# Firecrawl Alternative: WAF-Bypass Web Scraper (MCP/x402) (`neon_innovation_lab/firecrawl-stealth-mcp`) Actor

Drop-in Firecrawl alternative for AI agents. Clean LLM markdown, passive URL mapping, resilient TLS fingerprinting, and strict zero-charge on failure.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/neon\_innovation\_lab/firecrawl-stealth-mcp.md
- **Developed by:** [Neon Innovation Lab](https://apify.com/neon_innovation_lab) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Developer tools, Integrations
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 stealth web page scrape to markdowns

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Firecrawl-Compatible Stealth Web Scraper MCP Server

A lightweight, drop-in replacement for the core Firecrawl MCP tools (`firecrawl_scrape`, `firecrawl_crawl`, and `firecrawl_map`). Built for AI agents (Cursor, Claude Desktop, autonomous swarms) that need clean, LLM-ready markdown without paying for blocked requests or running into aggressive edge bot filters.

***

### What This Solves

1. **Strict Pay-Per-Success Billing**: Standard scraping APIs consume your credits even when a site returns HTTP 403 or times out. This server only charges when valid DOM content is extracted. If a request is blocked or unreachable, **you pay $0.00**.
2. **Resilient TLS Fingerprinting**: Direct HTTP clients (curl, python-requests, default node fetch) get blocked by modern edge firewalls before reaching the page. This engine emulates realistic browser TLS Client Hello signatures (JA3/JA4) and HTTP/2 frame ordering.
3. **Passive URL Mapping (Zero Target Probing)**: `firecrawl_map` queries passive threat intelligence indexes (AlienVault OTX) to discover indexed URLs and endpoints under a target domain without sending active HTTP probes to the target server.
4. **Dual Settlement Rails**: Connect either via Apify Pay-Per-Event ($0.005/scrape) or natively via Coinbase x402 micropayments ($0.01 USDC on Base).

***

### Supported Tools

#### 1. `firecrawl_scrape`

Scrapes a single webpage and returns clean, LLM-ready Markdown.

**Parameters:**

- `url` (string, required): The target webpage URL.
- `formats` (array, optional): `["markdown", "html"]` (default: `["markdown"]`).
- `onlyMainContent` (boolean, optional): Strips navigation bars, footers, scripts, and cookie banners (default: `true`).
- `waitFor` (integer, optional): Milliseconds to wait for client-side JavaScript rendering (default: `0`).

**Response Shape:**

```json
{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "markdown": "# Page Title\n\nArticle content...",
    "metadata": {
      "title": "Page Title",
      "description": "Page meta description",
      "language": "en",
      "sourceURL": "https://example.com/article",
      "statusCode": 200,
      "wordCount": 420
    }
  }
}
```

#### 2. `firecrawl_map`

Discovers URLs belonging to a domain using passive intelligence without active probing.

**Parameters:**

- `url` (string, required): Domain or URL to map (e.g. `example.com`).
- `limit` (integer, optional): Maximum URLs to return (default: `100`).

**Response Shape:**

```json
{
  "success": true,
  "links": [
    "https://example.com/pricing",
    "https://example.com/docs",
    "https://example.com/blog/post-1"
  ]
}
```

#### 3. `firecrawl_crawl`

Crawls linked pages on a website up to a designated depth.

**Parameters:**

- `url` (string, required): Starting URL.
- `maxDepth` (integer, optional): Maximum link depth (default: `2`).
- `limit` (integer, optional): Maximum pages to scrape (default: `10`).

***

### Installation & Setup

#### Claude Desktop

##### Option A: Native UI (Recommended)

1. Open Claude Desktop → **Settings** → **Connectors**
2. Click **Add custom connector**
3. Paste: `https://neon-innovation-lab--firecrawl-stealth-mcp.apify.actor/mcp`

##### Option B: Config File (`claude_desktop_config.json`)

Claude Desktop's config file runs local commands, so remote HTTPS servers connect via the official `mcp-remote` stdio bridge:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "firecrawl-stealth": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://neon-innovation-lab--firecrawl-stealth-mcp.apify.actor/mcp"]
    }
  }
}
```

#### Cursor IDE

Add to your `.cursor/mcp.json`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "firecrawl-stealth": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "https://neon-innovation-lab--firecrawl-stealth-mcp.apify.actor/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

#### Autonomous Agent Integration (x402 Micropayments)

Autonomous agents calling this MCP server can pay dynamically using the x402 protocol:

1. Make unauthenticated tool call to `/mcp`.
2. Receive HTTP 402 challenge with payment parameters (`0.01 USDC` on Base `eip155:8453`).
3. Retry request with signed payload in `_meta["x402/payment"]`.
4. Settlement occurs only if extraction succeeds.

***

### Local Development & Docker

```bash
## Clone and install dependencies
npm install

## Build TypeScript
npm run build

## Start server locally on port 8080
npm start
```

Run via Docker:

```bash
docker build -t firecrawl-stealth-mcp .
docker run -p 8080:8080 firecrawl-stealth-mcp
```

# Actor input Schema

## `url` (type: `string`):

Optional single URL to test scrape when running in batch mode. In Standby MCP mode, requests are passed dynamically via tool calls.

## `formats` (type: `array`):

Output formats to generate. Defaults to markdown.

## `onlyMainContent` (type: `boolean`):

Strip headers, navigation bars, footers, and scripts to return clean article/page markdown.

## `apiKey` (type: `string`):

Optional custom secret key to protect your private MCP gateway.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "formats": [
    "markdown"
  ],
  "onlyMainContent": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `mcpEndpoint` (type: `string`):

Streamable HTTP MCP endpoint for Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, or autonomous AI agents.

## `sseEndpoint` (type: `string`):

SSE transport endpoint for MCP clients.

## `discoveryUrl` (type: `string`):

Public MCP discovery and server-card URL.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("neon_innovation_lab/firecrawl-stealth-mcp").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("neon_innovation_lab/firecrawl-stealth-mcp").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call neon_innovation_lab/firecrawl-stealth-mcp --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,neon_innovation_lab/firecrawl-stealth-mcp"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/a5Uh2XwyAkdR4vIkZ/builds/eDLD8bhNM0VXDZQdS/openapi.json