@unbrowse/firecrawl-shim

One-line drop-in for @mendable/firecrawl-js. $0 on cache hits.

- import Firecrawl from '@mendable/firecrawl-js';
+ import Firecrawl from '@unbrowse/firecrawl-shim';

  const client = new Firecrawl({ apiKey: 'fc-xxx' });
  const doc = await client.scrape('https://example.com');

scrape / map / crawl / extract / search all routed through Unbrowse's marketplace cache first. Cache hit → free synthesized Document. Miss → falls back to Firecrawl with your original fc-xxx key so you pay them only when we miss.

Install

npm i @unbrowse/firecrawl-shim

No additional setup — your existing Firecrawl API key works as the fallback authenticator.

Env

| Var | Meaning | |---|---| | UNBROWSE_API_KEY / UNBROWSE_X_PAYMENT | Auth for Unbrowse path | | FIRECRAWL_API_KEY | Already-set fallback (or pass apiKey to the constructor) | | UNBROWSE_API_URL | Override default https://beta-api.unbrowse.ai |

Coverage

| Method | Cache hit | Fallback | |---|---|---| | scrape(url, opts) | ✅ Unbrowse marketplace → synthesized Document | ✅ Firecrawl /v1/scrape | | extract(urls, {schema}) | ✅ Per-URL Unbrowse execute --extract | partial (per-URL fallback in v0.2) | | map(url) | not in v0.1 (sitemap index TODO) | ✅ Firecrawl /v1/map | | crawl(url, opts) | not in v0.1 (recursive plan TODO) | ✅ Firecrawl /v1/crawl | | search(query) | not in v0.1 | ✅ Firecrawl /v2/search |

The shim is safe to drop in: if Unbrowse hasn't indexed your target URL yet, your call still works against Firecrawl with your existing key. The only thing that changes is your bill.

Cost comparison

Firecrawl's pricing model: 1 credit = 1 page scraped/crawled/mapped, 2 credits = 10 search results, 2 credits = 1 browser-min Interact. Plans: Hobby $16/5k credits · Standard $83/100k · Growth $333/500k · Scale $599/1M.

| Scenario | Firecrawl | Unbrowse shim | |---|---|---| | Scrape 100k pages already in marketplace | $83 (Standard tier) | $0 | | Scrape 100k pages, 60% cached | $83 | $33 ($0 on 60% hits, Firecrawl fallback on 40%) | | Scrape 100k pages, 0% cached | $83 | $83 (fallthrough, no Unbrowse cost) |

The break-even is at 0% cache hit rate, where you pay the same as Firecrawl. Anything above that is pure savings.

Stickiness loop

Every fallthrough Firecrawl scrape gets its captured route published back to Unbrowse's marketplace under your wallet. Next call from anywhere — yours, or any other agent — becomes a cache hit. You earn x402 micropayments when other callers hit your contributed routes. Pay Firecrawl once, get paid forever.

License

MIT.