firecrawl-parse
Efficiently extract and convert the contents of any local file—such as PDF, DOCX, DOC, ODT, RTF, XLSX, XLS, or HTML—into clean, well-formatted markdown saved to disk. Use this skill whenever the user requests to parse, read, or extract information from a file on their computer, including phrases like “parse this PDF”, “convert this document”, “read this file”, “extract text from”, or when a local file path (not a URL) is provided. This skill offers advanced options like generating AI-powered summaries and answering questions based on the file's content. Prefer this tool over `scrape` when handling local files to deliver precise, structured outputs for downstream tasks.
How do I install this agent skill?
npx skills add https://github.com/firecrawl/cli --skill firecrawl-parseIs this agent skill safe to install?
- Gen Agent Trust Hubpass
This skill enables the agent to parse local documents like PDFs and Word files into markdown using the Firecrawl CLI. It includes features for AI-powered summarization and document querying. The analysis indicates the skill is safe and its operations are standard for the Firecrawl service.
- Socketwarn
1 alert: gptAnomaly
- Snykpass
Risk: LOW · No issues
What does this agent skill do?
firecrawl parse
Turn a local document into clean markdown on disk. Supports PDF, DOCX, DOC, ODT, RTF, XLSX, XLS, HTML/HTM/XHTML.
When to use
- You have a file on disk (not a URL) and want its text as markdown
- User drops a PDF/DOCX and asks what it says, or to summarize it
- Use
scrapeinstead when the source is a URL
Quick start
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.md
Then head, grep, rg etc., or incrementally read the file - don't load the whole thing at once.
Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
-S, --summary | AI-generated summary |
-Q, --query <prompt> | Ask a question about the parsed content |
-o, --output <path> | Output file path — always use this |
-f, --format <fmt> | markdown (default), html, summary |
--timeout <ms> | Timeout for the parse job |
--timing | Show request duration |
Tips
- Quote paths with spaces:
firecrawl parse "./My Doc.pdf" -o .firecrawl/mydoc.md. - Max upload size: 50 MB per file.
- Credits: ~1 per PDF page; HTML is 1 flat.
- Check
.firecrawl/before re-parsing the same file. - To check your credit balance (recommended for batch processing and similar workflows), use the
firecrawl credit-usagecommand.
See also
- firecrawl-scrape — same idea for URLs
How can the creator link this skill?
Add the canonical catalog link to the repository README so users can inspect current installs and available audits. The publishing guide covers the complete discovery path.
<a href="https://skillzs.dev/skills/firecrawl/cli/firecrawl-parse">View firecrawl-parse on skillZs</a>