firecrawl-reference-architecture

FireCrawl Reference Architecture

Overview

Production-ready architecture patterns for FireCrawl integrations.

Prerequisites

• Understanding of layered architecture
• FireCrawl SDK knowledge
• TypeScript project setup
• Testing framework configured

Project Structure

my-firecrawl-project/
├── src/
│   ├── firecrawl/
│   │   ├── client.ts           # Singleton client wrapper
│   │   ├── config.ts           # Environment configuration
│   │   ├── types.ts            # TypeScript types
│   │   ├── errors.ts           # Custom error classes
│   │   └── handlers/
│   │       ├── webhooks.ts     # Webhook handlers
│   │       └── events.ts       # Event processing
│   ├── services/
│   │   └── firecrawl/
│   │       ├── index.ts        # Service facade
│   │       ├── sync.ts         # Data synchronization
│   │       └── cache.ts        # Caching layer
│   ├── api/
│   │   └── firecrawl/
│   │       └── webhook.ts      # Webhook endpoint
│   └── jobs/
│       └── firecrawl/
│           └── sync.ts         # Background sync job
├── tests/
│   ├── unit/
│   │   └── firecrawl/
│   └── integration/
│       └── firecrawl/
├── config/
│   ├── firecrawl.development.json
│   ├── firecrawl.staging.json
│   └── firecrawl.production.json
└── docs/
    └── firecrawl/
        ├── SETUP.md
        └── RUNBOOK.md

Layer Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│             API Layer                    │
│   (Controllers, Routes, Webhooks)        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│           Service Layer                  │
│  (Business Logic, Orchestration)         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│          FireCrawl Layer        │
│   (Client, Types, Error Handling)        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│         Infrastructure Layer             │
│    (Cache, Queue, Monitoring)            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key Components

Step 1: Client Wrapper

// src/firecrawl/client.ts
export class FireCrawlService {
  private client: FireCrawlClient;
  private cache: Cache;
  private monitor: Monitor;

  constructor(config: FireCrawlConfig) {
    this.client = new FireCrawlClient(config);
    this.cache = new Cache(config.cacheOptions);
    this.monitor = new Monitor('firecrawl');
  }

  async get(id: string): Promise<Resource> {
    return this.cache.getOrFetch(id, () =>
      this.monitor.track('get', () => this.client.get(id))
    );
  }
}

Step 2: Error Boundary

// src/firecrawl/errors.ts
export class FireCrawlServiceError extends Error {
  constructor(
    message: string,
    public readonly code: string,
    public readonly retryable: boolean,
    public readonly originalError?: Error
  ) {
    super(message);
    this.name = 'FireCrawlServiceError';
  }
}

export function wrapFireCrawlError(error: unknown): FireCrawlServiceError {
  // Transform SDK errors to application errors
}

Step 3: Health Check

// src/firecrawl/health.ts
export async function checkFireCrawlHealth(): Promise<HealthStatus> {
  try {
    const start = Date.now();
    await firecrawlClient.ping();
    return {
      status: 'healthy',
      latencyMs: Date.now() - start,
    };
  } catch (error) {
    return { status: 'unhealthy', error: error.message };
  }
}

Data Flow Diagram

User Request
     │
     ▼
┌─────────────┐
│   API       │
│   Gateway   │
└──────┬──────┘
       │
       ▼
┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐
│   Service   │───▶│   Cache     │
│   Layer     │    │   (Redis)   │
└──────┬──────┘    └─────────────┘
       │
       ▼
┌─────────────┐
│ FireCrawl    │
│   Client    │
└──────┬──────┘
       │
       ▼
┌─────────────┐
│ FireCrawl    │
│   API       │
└─────────────┘

Configuration Management

// config/firecrawl.ts
export interface FireCrawlConfig {
  apiKey: string;
  environment: 'development' | 'staging' | 'production';
  timeout: number;
  retries: number;
  cache: {
    enabled: boolean;
    ttlSeconds: number;
  };
}

export function loadFireCrawlConfig(): FireCrawlConfig {
  const env = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development';
  return require(`./firecrawl.${env}.json`);
}

Instructions

Step 1: Create Directory Structure

Set up the project layout following the reference structure above.

Step 2: Implement Client Wrapper

Create the singleton client with caching and monitoring.

Step 3: Add Error Handling

Implement custom error classes for FireCrawl operations.

Step 4: Configure Health Checks

Add health check endpoint for FireCrawl connectivity.

Output

• Structured project layout
• Client wrapper with caching
• Error boundary implemented
• Health checks configured

Error Handling

Issue	Cause	Solution
Circular dependencies	Wrong layering	Separate concerns by layer
Config not loading	Wrong paths	Verify config file locations
Type errors	Missing types	Add FireCrawl types
Test isolation	Shared state	Use dependency injection

Examples

Quick Setup Script

# Create reference structure
mkdir -p src/firecrawl/{handlers} src/services/firecrawl src/api/firecrawl
touch src/firecrawl/{client,config,types,errors}.ts
touch src/services/firecrawl/{index,sync,cache}.ts

Resources

• FireCrawl SDK Documentation
• FireCrawl Best Practices

Flagship Skills

For multi-environment setup, see firecrawl-multi-env-setup.