MCP Web Search & Scrape in GitHub Copilot

Connect GitHub Copilot CLI or Copilot in VS Code to Firecrawl through the hosted MCP server, then sign in with your Firecrawl account. The Copilot coding agent connects with an API key. The server URLs below are client configuration values, not pages to open directly in a browser.

Copilot CLI

1. Add Firecrawl

copilot mcp add --transport http firecrawl https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp-oauth

This writes the server to ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json. You can also run /mcp add inside an interactive session and choose the HTTP type, or edit the file directly:

~/.copilot/mcp-config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "firecrawl": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp-oauth",
      "tools": ["*"]
    }
  }
}

copilot

On the first connection, Copilot CLI opens the Firecrawl sign-in flow in your browser, where you choose a team and approve the connection. Enter /mcp to confirm that firecrawl is connected.

Use an API key instead

For unattended use, create a Firecrawl API key, export it as FIRECRAWL_API_KEY, and add the API-key endpoint with a bearer header:

copilot mcp add --transport http \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $FIRECRAWL_API_KEY" \
  firecrawl https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp

The key is stored in ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json, so keep that file out of source control.

VS Code

1. Add Firecrawl

Run MCP: Add Server from the Command Palette, choose HTTP, and pick Copilot Global as the destination. Or add the server yourself to ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json (every workspace) or to .mcp.json at your workspace root (shared with your team):

~/.copilot/mcp-config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "firecrawl": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp-oauth"
    }
  }
}

These portable files use a top-level mcpServers object. VS Code still reads the older .vscode/mcp.json and user-profile mcp.json (a top-level servers object) for compatibility, but labels them deprecated. Start the server from MCP: List Servers. When VS Code asks to authenticate, allow it and complete the Firecrawl sign-in in your browser. Then open Copilot Chat in Agent mode and select the tools icon to confirm that Firecrawl’s tools are listed.

Use an API key instead

Portable configuration files don’t support VS Code input variables, so add the API-key endpoint with the Copilot CLI and keep the key in your environment:

copilot mcp add --transport http \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $FIRECRAWL_API_KEY" \
  firecrawl https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp

The key is stored in ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json, so keep that file out of source control. If you use VS Code’s Local harness and want VS Code to prompt for the key instead, put the server in .vscode/mcp.json with an input variable. Servers that need interactive input are not forwarded to Copilot harness sessions.

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "firecrawl-api-key",
      "description": "Firecrawl API key",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "firecrawl": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:firecrawl-api-key}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Copilot coding agent

The Copilot coding agent (also called Copilot cloud agent) works on issues and pull requests in GitHub. Its repository MCP settings do not support remote servers that use OAuth, so this setup stores a Firecrawl API key as an Agents secret and sends it as a header.

Requirements

A paid GitHub Copilot plan with the coding agent enabled for the repository.
Repository administrator access, which is needed to edit MCP settings and Agents secrets.
A Firecrawl API key.

Set it up

In your repository, open Settings, then Secrets and variables, then Agents.
Select New repository secret, name it COPILOT_MCP_FIRECRAWL_API_KEY, paste your Firecrawl API key, and save. Copilot only passes Agents secrets whose names start with COPILOT_MCP_ to MCP servers.
Open Settings, then Copilot, then MCP servers.
Paste this configuration into MCP configuration and select Save MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "firecrawl": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer $COPILOT_MCP_FIRECRAWL_API_KEY"
      },
      "tools": ["firecrawl_search", "firecrawl_scrape", "firecrawl_map"]
    }
  }
}

Assign an issue to Copilot. When its pull request appears, choose View session, open the Start MCP Servers step in the logs, and confirm that the Firecrawl tools are listed.

Copilot uses the tools in the tools list without asking for approval. Keep the list to the tools the agent needs. Use "*" only if you want every Firecrawl tool available.

Try it

Search the web for the latest Next.js App Router release notes and summarize the sources.

Scrape https://docs.firecrawl.dev and list the top-level sections.

See choose a tool for the full Firecrawl MCP tool list.

Troubleshooting

Tools do not appear: confirm that only one firecrawl server is configured, then restart Copilot CLI, or run MCP: List Servers in VS Code and restart the server.
Sign-in is required again or returns 401: restart the server and complete the browser sign-in. A bare request to the OAuth server is expected to return 401 before authentication.
An API-key connection returns 401: confirm that the URL is https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp (not /v2/mcp-oauth) and that the header is Authorization: Bearer <FIRECRAWL_API_KEY>.
Organization policy: if your GitHub organization restricts MCP servers in Copilot, an administrator must allow Firecrawl before it can connect.
Coding agent: the Firecrawl tools are missing from the session log: confirm the secret name is exactly COPILOT_MCP_FIRECRAWL_API_KEY and that it is an Agents secret, not an Actions secret.

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Cookbooks

MCP Web Search & Scrape in GitHub Copilot

Copilot CLI

1. Add Firecrawl

Use an API key instead

VS Code

1. Add Firecrawl

Use an API key instead

Copilot coding agent

Requirements

Set it up

Try it

Troubleshooting

​Copilot CLI

​1. Add Firecrawl

​2. Sign in and verify

​Use an API key instead

​VS Code

​1. Add Firecrawl

​2. Sign in and verify

​Use an API key instead

​Copilot coding agent

​Requirements

​Set it up

​Try it

​Troubleshooting

Copilot CLI

1. Add Firecrawl

2. Sign in and verify

Use an API key instead

VS Code

1. Add Firecrawl

2. Sign in and verify

Use an API key instead

Copilot coding agent

Requirements

Set it up

Try it

Troubleshooting