What is Crawlbase MCP?

Crawlbase MCP is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that bridges AI agents and the live web. Instead of relying on outdated training data, your LLMs can now fetch fresh, structured, real-time content — powered by Crawlbase’s proven crawling infrastructure trusted by 70,000+ developers worldwide.

It handles the complexity of scraping for you:

• JavaScript rendering for modern web apps
• Proxy rotation & anti-bot evasion
• Structured outputs (HTML, Markdown, screenshots)

How It Works

• Get Free Crawlbase Tokens → Sign up at Crawlbase ↗️, get free Normal, and JavaScript tokens.
• Set Up MCP Configuration → Configure the MCP server in your preferred client (Claude, Cursor, or Windsurf) by updating the MCP Servers settings.
• Start Crawling → Use commands like crawl, crawl_markdown, or crawl_screenshot to bring live web data into your AI agent.

Setup & Integration

Claude Desktop

1. Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config
2. Add to claude_desktop_config.json:
3. Replace your_token_here and your_js_token_here with the tokens from your dashboard.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crawlbase": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@crawlbase/mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "CRAWLBASE_TOKEN": "your_token_here",
        "CRAWLBASE_JS_TOKEN": "your_js_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Add to your claude.json configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crawlbase": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@crawlbase/mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "CRAWLBASE_TOKEN": "your_token_here",
        "CRAWLBASE_JS_TOKEN": "your_js_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor IDE

1. Open Cursor IDE → File → Preferences → Cursor Settings → Tools and Integrations → Add Custom MCP
2. Add to mcp.json:
3. Replace your_token_here and your_js_token_here with the tokens from your dashboard.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crawlbase": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@crawlbase/mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "CRAWLBASE_TOKEN": "your_token_here",
        "CRAWLBASE_JS_TOKEN": "your_js_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf IDE

1. Open WindSurf IDE → File → Preferences → WindSurf Settings → General → MCP Servers → Manage MCPs → View raw config
2. Add to mcp_config.json:
3. Replace your_token_here and your_js_token_here with the tokens from your dashboard.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crawlbase": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@crawlbase/mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "CRAWLBASE_TOKEN": "your_token_here",
        "CRAWLBASE_JS_TOKEN": "your_js_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

HTTP Transport Mode

For scenarios where you need a shared MCP server accessible over HTTP (e.g., multi-user environments, custom integrations), you can run the server in HTTP mode:

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/crawlbase/crawlbase-mcp.git
cd crawlbase-mcp
npm install

# Start HTTP server with tokens (default port: 3000)
CRAWLBASE_TOKEN=your_token CRAWLBASE_JS_TOKEN=your_js_token npm run start:http

# Or with custom port
CRAWLBASE_TOKEN=your_token CRAWLBASE_JS_TOKEN=your_js_token MCP_PORT=8080 npm run start:http

The server exposes:

• POST /mcp - MCP Streamable HTTP endpoint
• GET /health - Health check endpoint

Per-Request Token Authentication

HTTP mode supports per-request tokens via headers, allowing multiple users to share a single server:

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -H "X-Crawlbase-Token: your_token" \
  -H "X-Crawlbase-JS-Token: your_js_token" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "tools/list", "id": 1}'

Headers:

• X-Crawlbase-Token - Normal token for HTML requests
• X-Crawlbase-JS-Token - JavaScript token for JS-rendered pages/screenshots

Headers override environment variables when provided, enabling multi-tenant deployments.

🔑 Get your free tokens at Crawlbase ↗️.

Usage

Once configured, use these commands inside Claude, Cursor, or Windsurf:

• crawl → Fetch raw HTML
• crawl_markdown → Extract clean Markdown
• crawl_screenshot → Capture screenshots

Example prompts:

• “Crawl Hacker News and return top stories in markdown.”
• “Take a screenshot of TechCrunch homepage.”
• “Fetch Tesla investor relations page as HTML.”

Use Cases

• Market research → Pull live data from competitors, news, and reports
• E-commerce monitoring → Track products, reviews, and prices in real time
• News & finance feeds → Keep AI agents up-to-date with live events
• Autonomous AI agents → Give them vision to act on fresh web data

Resources & Next Steps

Looking to supercharge your AI agents with live web data? Get started here:

• ✍️ Learn More – See how MCP powers AI agents with real-time web data ↗️
• 🌐 Crawlbase Website – Get free tokens & start crawling today ↗️

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