fastCRW

Turn URLs into clean markdown or structured JSON with one engine for search, scrape, map, crawl, and extract.

Run it locally as a small Rust binary or use the managed API.

Get 1000 free credits → · Install · Docs

_{No credit card. Continue with GitHub.}

One-command install

Terminal

curl -fsSL https://fastcrw.com/install | sh

Runs local and free, no account needed. To use the Cloud, paste your key into the same command and it installs the binary, connects the key, and registers the MCP server with the AI coding tools you already have:

Terminal

curl -fsSL https://fastcrw.com/install | CRW_API_KEY=crw_live_... sh

bash

crw search "rust tutorials"

Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode and Windsurf are picked up automatically when they are already set up; nothing else is touched, and your key stays in ~/.config/crw/config.toml rather than being copied into each tool. Add CRW_NO_AGENTS=1 to skip that step, or run crw setup on its own to choose interactively.

1000 free credits, no credit card. Managed proxies, JS rendering and search, with nothing to run or keep up to date. Get my free key →

macOS and Linux, Intel and ARM. More install options →

What it does

Operation	Outcome
Scrape	One URL to markdown, HTML, links, screenshots, or schema JSON
Crawl	Follow a bounded site crawl and collect its pages
Map	Discover URLs without scraping every page
Search	Search the web and optionally scrape selected results
Extract	Produce structured fields from one or many URLs

See the full API →

Why fastCRW

On Firecrawl's own public 1,000-URL dataset, fastCRW recovered more truth than Crawl4AI and Firecrawl, matched the fastest median latency, and idled at ~14 MB RAM.

_{Methodology, full numbers, and how to reproduce it}

On a different benchmark entirely, answer accuracy rather than scrape recall, fastCRW answers 90.0% of the 600 AA-Omniscience questions correctly. Every product listed on the Artificial Analysis Search Index sits below it.

_{The full 14-product comparison, the control run, and how to reproduce it}

Choose how you use it

CLI

server.ts

crw https://example.com            # scrape, works right after install
crw search "rust async runtime"    # search, after `crw setup`

Python SDK

Using Cloud? Get an API key, then export it once:

server.ts

export CRW_API_KEY="crw_live_..."
pip install crw

server.ts

from crw import CrwClient

client = CrwClient()
page = client.scrape("https://example.com", formats=["markdown"])

print(page["markdown"])

Node.js

Terminal

npm install crw-sdk

server.ts

import { CrwClient } from "crw-sdk";

const client = new CrwClient();

const page = await client.scrape("https://example.com", {
  formats: ["markdown"],
});

console.log(page.markdown);

Local mode and more SDK examples → · REST API →

MCP for AI agents

Terminal

npx -y crw-mcp@latest install

Installs the CRW skill and MCP server in your detected AI tools. crw setup can also do this step, so either path is enough. Manual setup →

Choose where it runs

	Managed API	Local / self-hosted
Best for	Zero infrastructure and managed scaling	Data control, private networks, or custom infrastructure
Start	Create an API key, then `crw setup`	Install and run `crw <URL>`
Operations	Managed proxies, billing, and hosted capabilities	You choose renderers, search, auth, proxies, and capacity

Capabilities and response shapes can differ by deployment: /v1/capabilities · response shapes

Self-hosting guide →

Learn more

Contributing

The workspace requires Rust 1.85 or newer:

bash

git clone https://github.com/us/crw
cd crw
make check-fast

Read the contributor guide →

Contributors

crw is better because of these people. Thank you, all of you:

Engine and MCP server: AGPL-3.0. Python and TypeScript SDKs: MIT. Embedding license: hello@fastcrw.com.

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