Node

Firecrawl Node SDK is a wrapper around the Firecrawl API to help you easily turn websites into markdown.

Installation

To install the Firecrawl Node SDK, you can use npm:

Node

# npm install @mendable/firecrawl-js

import Firecrawl from '@mendable/firecrawl-js';

const firecrawl = new Firecrawl({ apiKey: "fc-YOUR-API-KEY" });

Usage

1. Get an API key from firecrawl.dev
2. Set the API key as an environment variable named FIRECRAWL_API_KEY or pass it as a parameter to the FirecrawlApp class.

Here’s an example of how to use the SDK with error handling:

Node

import Firecrawl from '@mendable/firecrawl-js';

const firecrawl = new Firecrawl({apiKey: "fc-YOUR_API_KEY"});

// Scrape a website
const scrapeResponse = await firecrawl.scrape('https://firecrawl.dev', {
  formats: ['markdown', 'html'],
});

console.log(scrapeResponse)

// Crawl a website
const crawlResponse = await firecrawl.crawl('https://firecrawl.dev', {
  limit: 100,
  scrapeOptions: {
    formats: ['markdown', 'html'],
  }
});

console.log(crawlResponse)

Scraping a URL

To scrape a single URL with error handling, use the scrapeUrl method. It takes the URL as a parameter and returns the scraped data as a dictionary.

Node

// Scrape a website:
const scrapeResult = await firecrawl.scrape('firecrawl.dev', { formats: ['markdown', 'html'] });

console.log(scrapeResult)

Crawling a Website

To crawl a website with error handling, use the crawlUrl method. It takes the starting URL and optional parameters as arguments. The params argument allows you to specify additional options for the crawl job, such as the maximum number of pages to crawl, allowed domains, and the output format. See Pagination for auto/ manual pagination and limiting.

Node

const job = await firecrawl.crawl('https://docs.firecrawl.dev', { limit: 5, pollInterval: 1, timeout: 120 });
console.log(job.status);

Sitemap-Only Crawl

Use sitemap: "only" to crawl sitemap URLs only (the start URL is always included, and HTML link discovery is skipped).

Node

const job = await firecrawl.crawl('https://docs.firecrawl.dev', {
  sitemap: 'only',
  limit: 25,
});
console.log(job.status, job.data.length);

Start a Crawl

Start a job without waiting using startCrawl. It returns a job ID you can use to check status. Use crawl when you want a waiter that blocks until completion. See Pagination for paging behavior and limits.

Node

const { id } = await firecrawl.startCrawl('https://docs.firecrawl.dev', { limit: 10 });
console.log(id);

Checking Crawl Status

To check the status of a crawl job with error handling, use the checkCrawlStatus method. It takes the ID as a parameter and returns the current status of the crawl job.

Node

const status = await firecrawl.getCrawlStatus("<crawl-id>");
console.log(status);

Cancelling a Crawl

To cancel an crawl job, use the cancelCrawl method. It takes the job ID of the startCrawl as a parameter and returns the cancellation status.

Node

const ok = await firecrawl.cancelCrawl("<crawl-id>");
console.log("Cancelled:", ok);

Mapping a Website

To map a website with error handling, use the mapUrl method. It takes the starting URL as a parameter and returns the mapped data as a dictionary.

Node

const res = await firecrawl.map('https://firecrawl.dev', { limit: 10 });
console.log(res.links);

Crawling a Website with WebSockets

To crawl a website with WebSockets, use the crawlUrlAndWatch method. It takes the starting URL and optional parameters as arguments. The params argument allows you to specify additional options for the crawl job, such as the maximum number of pages to crawl, allowed domains, and the output format.

Node

import Firecrawl from '@mendable/firecrawl-js';

const firecrawl = new Firecrawl({ apiKey: 'fc-YOUR-API-KEY' });

// Start a crawl and then watch it
const { id } = await firecrawl.startCrawl('https://mendable.ai', {
  excludePaths: ['blog/*'],
  limit: 5,
});

const watcher = firecrawl.watcher(id, { kind: 'crawl', pollInterval: 2, timeout: 120 });

watcher.on('document', (doc) => {
  console.log('DOC', doc);
});

watcher.on('error', (err) => {
  console.error('ERR', err?.error || err);
});

watcher.on('done', (state) => {
  console.log('DONE', state.status);
});

// Begin watching (WS with HTTP fallback)
await watcher.start();

Pagination

Firecrawl endpoints for crawl and batch return a next URL when more data is available. The Node SDK auto-paginates by default and aggregates all documents; in that case next will be null. You can disable auto-pagination or set limits.

Crawl

Use the waiter method crawl for the simplest experience, or start a job and page manually.

Simple crawl (auto-pagination, default)

• See the default flow in Crawling a Website.

Manual crawl with pagination control (single page)

• Start a job, then fetch one page at a time with autoPaginate: false.

Node

const crawlStart = await firecrawl.startCrawl('https://docs.firecrawl.dev', { limit: 5 });
const crawlJobId = crawlStart.id;

const crawlSingle = await firecrawl.getCrawlStatus(crawlJobId, { autoPaginate: false });
console.log('crawl single page:', crawlSingle.status, 'docs:', crawlSingle.data.length, 'next:', crawlSingle.next);

Manual crawl with limits (auto-pagination + early stop)

• Keep auto-pagination on but stop early with maxPages, maxResults, or maxWaitTime.

Node

const crawlLimited = await firecrawl.getCrawlStatus(crawlJobId, {
  autoPaginate: true,
  maxPages: 2,
  maxResults: 50,
  maxWaitTime: 15,
});
console.log('crawl limited:', crawlLimited.status, 'docs:', crawlLimited.data.length, 'next:', crawlLimited.next);

Batch Scrape

Use the waiter method batchScrape, or start a job and page manually.

Simple batch scrape (auto-pagination, default)

• See the default flow in Batch Scrape.

Manual batch scrape with pagination control (single page)

• Start a job, then fetch one page at a time with autoPaginate: false.

Node

const batchStart = await firecrawl.startBatchScrape([
  'https://docs.firecrawl.dev',
  'https://firecrawl.dev',
], { options: { formats: ['markdown'] } });
const batchJobId = batchStart.id;

const batchSingle = await firecrawl.getBatchScrapeStatus(batchJobId, { autoPaginate: false });
console.log('batch single page:', batchSingle.status, 'docs:', batchSingle.data.length, 'next:', batchSingle.next);

Manual batch scrape with limits (auto-pagination + early stop)

• Keep auto-pagination on but stop early with maxPages, maxResults, or maxWaitTime.

Node

const batchLimited = await firecrawl.getBatchScrapeStatus(batchJobId, {
  autoPaginate: true,
  maxPages: 2,
  maxResults: 100,
  maxWaitTime: 20,
});
console.log('batch limited:', batchLimited.status, 'docs:', batchLimited.data.length, 'next:', batchLimited.next);

Browser

Launch cloud browser sessions and execute code remotely.

Create a Session

Node

import Firecrawl from '@mendable/firecrawl-js';

const firecrawl = new Firecrawl({ apiKey: "fc-YOUR-API-KEY" });

const session = await firecrawl.browser({ ttl: 600 });
console.log(session.id);          // session ID
console.log(session.cdpUrl);      // wss://cdp-proxy.firecrawl.dev/cdp/...
console.log(session.liveViewUrl); // https://liveview.firecrawl.dev/...

Execute Code

Node

const result = await firecrawl.browserExecute(session.id, {
  code: 'await page.goto("https://news.ycombinator.com")\ntitle = await page.title()\nprint(title)',
});
console.log(result.result); // "Hacker News"

Execute JavaScript instead of Python:

Node

const result = await firecrawl.browserExecute(session.id, {
  code: 'await page.goto("https://example.com"); const t = await page.title(); console.log(t);',
  language: "node",
});

Execute bash with agent-browser:

Node

const result = await firecrawl.browserExecute(session.id, {
  code: "agent-browser open https://example.com && agent-browser snapshot",
  language: "bash",
});

Profiles

Save and reuse browser state (cookies, localStorage, etc.) across sessions:

Node

const session = await firecrawl.browser({
  ttl: 600,
  profile: {
    name: "my-profile",
    saveChanges: true,
  },
});

Connect via CDP

For full Playwright control, connect directly using the CDP URL:

Node

import { chromium } from "playwright";

const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(session.cdpUrl);
const context = browser.contexts()[0];
const page = context.pages()[0] || await context.newPage();

await page.goto("https://example.com");
console.log(await page.title());

await browser.close();

List & Close Sessions

Node

// List active sessions
const { sessions } = await firecrawl.listBrowsers({ status: "active" });
for (const s of sessions) {
  console.log(s.id, s.status, s.createdAt);
}

// Close a session
await firecrawl.deleteBrowser(session.id);

Error Handling

The SDK handles errors returned by the Firecrawl API and raises appropriate exceptions. If an error occurs during a request, an exception will be raised with a descriptive error message. The examples above demonstrate how to handle these errors using try/catch blocks.