git:20260820.3ebf535 to git:20260827.509dd9c

4 added, 16 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: firecrawl-parse

description: |

Convert a local file (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, HTML, …) to markdown, or answer questions about its content. Use whenever the input is a file path, not a URL.

allowed-tools:

- Bash(firecrawl *)

- Bash(npx firecrawl-cli *)

---

# firecrawl parse

Turn a local document into clean markdown on disk. Supports **PDF, DOCX, DOC, ODT, RTF, XLSX, XLS, HTML/HTM**.

- ## 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 `scrape` instead 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`.

```bash

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.

+ Then read the output incrementally with `head`, `grep`, or `rg`.

- ## Options

+ Run `firecrawl parse --help` for the full option list.

- | 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 <formats>` | Comma-separated: `markdown`, `html`, `rawHtml`, `links`, `images`, `summary`, `json`, `attributes`. Multiple formats output JSON |

- | `--timeout <ms>` | Timeout for the parse job |

- | `--timing` | Show request duration |

+ **Done when:** the markdown, summary, or answer is written under `.firecrawl/` and you have inspected it with bounded reads.

## 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 `firecrawl credit-usage` (requires authentication).

## See also

- [firecrawl-scrape](../firecrawl-scrape/SKILL.md) — same idea for URLs

+ - [firecrawl-build-scrape](https://github.com/firecrawl/skills/tree/main/skills/build/firecrawl-build-scrape) — building document extraction into an app instead of running it here