Firecrawl provides different proxy types to help you scrape websites with varying levels of complexity. Set the proxy parameter to control which proxy strategy is used for a request.
Proxy types
Firecrawl supports three proxy types:
| Type | Description | Speed | Cost |
|---|
basic | Standard proxies suitable for most sites | Fast | 1 credit |
enhanced | Enhanced proxies for complex sites | Slower | 5 credits per request |
auto | Tries basic first, then retries with enhanced on failure | Varies | 1 credit if basic succeeds, 5 credits if enhanced is needed |
auto.
Basic usage
Set the proxy parameter to choose a proxy strategy. The following example uses auto, which lets Firecrawl decide when to escalate to enhanced proxies.
from firecrawl import Firecrawl
firecrawl = Firecrawl(
# No API key needed to get started — add one for higher rate limits:
# api_key='fc-YOUR-API-KEY',
)
# Choose proxy strategy: 'basic' | 'enhanced' | 'auto'
doc = firecrawl.scrape('https://example.com', formats=['markdown'], proxy='auto')
print(doc.warning or 'ok')
import { Firecrawl } from 'firecrawl';
const firecrawl = new Firecrawl({
// No API key needed to get started — add one for higher rate limits:
// apiKey: "fc-YOUR-API-KEY",
});
// Choose proxy strategy: 'basic' | 'enhanced' | 'auto'
const doc = await firecrawl.scrape('https://example.com', {
formats: ['markdown'],
proxy: 'auto'
});
console.log(doc.warning || 'ok');
// Choose proxy strategy: 'basic' | 'enhanced' | 'auto'
# No API key needed to get started — add -H "Authorization: Bearer fc-YOUR-API-KEY" for higher rate limits:
curl -X POST https://api.firecrawl.dev/v2/scrape \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"url": "https://example.com",
"proxy": "auto"
}'
Enhanced proxy requests cost 5 credits per request. When using auto, the 5-credit cost only applies if the basic proxy fails and the enhanced retry succeeds.
Are you an AI agent that needs a Firecrawl API key? See firecrawl.dev/agent-onboarding/SKILL.md for automated onboarding instructions.
