setup

For local development or customization:

1. Clone from GitHub:

   git clone https://github.com/dylan-gluck/freecrawl-mcp.git
   cd freecrawl-mcp

2. Set up environment:

   # Sync dependencies
   uv sync
   
   # Install browser dependencies
   uv run freecrawl-mcp --install-browsers
   
   # Run tests
   uv run freecrawl-mcp --test

3. Run the server:

   uv run freecrawl-mcp

🛠 Configuration

Configure FreeCrawl using environment variables:

Basic Configuration

# Transport (stdio for MCP, http for REST API)
export FREECRAWL_TRANSPORT=stdio

# Browser pool settings
export FREECRAWL_MAX_BROWSERS=3
export FREECRAWL_HEADLESS=true

# Concurrency limits
export FREECRAWL_MAX_CONCURRENT=10
export FREECRAWL_MAX_PER_DOMAIN=3

# Cache settings
export FREECRAWL_CACHE=true
export FREECRAWL_CACHE_DIR=/tmp/freecrawl_cache
export FREECRAWL_CACHE_TTL=3600
export FREECRAWL_CACHE_SIZE=536870912  # 512MB

# Rate limiting
export FREECRAWL_RATE_LIMIT=60  # requests per minute

# Logging
export FREECRAWL_LOG_LEVEL=INFO

Security Settings

# API authentication (optional)
export FREECRAWL_REQUIRE_API_KEY=false
export FREECRAWL_API_KEYS=key1,key2,key3

# Domain blocking
export FREECRAWL_BLOCKED_DOMAINS=localhost,127.0.0.1

# Anti-detection
export FREECRAWL_ANTI_DETECT=true
export FREECRAWL_ROTATE_UA=true

🔧 MCP Tools

FreeCrawl provides the following MCP tools:

freecrawl_scrape

Scrape content from a single URL with advanced options.

Parameters:

• url (string): URL to scrape
• formats (array): Output formats - ["markdown", "html", "text", "screenshot", "structured"]
• javascript (boolean): Enable JavaScript execution (default: true)
• wait_for (string, optional): CSS selector or time (ms) to wait
• anti_bot (boolean): Enable anti-detection measures (default: true)
• headers (object, optional): Custom HTTP headers
• cookies (object, optional): Custom cookies
• cache (boolean): Use cached results if available (default: true)
• timeout (number): Total timeout in milliseconds (default: 30000)

Example:

{
  "name": "freecrawl_scrape",
  "arguments": {
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "formats": ["markdown", "screenshot"],
    "javascript": true,
    "wait_for": "2000"
  }
}

freecrawl_batch_scrape

Scrape multiple URLs concurrently.

Parameters:

• urls (array): List of URLs to scrape (max 100)
• concurrency (number): Maximum concurrent requests (default: 5)
• formats (array): Output formats (default: ["markdown"])
• common_options (object, optional): Options applied to all URLs
• continue_on_error (boolean): Continue if individual URLs fail (default: true)

Example:

{
  "name": "freecrawl_batch_scrape",
  "arguments": {
    "urls": [
      "https://example.com/page1",
      "https://example.com/page2"
    ],
    "concurrency": 3,
    "formats": ["markdown", "text"]
  }
}

freecrawl_extract

Extract structured data using schema-driven approach.

Parameters:

• url (string): URL to extract data from
• schema (object): JSON Schema or Pydantic model definition
• prompt (string, optional): Custom extraction instructions
• validation (boolean): Validate against schema (default: true)
• multiple (boolean): Extract multiple matching items (default: false)

Example:

{
  "name": "freecrawl_extract",
  "arguments": {
    "url": "https://example.com/product",
    "schema": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "title": {"type": "string"},
        "price": {"type": "number"}
      }
    }
  }
}

freecrawl_process_document

Process documents (PDF, DOCX, etc.) with OCR support.

Parameters:

• file_path (string, optional): Path to document file
• url (string, optional): URL to download document from
• strategy (string): Processing strategy - "fast", "hi_res", "ocr_only" (default: "hi_res")
• formats (array): Output formats - ["markdown", "structured", "text"]
• languages (array, optional): OCR languages (e.g., ["eng", "fra"])
• extract_images (boolean): Extract embedded images (default: false)
• extract_tables (boolean): Extract and structure tables (default: true)

Example:

{
  "name": "freecrawl_process_document",
  "arguments": {
    "url": "https://example.com/document.pdf",
    "strategy": "hi_res",
    "formats": ["markdown", "structured"]
  }
}

freecrawl_health_check

Get server health status and metrics.

Example:

{
  "name": "freecrawl_health_check",
  "arguments": {}
}

🔄 Integration with Claude Code

MCP Configuration

Add FreeCrawl to your MCP configuration:

Using uvx (Recommended):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "freecrawl": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["freecrawl-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Using local development setup:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "freecrawl": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "freecrawl-mcp"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/freecrawl-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Usage in Prompts

Please scrape the content from https://example.com and extract the main article text in markdown format.

Claude Code will automatically use the freecrawl_scrape tool to fetch and process the content.

🚀 Performance & Scalability

Resource Usage

• Memory: ~100MB base + ~50MB per browser instance
• CPU: Moderate usage during active scraping
• Storage: Cache grows based on configured limits

Throughput

• Single requests: 2-5 seconds typical response time
• Batch processing: 10-50 concurrent requests depending on configuration
• Cache hit ratio: 30%+ for repeated content

Optimization Tips

1. Enable caching for frequently accessed content
2. Adjust concurrency based on target site rate limits
3. Use appropriate formats - markdown is faster than screenshots
4. Configure rate limiting to avoid being blocked

🛡 Security Considerations

Anti-Detection

• Rotating user agents
• Realistic browser fingerprints
• Request timing randomization
• JavaScript execution in sandboxed environment

Input Validation

• URL format validation
• Private IP blocking
• Domain blocklist support
• Request size limits

Resource Protection

• Memory usage monitoring
• Browser pool size limits
• Request timeout enforcement
• Rate limiting per domain

🔧 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Issue	Possible Cause	Solution
High memory usage	Too many browser instances	Reduce FREECRAWL_MAX_BROWSERS
Slow responses	JavaScript-heavy sites	Increase timeout or disable JS
Bot detection	Missing anti-detection	Ensure FREECRAWL_ANTI_DETECT=true
Cache misses	TTL too short	Increase FREECRAWL_CACHE_TTL
Import errors	Missing dependencies	Run uvx freecrawl-mcp --test

Debug Mode

With uvx:

export FREECRAWL_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
uvx freecrawl-mcp --test

Local development:

export FREECRAWL_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
uv run freecrawl-mcp --test

📈 Monitoring & Observability

Health Metrics

• Browser pool status
• Memory and CPU usage
• Cache hit rates
• Request success rates
• Response times

Logging

FreeCrawl provides structured logging with configurable levels:

• ERROR: Critical failures
• WARNING: Recoverable issues
• INFO: General operations
• DEBUG: Detailed troubleshooting

🔧 Development

Running Tests

With uvx:

# Basic functionality test
uvx freecrawl-mcp --test

Local development:

# Basic functionality test
uv run freecrawl-mcp --test

Code Structure

• Core server: FreeCrawlServer class
• Browser management: BrowserPool for resource pooling
• Content extraction: ContentExtractor with multiple strategies
• Caching: CacheManager with SQLite backend
• Rate limiting: RateLimiter with token bucket algorithm

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the technical specification for details.

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository at https://github.com/dylan-gluck/freecrawl-mcp
2. Create a feature branch
3. Set up local development: uv sync
4. Run tests: uv run freecrawl-mcp --test
5. Submit a pull request

📚 Technical Specification

For detailed technical information, see ai_docs/FREECRAWL_TECHNICAL_SPEC.md.

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FreeCrawl MCP Server - Self-hosted web scraping for the modern web 🚀