cli/

firecrawl-parse

OK · verified[skill]

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.

$/plugin install cli

details

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 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.

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-usage command.

technical

github: firecrawl/cli
stars: 357
license: unspecified
contributors: 9
last commit: 2026-04-27T15:26:04Z
file: skills/firecrawl-parse/SKILL.md

cli/firecrawl-scrape— Extract clean markdown from any URL, including JavaScript-rendered SPAs. Use this skill whenever the user provides a URL and wants its content, says "scrape", "grab", "fetch", "pull", "get the page", "extract from this URL", or "read this webpage". Handles JS-rendered pages, multiple concurrent URLs, and returns LLM-optimized markdown. Use this instead of WebFetch for any webpage content extraction.
skills/xlsx— Use this skill any time a spreadsheet file is the primary input or output. This means any task where the user wants to: open, read, edit, or fix an existing .xlsx, .xlsm, .csv, or .tsv file (e.g., adding columns, computing formulas, formatting, charting, cleaning messy data); create a new spreadsheet from scratch or from other data sources; or convert between tabular file formats. Trigger especially when the user references a spreadsheet file by name or path — even casually (like "the xlsx in my downloads") — and wants something done to it or produced from it. Also trigger for cleaning or restructuring messy tabular data files (malformed rows, misplaced headers, junk data) into proper spreadsheets. The deliverable must be a spreadsheet file. Do NOT trigger when the primary deliverable is a Word document, HTML report, standalone Python script, database pipeline, or Google Sheets API integration, even if tabular data is involved.
gstack/make-pdf— Turn any markdown file into a publication-quality PDF. Proper 1in margins, intelligent page breaks, page numbers, cover pages, running headers, curly quotes and em dashes, clickable TOC, diagonal DRAFT watermark. Not a draft artifact — a finished artifact. Use when asked to "make a PDF", "export to PDF", "turn this markdown into a PDF", or "generate a document". (gstack) Voice triggers (speech-to-text aliases): "make this a pdf", "make it a pdf", "export to pdf", "turn this into a pdf", "turn this markdown into a pdf", "generate a pdf", "make a pdf from", "pdf this markdown".
skills/docx— Use this skill whenever the user wants to create, read, edit, or manipulate Word documents (.docx files). Triggers include: any mention of 'Word doc', 'word document', '.docx', or requests to produce professional documents with formatting like tables of contents, headings, page numbers, or letterheads. Also use when extracting or reorganizing content from .docx files, inserting or replacing images in documents, performing find-and-replace in Word files, working with tracked changes or comments, or converting content into a polished Word document. If the user asks for a 'report', 'memo', 'letter', 'template', or similar deliverable as a Word or .docx file, use this skill. Do NOT use for PDFs, spreadsheets, Google Docs, or general coding tasks unrelated to document generation.
skills/pptx— Use this skill any time a .pptx file is involved in any way — as input, output, or both. This includes: creating slide decks, pitch decks, or presentations; reading, parsing, or extracting text from any .pptx file (even if the extracted content will be used elsewhere, like in an email or summary); editing, modifying, or updating existing presentations; combining or splitting slide files; working with templates, layouts, speaker notes, or comments. Trigger whenever the user mentions "deck," "slides," "presentation," or references a .pptx filename, regardless of what they plan to do with the content afterward. If a .pptx file needs to be opened, created, or touched, use this skill.