> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.firecrawl.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Rails

> Use Firecrawl with Ruby on Rails to search, scrape, and interact with web data using the REST API.

## Prerequisites

* Ruby 3.0+ and Rails 7+
* A Firecrawl API key — [get one free](https://www.firecrawl.dev/app/api-keys)

## Configuration

Add your API key to your Rails credentials or environment:

```bash theme={null}
export FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-YOUR-API-KEY
```

## Create a service

Create `app/services/firecrawl_service.rb`:

```ruby theme={null}
require "net/http"
require "json"
require "uri"

class FirecrawlService
  BASE_URL = "https://api.firecrawl.dev/v2"

  def initialize(api_key: ENV.fetch("FIRECRAWL_API_KEY"))
    @api_key = api_key
  end

  def search(query, limit: 5)
    post("/search", { query: query, limit: limit })
  end

  def scrape(url, **options)
    post("/scrape", { url: url }.merge(options))
  end

  def interact(url, prompt, follow_up: nil)
    # 1. Scrape to open a browser session
    scrape_result = scrape(url, formats: ["markdown"])
    scrape_id = scrape_result.dig("data", "metadata", "scrapeId")

    # 2. Send first prompt
    post("/scrape/#{scrape_id}/interact", { prompt: prompt })

    # 3. Send follow-up prompt
    result = nil
    if follow_up
      result = post("/scrape/#{scrape_id}/interact", { prompt: follow_up })
    end

    # 4. Close the session
    delete("/scrape/#{scrape_id}/interact")

    result || scrape_result
  end

  private

  def post(endpoint, payload)
    uri = URI("#{BASE_URL}#{endpoint}")
    request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri)
    request["Authorization"] = "Bearer #{@api_key}"
    request["Content-Type"] = "application/json"
    request.body = payload.to_json

    response = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) do |http|
      http.request(request)
    end

    JSON.parse(response.body)
  end

  def delete(endpoint)
    uri = URI("#{BASE_URL}#{endpoint}")
    request = Net::HTTP::Delete.new(uri)
    request["Authorization"] = "Bearer #{@api_key}"

    Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) do |http|
      http.request(request)
    end
  end
end
```

## Create a controller

Generate a controller:

```bash theme={null}
rails generate controller Firecrawl search scrape interact --skip-routes
```

Edit `app/controllers/firecrawl_controller.rb`:

```ruby theme={null}
class FirecrawlController < ApplicationController
  skip_before_action :verify_authenticity_token

  def search
    service = FirecrawlService.new
    result = service.search(params.require(:query), limit: params.fetch(:limit, 5).to_i)
    render json: result
  end

  def scrape
    service = FirecrawlService.new
    result = service.scrape(params.require(:url))
    render json: result
  end

  def interact
    service = FirecrawlService.new
    result = service.interact(
      params.require(:url),
      params.require(:prompt),
      follow_up: params[:followUp]
    )
    render json: result
  end
end
```

## Add routes

In `config/routes.rb`:

```ruby theme={null}
Rails.application.routes.draw do
  post "api/search", to: "firecrawl#search"
  post "api/scrape", to: "firecrawl#scrape"
  post "api/interact", to: "firecrawl#interact"
end
```

## Test it

```bash theme={null}
rails server

# Search the web
curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/search \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "firecrawl web scraping"}'

# Scrape a page
curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/scrape \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://example.com"}'

# Interact with a page
curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/interact \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://www.amazon.com", "prompt": "Search for iPhone 16 Pro Max", "followUp": "Click on the first result and tell me the price"}'
```

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Search docs" icon="magnifying-glass" href="/features/search">
    Search the web and get full page content
  </Card>

  <Card title="Scrape docs" icon="file-lines" href="/features/scrape">
    All scrape options including formats, actions, and proxies
  </Card>

  <Card title="Interact docs" icon="hand-pointer" href="/features/interact">
    Click, fill forms, and extract dynamic content
  </Card>

  <Card title="API Reference" icon="code" href="/api-reference/v2-introduction">
    Complete REST API documentation
  </Card>
</CardGroup>