Lesson 8 — Interact: Unlocking Interactive Webpages

⏱ Est. reading time: 3 min Updated on 5/7/2026

Some websites require clicking buttons, scrolling down, or logging in to reveal content. Firecrawl's Interact feature allows you to control the scraping process just like operating a real browser.

8.1 The Interaction Workflow (Three Steps)

Unlike standard scraping, Interact requires maintaining a "browser session":

  1. Scrape (Create Session): Open the target page and obtain a scrapeId.
  2. Interact (Execute Actions): Send instructions (click, type, scroll, etc.) using the scrapeId.
  3. Interact Stop (Release Resources): Once operations are complete, you MUST stop the session to end billing.

8.2 Two Interaction Modes

1. Prompt Mode (AI-Driven)

Describe the actions you want to take using natural language.

Example: "Type 'Firecrawl' in the search box and click the search button." Pros: Simple. Cons: AI might misunderstand complex DOM structures.

2. Code Mode (Precision Control)

Use specific agent-browser commands, ideal for deterministic operations.

Example: agent-browser type @e3 "Firecrawl" && agent-browser click @e5.

8.3 Common Interaction Commands

Command Description
click @selector Click an element (@e1, @e2 are IDs auto-labeled by Firecrawl)
type @selector "text" Type text into an input field
scroll down/up Scroll the page
wait 2000 Wait (in milliseconds)
screenshot Take a screenshot of the current state

8.4 Practical Case: Scraping After Login

To fetch dashboard data that requires authentication:

  1. Scrape the login page.
  2. Interact: Enter username/password and click "Login."
  3. Interact: Wait for the redirect to complete, then perform data extraction.
  4. Interact Stop: Finish the task and release the session.

8.5 Important Reminders

  • Billing: Interact mode is billed per browser-minute (2 credits/minute).
  • Timeout: Sessions have an inactivity timeout. If no commands are sent for a while, the session will expire automatically.
  • Stop Promptly: Always call firecrawl_interact_stop when finished to prevent continuous Credit consumption until the mandatory timeout.