docs(skills): clarify auth requirements and fix drift from current CLI behavior

skills/firecrawl-cli/SKILL.md

@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ firecrawl monitor update <monitorId> --state paused
 firecrawl monitor delete <monitorId>
 ```
 
-Schedules accept cron (`--cron "*/5 * * * *"`) or natural language (`--schedule "every 5 minutes"`). Minimum interval is 5 minutes. Targets are `--page <url>` for one page, `--scrape-urls a,b,c` for multiple scrape URLs, or `--crawl-url <url>` for a whole-site crawl each check. Use `--goal` for flag-based monitor creation, or include `"goal": "..."` in JSON payloads. Note: `--state` (not `--status`) sets active/paused; `--page-status` (not `--status`) filters page results on `check` — avoids collision with the global `--status` flag. Monitoring is not available for zero-data-retention teams.
+Schedules accept cron (`--cron "*/5 * * * *"`) or natural language (`--schedule "every 5 minutes"`). Minimum interval is 5 minutes. Targets are `--page <url>` for one page, `--scrape-urls a,b,c` for multiple scrape URLs, `--crawl-url <url>` for a whole-site crawl each check, or `--queries <q,...>` plus required `--goal` for web-search monitors; tune web search with `--search-window` and `--max-results`. Use `--goal` for flag-based monitor creation, or include `"goal": "..."` in JSON payloads. Note: `--state` (not `--status`) sets active/paused; `--page-status` (not `--status`) filters page results on `check` — avoids collision with the global `--status` flag. Monitoring is not available for zero-data-retention teams.
 
 **JSON-mode change tracking:** By default monitors diff each page's markdown and you get a unified text diff back. When you care about **specific structured fields** (price, headline, in-stock flag, items in a list) instead of the whole page, add a `changeTracking` format with `modes: ["json"]` and a JSON schema to the target's `scrapeOptions.formats`. The flag-based form doesn't cover this — pass a JSON body via file or stdin:
 
@@ -317,6 +317,8 @@ For interact, scrape multiple pages and interact with each independently using t
 
 ## Credit Usage
 
+Requires authentication (no keyless free tier); without credentials the CLI prompts an interactive login.
+
 ```bash
 firecrawl credit-usage
 firecrawl credit-usage --json --pretty -o .firecrawl/credits.json

skills/firecrawl-crawl/SKILL.md

@@ -11,11 +11,13 @@ allowed-tools:
 
 Bulk extract content from a website. Crawls pages following links up to a depth/limit.
 
+**Prerequisite:** `crawl` requires authentication (no keyless free tier); without credentials the CLI prompts an interactive login.
+
 ## When to use
 
 - You need content from many pages on a site (e.g., all `/docs/`)
 - You want to extract an entire site section
-- Step 4 in the [workflow escalation pattern](firecrawl-cli): search → scrape → map → **crawl** → interact
+- Step 4 in the [workflow escalation pattern](firecrawl-cli): search → scrape → map + scrape → **crawl** → monitor → interact
 
 ## Quick start
 
@@ -47,9 +49,9 @@ firecrawl crawl <job-id>
 
 ## Tips
 
-- Always use `--wait` when you need the results immediately. Without it, crawl returns a job ID for async polling.
+- Always use `--wait` when you need the results immediately. It has no default timeout; use `--timeout <seconds>` to bound polling. Without `--wait`, crawl returns a job ID for async polling.
 - Use `--include-paths` to scope the crawl — don't crawl an entire site when you only need one section.
-- Crawl consumes credits per page. Check `firecrawl credit-usage` before large crawls.
+- Crawl consumes credits per page. Check `firecrawl credit-usage` before large crawls (`credit-usage` requires authentication).
 
 ## See also
 

skills/firecrawl-download/SKILL.md

@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ allowed-tools:
 
 > **Experimental.** Convenience command that combines `map` + `scrape` to save an entire site as local files.
 
+**Prerequisite:** `download` requires authentication (no keyless free tier); without credentials the CLI prompts an interactive login.
+
 Maps the site first to discover pages, then scrapes each one into nested directories under `.firecrawl/`. All scrape options work with download. Always pass `-y` to skip the confirmation prompt.
 
 ## When to use

skills/firecrawl-interact/SKILL.md

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Interact with scraped pages in a live browser session. Scrape a page first, then
 - Content requires interaction: clicks, form fills, pagination, login
 - `scrape` failed because content is behind JavaScript interaction
 - You need to navigate a multi-step flow
-- Last resort in the [workflow escalation pattern](firecrawl-cli): search → scrape → map → crawl → **interact**
+- Last resort in the [workflow escalation pattern](firecrawl-cli): search → scrape → map + scrape → crawl → monitor → **interact**
 - **Never use interact for web searches** — use `search` instead
 
 ## Quick start

skills/firecrawl-map/SKILL.md

@@ -11,11 +11,13 @@ allowed-tools:
 
 Discover URLs on a site. Use `--search` to find a specific page within a large site.
 
+**Prerequisite:** `map` requires authentication (no keyless free tier); without credentials the CLI prompts an interactive login.
+
 ## When to use
 
 - You need to find a specific subpage on a large site
 - You want a list of all URLs on a site before scraping or crawling
-- Step 3 in the [workflow escalation pattern](firecrawl-cli): search → scrape → **map** → crawl → interact
+- Step 3 in the [workflow escalation pattern](firecrawl-cli): search → scrape → **map** + scrape → crawl → monitor → interact
 
 ## Quick start
 

skills/firecrawl-monitor/SKILL.md

@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ The first three watch URLs you already have. **Web search** is the odd one out 
 - **Monitoring the web** for _new_ results rather than changes to a known page — new launches, funding rounds, papers, news, releases, or brand mentions surfaced by search across the whole web (a **web monitor**: `--queries` + `--goal`)
 - "Alert me when...", "notify me when...", "email me if...", "send a webhook when...", "ping me if X changes", "track this page", "monitor the web for...", "watch for new..."
 - Anywhere the user would otherwise wire up cron + a scraper + a diff library + SMTP themselves
-- Step 5 in the [workflow escalation pattern](firecrawl-cli): search → scrape → map → crawl → **monitor** → interact
+- Step 5 in the [workflow escalation pattern](firecrawl-cli): search → scrape → map + scrape → crawl → **monitor** → interact
 
 **Bias toward `monitor`** whenever the request implies notifications or recurrence. A single page read once = `scrape`. A single page where the user wants to be told when it changes = `monitor --page <url> --goal "..." --email|--webhook-url ...`.
 
@@ -114,10 +114,13 @@ Subcommands: `create | list | get | update | delete | run | checks | check`.
 | `--retention-days <n>`     | Snapshot retention window                                                 |
 | `--state <state>`          | `active` or `paused` (update only — use `--state`, not `--status`)        |
 | `--page-status <state>`    | Filter `check` results: `same`, `new`, `changed`, `removed`, `error`      |
+| `--limit <n>`              | Max results (`list`, `checks`) or page results (`check`)                  |
+| `--offset <n>`             | Result offset (`list`, `checks`)                                          |
+| `--skip <n>`               | Page-result offset (`check`)                                              |
 | `-o, --output <path>`      | Output file path                                                          |
 | `--pretty`                 | Pretty-print JSON output                                                  |
 
-Minimum schedule interval is **15 minutes**. Monitoring is **not available for zero-data-retention teams**.
+Minimum schedule interval is **5 minutes**. Monitoring is **not available for zero-data-retention teams**.
 
 ## Web monitors (monitor the web)
 
@@ -148,7 +151,7 @@ For a web monitor, **queries control recall** (what the search retrieves) and **
 - One query per **distinct** subject. Several facets of one subject = one query; only split for genuinely separate entities (e.g. "OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google").
 - No `site:` operators in queries — use `--include-domains` / `--exclude-domains`.
 
-**What good looks like:** a healthy web monitor mostly returns `new: 0` and alerts only on genuinely new, on-goal results. If most results come back `ignored`, the queries pull noise the goal rejects — tighten the queries. If a topic returns nothing for long stretches, the queries are too narrow or `--search-window` too tight — broaden them. If the user dismisses alerts, the goal is too broad — add an intent-specific `Ignore ...`. The aim is high precision with enough recall: every alert worth acting on, nothing real missed.
+**What good looks like:** a healthy web monitor mostly returns `new: 0` and alerts only on genuinely new, on-goal results. If many retrieved results are off-goal, the queries pull noise the goal rejects — tighten the queries. If a topic returns nothing for long stretches, the queries are too narrow or `--search-window` too tight — broaden them. If the user dismisses alerts, the goal is too broad — add an intent-specific `Ignore ...`. The aim is high precision with enough recall: every alert worth acting on, nothing real missed.
 
 ## Writing a good `--goal`
 

skills/firecrawl-parse/SKILL.md

@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ Then `head`, `grep`, `rg` etc., or incrementally read the file - don't load the
 - 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.
+- To check your credit balance (recommended for batch processing and similar workflows), use `firecrawl credit-usage` (requires authentication).
 
 ## See also
 

skills/firecrawl-scrape/SKILL.md

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ Scrape one or more URLs. Returns clean, LLM-optimized markdown. Multiple URLs ar
 
 - You have a specific URL and want its content
 - The page is static or JS-rendered (SPA)
-- Step 2 in the [workflow escalation pattern](firecrawl-cli): search → **scrape** → map → crawl → interact
+- Step 2 in the [workflow escalation pattern](firecrawl-cli): search → **scrape** → map + scrape → crawl → monitor → interact
 
 ## Quick start
 

skills/firecrawl-search/SKILL.md

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Web search with optional content scraping. Returns search results as JSON, optio
 - You don't have a specific URL yet
 - You need to find pages, answer questions, or discover sources
 - You need research papers — see [Paper search](#paper-search), which routes to `firecrawl research`, not to `search --categories research`
-- First step in the [workflow escalation pattern](firecrawl-cli): search → scrape → map → crawl → interact
+- First step in the [workflow escalation pattern](firecrawl-cli): search → scrape → map + scrape → crawl → monitor → interact
 
 ## Quick start