Getting Started

This guide walks you through creating a CROW account, generating an API key, and choosing the right integration method for your use case.

1. Create Your Account

1. Go to https://app.crowai.dev and sign up.
2. Create an organization for your business. All data, projects, and API keys are scoped to your organization.
3. Navigate to Settings > API Keys and generate a new key. Copy it immediately -- it will not be shown again.

tip

Store your API key in environment variables or a secret manager. Never commit it to source code.

2. Choose Your Integration

CROW supports five integration methods. Choose the one that matches your use case:

Method	Best for	Language
Web SDK	Tracking user behavior on websites	JavaScript / TypeScript
CCTV CLI	Ingesting video frames from physical cameras	Node.js CLI (ffmpeg)
Social Collector	Monitoring social media mentions	Dashboard configuration
MCP Server	Connecting CROW to Claude Desktop or Cursor	JSON config
A2A Protocol	Agent-to-agent communication	Any HTTP client

---

Web SDK

Install the SDK and start tracking in under five minutes.

npm install @b3-crow/website-hook-sdk

import { initializeCrow } from '@b3-crow/website-hook-sdk';

const crow = await initializeCrow({
  apiKey: 'your-api-key',
  projectId: 'your-project-id',
});

// The SDK automatically tracks page views, clicks, scroll depth,
// navigation, errors, performance metrics, and session replays.

// Track e-commerce events manually:
crow.trackAddToCart({
  productId: 'prod_123',
  productName: 'Running Shoes',
  price: 129.99,
  quantity: 1,
});

Full Web SDK documentation >>>

---

CCTV CLI

Install the CLI and grab your first camera frame.

npm install -g @b3-crow/cctv-cli

# Grab a single frame from an RTSP stream
cctv grab --rtsp "rtsp://192.168.1.100:554/stream" --out frame.jpg

# Continuously sample at 1 FPS to a local spool directory
cctv sample \
  --store my_store \
  --camera cam_01 \
  --rtsp "rtsp://192.168.1.100:554/stream"

Full CCTV CLI documentation >>>

---

Social Collector

Social data collection is configured through the CROW dashboard, not through code. Navigate to Integrations > Social in your dashboard and add the platforms you want to monitor.

Supported platforms: Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and News.

CROW automatically searches for brand mentions on a scheduled basis and processes the results through the AI pipeline.

Full Social Collector documentation >>>

---

MCP Server

Connect CROW to Claude Desktop by adding this to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crow": {
      "url": "https://mcp.crowai.dev/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Once connected, Claude can search your product catalog, query interaction history, and analyze behavioral patterns using natural language.

Full MCP Server documentation >>>

---

A2A Protocol

Send a task to the CROW A2A agent using any HTTP client:

import httpx

response = httpx.post(
    "https://a2a.crowai.dev/a2a/jsonrpc",
    json={
        "jsonrpc": "2.0",
        "id": 1,
        "method": "tasks/send",
        "params": {
            "id": "task-001",
            "message": {
                "role": "user",
                "parts": [{"kind": "text", "text": "What are the top selling products?"}],
                "metadata": {"organizationId": "your-org-id"}
            }
        }
    }
)

print(response.json())

Full A2A Protocol documentation >>>

---

Self-Hosting

CROW is source-available. You can deploy the entire platform on your own Cloudflare account.

What you need:

• Cloudflare account (free tier works for most services)
• Bun 1.x for most CROW repos, plus Node.js 20+ and Wrangler CLI where needed
• Stripe account (for billing features, optional)

Quick start:

# Clone and set up all repos
git clone https://github.com/CROW-B3/local-dev.git
cd local-dev && bun install && bun run clone

# Deploy a service
cd ../core-api-gateway
npx wrangler d1 create crow-auth-db
npx wrangler d1 migrations apply crow-auth-db
npx wrangler secret put INTERNAL_GATEWAY_KEY
npx wrangler deploy

See Local Dev for the multi-repo workflow and Source Availability for the full platform architecture and component listing.

caution

CROW is not actively maintained. If you self-host, you are responsible for your own security, updates, and operations.