Firecrawl MCP server in Cline scraping tools for your VS Code agent.
Cline manages MCP servers from its own panel inside VS Code, with per-tool auto-approval on top. Here's the cline_mcp_settings.json entry for Firecrawl and the panel-specific things to check when it fails.
Cline is one of the most capable MCP hosts among the VS Code agents — it can not only call Firecrawl's tools but retry and self-correct when a scrape fails mid-task. Firecrawl MCP Server (github.com/firecrawl/firecrawl-mcp-server, 6.5k stars) adds web search, scraping, crawling, and structured extraction to whatever Cline is building.
Cline keeps MCP configuration in its own file, cline_mcp_settings.json, separate from VS Code's settings — you reach it through the Cline panel rather than hunting the path manually.
What you need
Node.js 18+ (Cline launches the server via npx) and a Firecrawl API key from firecrawl.dev — they're prefixed fc-. The firecrawl-mcp npm package is open source; the key is what authorizes scraping requests against Firecrawl's hosted service.
Open Cline's MCP settings
In the Cline panel, click the MCP Servers icon, switch to the Installed tab, and hit Configure MCP Servers. That opens cline_mcp_settings.json — the file physically lives deep in VS Code's globalStorage under saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/, which is exactly why you should let the panel open it for you instead of hunting for the path.
Add the Firecrawl entry:
{
"mcpServers": {
"firecrawl": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "firecrawl-mcp"],
"env": {
"FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "fc-YOUR-API-KEY"
},
"disabled": false,
"autoApprove": []
}
}
}Tune approvals, then test
Cline asks before every tool call by default. If you trust read-only scraping, add tool names to the autoApprove array (or toggle auto-approve per tool in the MCP Servers panel) so long crawls don't stop for a click on every page. Leave it empty while you're evaluating the server.
Save the file — Cline picks up changes and shows the server in the Installed tab with a green status. You'll see the individual tools listed under the server: scraping a single page, mapping a site's URLs, crawling, web search, and structured extraction each appear as separate entries you can approve independently. Ask Cline to "scrape https://example.com/docs and summarize the API endpoints" to confirm they fire. The server's published tool list is on its live listing at https://loomal.ai/marketplace/firecrawl-mcp-server.
Troubleshooting in Cline
Server shows red in the panel: expand it to read the error inline — Cline surfaces the spawn error directly, which beats digging through logs. "command not found" means npx isn't visible to VS Code; restart VS Code from a terminal (`code .`) so it inherits your shell PATH, or use the absolute npx path as command.
Server missing entirely: check the JSON for syntax errors and confirm you edited the file the panel opened, not a similarly named one — globalStorage paths differ per machine and per VS Code variant (VSCodium, Insiders). Also check the global MCP toggle: if "disabled": true is set on the entry, or MCP is switched off in Cline's settings, the server stays hidden. After fixing, use the Restart button next to the server in the panel rather than restarting all of VS Code.
FAQ
How do I install Firecrawl in Cline?
Open the Cline panel, click MCP Servers > Installed > Configure MCP Servers, and add a firecrawl entry with command npx, args ["-y", "firecrawl-mcp"], and your fc- API key in env. Cline reloads the file on save and shows the server's status in the panel.
Where is cline_mcp_settings.json on disk?
Inside VS Code's globalStorage directory, under saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json. The exact prefix varies by OS, which is why the reliable way to open it is through Cline's MCP Servers panel rather than navigating there manually.
What does autoApprove do?
It lists tool names Cline may call without asking you each time. For a scraping server that's worth using deliberately: auto-approving search and scrape makes multi-page research flow smoothly, but you may still want manual approval on crawl jobs that can burn through your Firecrawl quota.
Firecrawl shows an error state in the panel — now what?
Expand the server entry; Cline prints the underlying error there. Most failures are PATH problems (npx not found — launch VS Code from a terminal or use an absolute path) or an invalid fc- key, which shows up as 401 responses once tools run.
More MCP servers for Cline.
Browse scraping, search, and dev-tool servers with live tool lists.