diff --git a/crawl4ai/async_configs.py b/crawl4ai/async_configs.py
index ff02eda6..e559fc5b 100644
--- a/crawl4ai/async_configs.py
+++ b/crawl4ai/async_configs.py
@@ -347,6 +347,8 @@ class GeolocationConfig:
         return GeolocationConfig.from_dict(config_dict)
 
 class ProxyConfig:
+    DIRECT = "direct"  # Sentinel: use in proxy_config list to mean "no proxy"
+
     def __init__(
         self,
         server: str,
@@ -1498,7 +1500,9 @@ class CrawlerRunConfig():
         if isinstance(proxy_config, list):
             normalized = []
             for p in proxy_config:
-                if isinstance(p, dict):
+                if p is None or p == "direct":
+                    normalized.append(None)
+                elif isinstance(p, dict):
                     normalized.append(ProxyConfig.from_dict(p))
                 elif isinstance(p, str):
                     normalized.append(ProxyConfig.from_string(p))
diff --git a/docs/md_v2/advanced/anti-bot-and-fallback.md b/docs/md_v2/advanced/anti-bot-and-fallback.md
index 3fa7988b..68ed03de 100644
--- a/docs/md_v2/advanced/anti-bot-and-fallback.md
+++ b/docs/md_v2/advanced/anti-bot-and-fallback.md
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ All anti-bot retry options live on `CrawlerRunConfig`:
 
 | Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
 |---|---|---|---|
-| `proxy_config` | `ProxyConfig`, `list[ProxyConfig]`, or `None` | `None` | Single proxy or ordered list of proxies to try. Each retry round iterates through the full list. |
+| `proxy_config` | `ProxyConfig`, `list[ProxyConfig]`, or `None` | `None` | Single proxy or ordered list of proxies to try. Each retry round iterates through the full list. Use `"direct"` or `ProxyConfig.DIRECT` in a list to explicitly try without a proxy. |
 | `max_retries` | `int` | `0` | Number of retry rounds when blocking is detected. `0` = no retries. |
 | `fallback_fetch_function` | `async (str) -> str` | `None` | Async function called as last resort. Takes URL, returns raw HTML. |
 
@@ -95,6 +95,31 @@ config = CrawlerRunConfig(
 )
 ```
 
+### Direct-First, Then Proxies
+
+Try without a proxy first, then escalate to proxies if blocked. Use `ProxyConfig.DIRECT` (or the string `"direct"`) in the list to represent a no-proxy attempt.
+
+```python
+config = CrawlerRunConfig(
+    max_retries=1,
+    proxy_config=[
+        ProxyConfig.DIRECT,  # Try without proxy first
+        ProxyConfig(
+            server="http://datacenter-proxy.example.com:8080",
+            username="user",
+            password="pass",
+        ),
+        ProxyConfig(
+            server="http://residential-proxy.example.com:9090",
+            username="user",
+            password="pass",
+        ),
+    ],
+)
+```
+
+With this setup, each round tries direct first, then datacenter, then residential. With `max_retries=1`, worst case is 2 rounds x 3 steps = 6 attempts.
+
 ### Proxy List (Escalation)
 
 Pass a list of proxies. They're tried in order — first one that works wins. Within each retry round, the entire list is tried again.