diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/error.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/error.rs
index adba5e2..7877476 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/error.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/error.rs
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ pub enum FetchError {
     MissingUrl,
 
     /// URL has invalid scheme
-    #[error("Invalid URL: must start with http:// or https://")]
+    #[error("Invalid URL: must be http://, https://, or a bare domain URL")]
     InvalidUrlScheme,
 
     /// Invalid HTTP method
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
         assert_eq!(
             FetchError::InvalidUrlScheme.to_string(),
-            "Invalid URL: must start with http:// or https://"
+            "Invalid URL: must be http://, https://, or a bare domain URL"
         );
         assert_eq!(
             FetchError::InvalidMethod.to_string(),
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/arxiv.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/arxiv.rs
index a8f651d..084bb61 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/arxiv.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/arxiv.rs
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ impl Fetcher for ArXivFetcher {
         request: &FetchRequest,
         options: &FetchOptions,
     ) -> Result<FetchResponse, FetchError> {
+        let request = request.normalized_for_fetch()?;
         let url = Url::parse(&request.url).map_err(|_| FetchError::InvalidUrlScheme)?;
 
         let paper_id = Self::parse_url(&url)
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/default.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/default.rs
index 1f7778f..c30c690 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/default.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/default.rs
@@ -227,6 +227,7 @@ impl Fetcher for DefaultFetcher {
         request: &FetchRequest,
         options: &FetchOptions,
     ) -> Result<FetchResponse, FetchError> {
+        let request = request.normalized_for_fetch()?;
         if request.url.is_empty() {
             return Err(FetchError::MissingUrl);
         }
@@ -244,7 +245,7 @@ impl Fetcher for DefaultFetcher {
             "*/*"
         };
 
-        let headers = build_headers(options, accept, request);
+        let headers = build_headers(options, accept, &request);
         let parsed_url = url::Url::parse(&request.url).map_err(|_| FetchError::InvalidUrlScheme)?;
 
         let reqwest_method = match method {
@@ -416,6 +417,7 @@ impl Fetcher for DefaultFetcher {
             Some(path) => path.clone(),
             None => return self.fetch(request, options).await,
         };
+        let request = request.normalized_for_fetch()?;
 
         if request.url.is_empty() {
             return Err(FetchError::MissingUrl);
@@ -424,7 +426,7 @@ impl Fetcher for DefaultFetcher {
         let method = request.effective_method();
         let max_body_size = options.max_body_size.unwrap_or(DEFAULT_MAX_BODY_SIZE);
 
-        let headers = build_headers(options, "*/*", request);
+        let headers = build_headers(options, "*/*", &request);
         let parsed_url = url::Url::parse(&request.url).map_err(|_| FetchError::InvalidUrlScheme)?;
 
         let reqwest_method = match method {
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/docs_site.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/docs_site.rs
index ea4bb0b..1054bf6 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/docs_site.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/docs_site.rs
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ impl Fetcher for DocsSiteFetcher {
         request: &FetchRequest,
         options: &FetchOptions,
     ) -> Result<FetchResponse, FetchError> {
+        let request = request.normalized_for_fetch()?;
         let url = Url::parse(&request.url).map_err(|_| FetchError::InvalidUrlScheme)?;
         let user_agent = options.user_agent.as_deref().unwrap_or(DEFAULT_USER_AGENT);
         let ua_header = HeaderValue::from_str(user_agent)
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/github_code.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/github_code.rs
index e4aa616..7bd61f1 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/github_code.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/github_code.rs
@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ impl Fetcher for GitHubCodeFetcher {
         request: &FetchRequest,
         options: &FetchOptions,
     ) -> Result<FetchResponse, FetchError> {
+        let request = request.normalized_for_fetch()?;
         let url = Url::parse(&request.url).map_err(|_| FetchError::InvalidUrlScheme)?;
 
         let parsed = Self::parse_url(&url)
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/github_issue.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/github_issue.rs
index d018929..b8ce40e 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/github_issue.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/github_issue.rs
@@ -177,6 +177,7 @@ impl Fetcher for GitHubIssueFetcher {
         request: &FetchRequest,
         options: &FetchOptions,
     ) -> Result<FetchResponse, FetchError> {
+        let request = request.normalized_for_fetch()?;
         let url = Url::parse(&request.url).map_err(|_| FetchError::InvalidUrlScheme)?;
 
         let (owner, repo, number) = Self::parse_url(&url).ok_or_else(|| {
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/github_repo.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/github_repo.rs
index 8cf1c9e..954a749 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/github_repo.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/github_repo.rs
@@ -175,6 +175,7 @@ impl Fetcher for GitHubRepoFetcher {
         request: &FetchRequest,
         options: &FetchOptions,
     ) -> Result<FetchResponse, FetchError> {
+        let request = request.normalized_for_fetch()?;
         let url = Url::parse(&request.url).map_err(|_| FetchError::InvalidUrlScheme)?;
 
         let (owner, repo) = Self::parse_github_url(&url).ok_or_else(|| {
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/hackernews.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/hackernews.rs
index c78cec1..8315cbb 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/hackernews.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/hackernews.rs
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ impl Fetcher for HackerNewsFetcher {
         request: &FetchRequest,
         options: &FetchOptions,
     ) -> Result<FetchResponse, FetchError> {
+        let request = request.normalized_for_fetch()?;
         let url = Url::parse(&request.url).map_err(|_| FetchError::InvalidUrlScheme)?;
 
         let item_id = Self::parse_url(&url)
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/package_registry.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/package_registry.rs
index 9d90f60..d6668bb 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/package_registry.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/package_registry.rs
@@ -173,6 +173,7 @@ impl Fetcher for PackageRegistryFetcher {
         request: &FetchRequest,
         options: &FetchOptions,
     ) -> Result<FetchResponse, FetchError> {
+        let request = request.normalized_for_fetch()?;
         let url = Url::parse(&request.url).map_err(|_| FetchError::InvalidUrlScheme)?;
 
         let registry = Self::parse_url(&url).ok_or_else(|| {
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/rss_feed.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/rss_feed.rs
index aa1a167..ad92de2 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/rss_feed.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/rss_feed.rs
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ impl Fetcher for RSSFeedFetcher {
         request: &FetchRequest,
         options: &FetchOptions,
     ) -> Result<FetchResponse, FetchError> {
+        let request = request.normalized_for_fetch()?;
         let user_agent = options.user_agent.as_deref().unwrap_or(DEFAULT_USER_AGENT);
         let mut headers = HeaderMap::new();
         let ua_header = HeaderValue::from_str(user_agent)
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/stackoverflow.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/stackoverflow.rs
index 94e2dd4..51ade4d 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/stackoverflow.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/stackoverflow.rs
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@ impl Fetcher for StackOverflowFetcher {
         request: &FetchRequest,
         options: &FetchOptions,
     ) -> Result<FetchResponse, FetchError> {
+        let request = request.normalized_for_fetch()?;
         let url = Url::parse(&request.url).map_err(|_| FetchError::InvalidUrlScheme)?;
 
         let (site, question_id) = Self::parse_url(&url).ok_or_else(|| {
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/twitter.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/twitter.rs
index fc20a31..82a2ac0 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/twitter.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/twitter.rs
@@ -439,6 +439,7 @@ impl Fetcher for TwitterFetcher {
         request: &FetchRequest,
         options: &FetchOptions,
     ) -> Result<FetchResponse, FetchError> {
+        let request = request.normalized_for_fetch()?;
         let url = Url::parse(&request.url).map_err(|_| FetchError::InvalidUrlScheme)?;
 
         let (_username, tweet_id) = Self::parse_tweet_url(&url).ok_or_else(|| {
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/wikipedia.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/wikipedia.rs
index 709fb3e..94dfe3c 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/wikipedia.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/wikipedia.rs
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ impl Fetcher for WikipediaFetcher {
         request: &FetchRequest,
         options: &FetchOptions,
     ) -> Result<FetchResponse, FetchError> {
+        let request = request.normalized_for_fetch()?;
         let url = Url::parse(&request.url).map_err(|_| FetchError::InvalidUrlScheme)?;
 
         let (lang, title) = Self::parse_url(&url)
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/youtube.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/youtube.rs
index 3cb0882..41bf8ee 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/youtube.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/fetchers/youtube.rs
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ impl Fetcher for YouTubeFetcher {
         request: &FetchRequest,
         options: &FetchOptions,
     ) -> Result<FetchResponse, FetchError> {
+        let request = request.normalized_for_fetch()?;
         let url = Url::parse(&request.url).map_err(|_| FetchError::InvalidUrlScheme)?;
 
         let video_id = Self::parse_video_id(&url)
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/tool.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/tool.rs
index 266dbe8..dc25df4 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/tool.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/tool.rs
@@ -1020,25 +1020,25 @@ fn build_help(tool: &Tool) -> String {
     let errors = if is_ukrainian(tool.locale()) {
         if tool.enable_save_to_file {
             "- `MissingUrl` — параметр `url` обов’язковий\n\
-             - `InvalidUrlScheme` — схема URL має бути `http` або `https`\n\
+             - `InvalidUrlScheme` — URL має бути `http://`, `https://` або доменним URL\n\
              - `BlockedUrl` — URL заблокований політикою SSRF або allow/block правилами\n\
              - `FirstByteTimeout` — сервер не відповів протягом 1 секунди\n\
              - `SaverNotAvailable` — `save_to_file` потребує адаптер `FileSaver`\n"
         } else {
             "- `MissingUrl` — параметр `url` обов’язковий\n\
-             - `InvalidUrlScheme` — схема URL має бути `http` або `https`\n\
+             - `InvalidUrlScheme` — URL має бути `http://`, `https://` або доменним URL\n\
              - `BlockedUrl` — URL заблокований політикою SSRF або allow/block правилами\n\
              - `FirstByteTimeout` — сервер не відповів протягом 1 секунди\n"
         }
     } else if tool.enable_save_to_file {
         "- `MissingUrl` — `url` is required\n\
-         - `InvalidUrlScheme` — URL scheme must be `http` or `https`\n\
+         - `InvalidUrlScheme` — URL must be `http://`, `https://`, or a bare domain URL\n\
          - `BlockedUrl` — URL blocked by SSRF policy or allow/block rules\n\
          - `FirstByteTimeout` — server did not respond within 1 second\n\
          - `SaverNotAvailable` — `save_to_file` requires a `FileSaver` adapter\n"
     } else {
         "- `MissingUrl` — `url` is required\n\
-         - `InvalidUrlScheme` — URL scheme must be `http` or `https`\n\
+         - `InvalidUrlScheme` — URL must be `http://`, `https://`, or a bare domain URL\n\
          - `BlockedUrl` — URL blocked by SSRF policy or allow/block rules\n\
          - `FirstByteTimeout` — server did not respond within 1 second\n"
     };
@@ -1139,7 +1139,7 @@ fn unknown_parameter_error(locale: &str, key: &str) -> ToolError {
 fn user_text(locale: &str, key: &str) -> &'static str {
     match (is_ukrainian(locale), key) {
         (true, "missing_url") => "Параметр url обов’язковий.",
-        (true, "invalid_scheme") => "Схема URL має бути http або https.",
+        (true, "invalid_scheme") => "URL має бути http://, https:// або доменним URL.",
         (true, "invalid_method") => "Метод має бути GET або HEAD.",
         (true, "blocked_url") => "URL заблокований політикою безпеки.",
         (true, "timeout") => {
@@ -1153,7 +1153,7 @@ fn user_text(locale: &str, key: &str) -> &'static str {
         (true, "save_error") => "Не вдалося зберегти файл. Перевірте шлях призначення.",
         (true, "saver_missing") => "save_to_file потребує адаптер FileSaver.",
         (false, "missing_url") => "url is required.",
-        (false, "invalid_scheme") => "URL scheme must be http or https.",
+        (false, "invalid_scheme") => "URL must be http://, https://, or a bare domain URL.",
         (false, "invalid_method") => "Method must be GET or HEAD.",
         (false, "blocked_url") => "URL is blocked by security policy.",
         (false, "timeout") => {
@@ -1357,7 +1357,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(err
             .unwrap_err()
             .to_string()
-            .contains("URL scheme must be http or https"));
+            .contains("URL must be http://, https://, or a bare domain URL"));
     }
 
     #[test]
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/src/types.rs b/crates/fetchkit/src/types.rs
index f4080b8..cb5d692 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/src/types.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/src/types.rs
@@ -126,6 +126,13 @@ impl FetchRequest {
         Ok(())
     }
 
+    /// Return a normalized copy for APIs that accept `&FetchRequest`.
+    pub(crate) fn normalized_for_fetch(&self) -> Result<Self, FetchError> {
+        let mut request = self.clone();
+        request.normalize_url_for_fetch()?;
+        Ok(request)
+    }
+
     /// Set the HTTP method
     pub fn method(mut self, method: HttpMethod) -> Self {
         self.method = Some(method);
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/tests/integration.rs b/crates/fetchkit/tests/integration.rs
index e9af093..dc7337c 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/tests/integration.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/tests/integration.rs
@@ -430,7 +430,7 @@ async fn test_invalid_url_scheme() {
     assert!(result
         .unwrap_err()
         .to_string()
-        .contains("http:// or https://"));
+        .contains("http://, https://, or a bare domain URL"));
 }
 
 #[tokio::test]
diff --git a/crates/fetchkit/tests/transport.rs b/crates/fetchkit/tests/transport.rs
index ce03fb6..5dfaa20 100644
--- a/crates/fetchkit/tests/transport.rs
+++ b/crates/fetchkit/tests/transport.rs
@@ -7,8 +7,11 @@
 use async_trait::async_trait;
 use bytes::Bytes;
 use fetchkit::{
-    DnsPolicy, FetchError, FetchOptions, FetchRequest, Fetcher, HttpMethod, HttpTransport,
-    TransportError, TransportMethod, TransportRequest, TransportResponse,
+    ArXivFetcher, DefaultFetcher, DnsPolicy, DocsSiteFetcher, FetchError, FetchOptions,
+    FetchRequest, Fetcher, GitHubCodeFetcher, GitHubIssueFetcher, GitHubRepoFetcher,
+    HackerNewsFetcher, HttpMethod, HttpTransport, PackageRegistryFetcher, RSSFeedFetcher,
+    StackOverflowFetcher, TransportError, TransportMethod, TransportRequest, TransportResponse,
+    TwitterFetcher, WikipediaFetcher, YouTubeFetcher,
 };
 use serde_json::json;
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
@@ -122,6 +125,86 @@ async fn default_fetcher_get_uses_injected_transport() {
     assert!(calls[0].0.contains("example.test/page"));
 }
 
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn direct_default_fetcher_defaults_bare_host_urls_to_https() {
+    let mock = Arc::new(MockTransport::new().route(
+        "example.test/direct",
+        200,
+        "text/plain",
+        b"direct default fetcher",
+    ));
+    let options = options_with(mock.clone());
+
+    let fetcher = DefaultFetcher::new();
+    let request = FetchRequest::new("example.test/direct");
+    let response = fetcher.fetch(&request, &options).await.unwrap();
+
+    assert_eq!(response.status_code, 200);
+    assert_eq!(response.url, "https://example.test/direct");
+
+    let calls = mock.calls();
+    assert_eq!(calls.len(), 1);
+    assert_eq!(calls[0].0, "https://example.test/direct");
+}
+
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn direct_specialized_fetchers_normalize_bare_host_urls_before_parsing() {
+    let cases: Vec<(Box<dyn Fetcher>, &str)> = vec![
+        (
+            Box::new(GitHubCodeFetcher::new()),
+            "github.com/owner/repo/blob/main/README.md",
+        ),
+        (
+            Box::new(GitHubIssueFetcher::new()),
+            "github.com/owner/repo/issues/42",
+        ),
+        (Box::new(GitHubRepoFetcher::new()), "github.com/owner/repo"),
+        (
+            Box::new(TwitterFetcher::new()),
+            "x.com/user/status/123456789",
+        ),
+        (
+            Box::new(StackOverflowFetcher::new()),
+            "stackoverflow.com/questions/12345/title",
+        ),
+        (
+            Box::new(PackageRegistryFetcher::new()),
+            "pypi.org/project/requests",
+        ),
+        (
+            Box::new(WikipediaFetcher::new()),
+            "en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust",
+        ),
+        (
+            Box::new(YouTubeFetcher::new()),
+            "youtube.com/watch?v=abc123",
+        ),
+        (Box::new(ArXivFetcher::new()), "arxiv.org/abs/2301.07041"),
+        (
+            Box::new(HackerNewsFetcher::new()),
+            "news.ycombinator.com/item?id=123",
+        ),
+        (Box::new(RSSFeedFetcher::new()), "example.com/feed"),
+        (
+            Box::new(DocsSiteFetcher::new()),
+            "docs.rs/tokio/latest/tokio",
+        ),
+    ];
+
+    for (fetcher, bare_url) in cases {
+        let mock = Arc::new(MockTransport::new());
+        let options = options_with(mock);
+        let request = FetchRequest::new(bare_url);
+        let result = fetcher.fetch(&request, &options).await;
+
+        assert!(
+            !matches!(result, Err(FetchError::InvalidUrlScheme)),
+            "{} rejected bare URL at scheme parsing",
+            fetcher.name()
+        );
+    }
+}
+
 #[tokio::test]
 async fn default_fetcher_head_uses_injected_transport() {
     let mock = Arc::new(MockTransport::new().route("example.test/head", 200, "text/html", b""));
diff --git a/specs/fetchers.md b/specs/fetchers.md
index 48155ce..80b97ed 100644
--- a/specs/fetchers.md
+++ b/specs/fetchers.md
@@ -272,6 +272,11 @@ pub async fn fetch_with_options(req: FetchRequest, options: FetchOptions)
     -> Result<FetchResponse, FetchError>;
 ```
 
+Built-in fetchers normalize `FetchRequest::url` before parsing, so direct calls to
+`Fetcher::fetch` accept the same URL forms as the registry and tool surfaces:
+explicit `http://`, explicit `https://`, or bare domain URLs normalized to
+`https://`.
+
 ## Testing
 
 ### Unit Tests
diff --git a/specs/initial.md b/specs/initial.md
index fb990e8..3319975 100644
--- a/specs/initial.md
+++ b/specs/initial.md
@@ -170,8 +170,9 @@ Provide a builder to configure tool options, including:
 ### Request Validation
 
 - `url` is required.
-- Only `http://` and `https://` URLs allowed.
-- Invalid URL: `Invalid URL: must start with http:// or https://`.
+- Explicit `http://` and `https://` URLs are allowed. Bare domain URLs are
+  accepted and normalized to `https://` before validation and fetch.
+- Invalid URL: `Invalid URL: must be http://, https://, or a bare domain URL`.
 - Invalid method: `Invalid method: must be GET or HEAD`.
 - Allow/block list prefixes (if configured) are applied before fetch.
   - If allow list is non-empty, URL must match at least one allow prefix.
@@ -321,7 +322,7 @@ Content is HTML if:
 ### Error Handling
 
 - Missing url -> tool error string "Missing required parameter: url".
-- Invalid URL -> tool error string "Invalid URL: must start with http:// or https://".
+- Invalid URL -> tool error string "Invalid URL: must be http://, https://, or a bare domain URL".
 - Invalid method -> tool error string "Invalid method: must be GET or HEAD".
 - Blocked URL (prefix or DNS policy) -> tool error string "Blocked URL: not allowed by policy".
 - First-byte timeout -> "Request timed out: server did not respond within 1 second".