How to use this image

All examples in this guide use the public image. If you've mirrored the repository for your own use (for example, to your Docker Hub namespace), update your commands to reference the mirrored image instead of the public one.

For example:

• Public image: dhi.io/<repository>:<tag>
• Mirrored image: <your-namespace>/dhi-<repository>:<tag>

For the examples, you must first use docker login dhi.io to authenticate to the registry to pull the images.

Start a scrapegraph-mcp image

The image starts the ScrapeGraph MCP server over the stdio transport by default. MCP clients can launch it directly and pass a ScrapeGraph API key through MCP configuration.

Basic stdio usage

Use this image from an MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scrapegraph-mcp": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "--rm", "-i", "dhi.io/scrapegraph-mcp:<tag>"],
      "env": {
        "SGAI_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

HTTP transport

The upstream server can also run over HTTP at /mcp. Set MCP_TRANSPORT=http, bind the host port to loopback unless you are intentionally exposing the MCP server, and pass each user's API key with the X-API-Key header from the MCP client. The API key is checked by tools that call the ScrapeGraph API; it is not a server-level network access gate.

$ docker run -d --name scrapegraph-mcp -p 127.0.0.1:8000:8000 \
  -e MCP_TRANSPORT=http \
  dhi.io/scrapegraph-mcp:<tag>

Confirm the server is healthy, then point MCP HTTP clients at http://localhost:8000/mcp:

$ curl http://localhost:8000/health
{"status":"healthy","service":"scrapegraph-mcp"}

Environment variables

ScrapeGraph MCP tools

The server exposes tools for page scraping, structured extraction, AI-assisted search, asynchronous crawling, schema generation, scheduled monitors, request history, and account credits. A ScrapeGraph API key is required when invoking tools that call the ScrapeGraph API.

For tool parameters and advanced configuration, see the upstream project documentation⁠.

Non-hardened images vs. Docker Hardened Images

Both the upstream and hardened images default to stdio transport mode for local MCP usage. To run the HTTP transport, set MCP_TRANSPORT=http as shown above.

The listed non-hardened image provides the console script at /usr/local/bin/scrapegraph-mcp. This image packages the script at /usr/bin/scrapegraph-mcp and also provides /usr/local/bin/scrapegraph-mcp as a compatibility symlink.

Image variants

Docker Hardened Images come in different variants depending on their intended use.

• Runtime variants are designed to run your application in production. These images are intended to be used either directly or as the FROM image in the final stage of a multi-stage build. These images typically:

  • Run as the nonroot user
  • Do not include a shell or a package manager
  • Contain only the minimal set of libraries needed to run the app

• Build-time variants typically include dev in the tag name and are intended for use in the first stage of a multi-stage Dockerfile. These images typically:

  • Run as the root user
  • Include a shell and package manager
  • Are used to build or compile applications

Migrate to a Docker Hardened Image

To migrate your application to a Docker Hardened Image, you must update your Dockerfile. At minimum, you must update the base image in your existing Dockerfile to a Docker Hardened Image. This and a few other common changes are listed in the following table of migration notes.

The following steps outline the general migration process.

1. Find hardened images for your app.

   A hardened image may have several variants. Inspect the image tags and find the image variant that meets your needs.

2. Update the base image in your Dockerfile.

   Update the base image in your application's Dockerfile to the hardened image you found in the previous step. For framework images, this is typically going to be an image tagged as dev because it has the tools needed to install packages and dependencies.

3. For multi-stage Dockerfiles, update the runtime image in your Dockerfile.

   To ensure that your final image is as minimal as possible, you should use a multi-stage build. All stages in your Dockerfile should use a hardened image. While intermediary stages will typically use images tagged as dev, your final runtime stage should use a non-dev image variant.

4. Install additional packages

   Docker Hardened Images contain minimal packages in order to reduce the potential attack surface. You may need to install additional packages in your Dockerfile. Inspect the image variants to identify which packages are already installed.

   Only images tagged as dev typically have package managers. You should use a multi-stage Dockerfile to install the packages. Install the packages in the build stage that uses a dev image. Then, if needed, copy any necessary artifacts to the runtime stage that uses a non-dev image.

   For Alpine-based images, you can use apk to install packages. For Debian-based images, you can use apt-get to install packages.

Troubleshooting migration

The following are common issues that you may encounter during migration.

General debugging

The hardened images intended for runtime don't contain a shell nor any tools for debugging. The recommended method for debugging applications built with Docker Hardened Images is to use Docker Debug⁠ to attach to these containers. Docker Debug provides a shell, common debugging tools, and lets you install other tools in an ephemeral, writable layer that only exists during the debugging session.

Permissions

By default image variants intended for runtime, run as the nonroot user. Ensure that necessary files and directories are accessible to the nonroot user. You may need to copy files to different directories or change permissions so your application running as the nonroot user can access them.

Privileged ports

Non-dev hardened images run as a nonroot user by default. As a result, applications in these images can't bind to privileged ports (below 1024) when running in Kubernetes or in Docker Engine versions older than 20.10. To avoid issues, configure your application to listen on port 1025 or higher inside the container, even if you map it to a lower port on the host. For example, docker run -p 80:8080 my-image will work because the port inside the container is 8080, and docker run -p 80:81 my-image won't work because the port inside the container is 81.

Entry point

This image starts scrapegraph-mcp over stdio by default. If you override the command in Kubernetes or Docker Compose, keep -i on the surrounding docker run command for stdio clients so MCP JSON-RPC messages can flow over stdin and stdout.

No shell

By default, image variants intended for runtime don't contain a shell. Use dev images in build stages to run shell commands and then copy any necessary artifacts into the runtime stage. In addition, use Docker Debug to debug containers with no shell.