firecrawl: the tested CLI is 1.25.3, its real output captured and read before the move

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@ Each release of Research-Kit, newest first. The version is `KIT_VERSION` in
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- The tested Firecrawl CLI is 1.25.3 (from 1.25.2): the release is one fix, `--objective`
+  optional for alexandria feedback (firecrawl/cli#301), with nothing on scrape, search or
+  `--status`; its output was captured from the real CLI anyway (three credits) and is read
+  unchanged by the adapter's parsers (`research-kit/test/fixtures/*-1.25.3.*`). `doctor`, the
+  install line and the workflows' install spec name 1.25.3.
 - Internal: one search session (`lib/search-session.mjs`, ADR-0135) owns how a query is put to
   the search providers - the merge, the one degrade to the fetch provider, the rate-limit
   patience, the meters, the failure rows and the refuse-before-spend readiness gate - and

README.md

@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ exists for Claude Code only; every other agent gets the commit gate.
 | Node 22+ | everything | Node 22, 24 and 26 are each tested on every commit |
 | Git | everything | projects are git repositories; the commit gate is a git hook |
 | Python 3.11+ | the test suite only | the cross-language conformance runners; without it the suite blocks rather than passing |
-| Firecrawl CLI 1.25.2 and a Firecrawl account | metered collection | `npm install -g firecrawl-cli@1.25.2`, then `firecrawl login`. Free tier: 1,000 credits a month, no card |
+| Firecrawl CLI 1.25.3 and a Firecrawl account | metered collection | `npm install -g firecrawl-cli@1.25.3`, then `firecrawl login`. Free tier: 1,000 credits a month, no card |
 | Chromium or Chrome | the `browser` transport | free; reads pages built by JavaScript |
 | SerpAPI key or a SearXNG instance | searching, optional | a second meter, so search stops competing with fetching |
 
@@ -445,7 +445,7 @@ evaluated and deliberately not wired in, because its terms allow retention for t
 **Firecrawl setup**
 
 ```bash
-npm install -g firecrawl-cli@1.25.2
+npm install -g firecrawl-cli@1.25.3
 firecrawl login
 ```
 

docs/decisions/README.md

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ repository. The retention rule is **ADR-0102**:
 | [2026-09-29-perspective-discovery](2026-09-29-perspective-discovery/) | STORM-style perspective discovery without a language model | ADR-0091 | active |
 | [2026-09-30-searxng-search](2026-09-30-searxng-search/) | SearXNG's JSON Search API as a keyless search transport | ADR-0104; `lib/searxng.mjs` | active |
 | [2026-09-30-wayback-witness](2026-09-30-wayback-witness/) | The Wayback Machine as a third-party witness for captured pages | ADR-0106; `lib/witness.mjs` | active |
-| [2026-10-02-firecrawl-cli-1-25](2026-10-02-firecrawl-cli-1-25/) | Whether the tested Firecrawl CLI pin should move from 1.24.6 to 1.25.2 - it did, on 2026-10-02, after the brief's first step (a fixture capture of 1.25.2's real output, read unchanged by the parsers; `research-kit/test/fixtures/*-1.25.2.*`) | `lib/firecrawl.mjs` (`TESTED_CLI_VERSION`) | active |
+| [2026-10-02-firecrawl-cli-1-25](2026-10-02-firecrawl-cli-1-25/) | Whether the tested Firecrawl CLI pin should move from 1.24.6 to 1.25.2 - it did, on 2026-10-02, after the brief's first step (a fixture capture of 1.25.2's real output, read unchanged by the parsers; `research-kit/test/fixtures/*-1.25.2.*`); the pin moved on to 1.25.3 on 2026-10-03 by the same first step | `lib/firecrawl.mjs` (`TESTED_CLI_VERSION`) | active |
 | [2026-10-02-similar-tools-survey](2026-10-02-similar-tools-survey/) | Which similar agent-research and evidence-provenance tools on GitHub and Hugging Face do something this kit should take - none as code; two mechanisms weighed and deferred in its brief (a signature on ledger entries, anchoring the chain head with a third party) | the freeze (ADR-0117) stands; the brief's deferred items name their triggers | active |
 | [2026-10-02-github-plain-fetch-refusal](2026-10-02-github-plain-fetch-refusal/) | Why a plain fetch of github.com answered 403 and which free route to name - the block was this sandbox's egress proxy, not GitHub's (its rate-limit 403 carries `x-ratelimit-remaining: 0`, this one did not); `raw.githubusercontent.com` and the browser transport are the measured free routes; the one change is that the keyless failure quotes the server's own reason | `lib/http-transport.mjs` (`serverReason`) | active |
 | [2026-10-02-licence-and-captured-pages](2026-10-02-licence-and-captured-pages/) | Which licence the kit should publish under so that people and agents may install and run it, and whether the cached third-party pages under every `research/raw/` may be redistributed - raised by an outside review that found LICENSE (all rights reserved) contradicting the README's install instruction. The brief recommends PolyForm Shield 1.0.0 (use and modify, no competing product) or Apache-2.0 if adoption outweighs control, and for the captures a NOTICE in the archives' words with `research/raw/` excluded from the code licence via REUSE; the owner chose Shield on 2026-10-02 | ADR-0130; `LICENSE`, `NOTICE`, `REUSE.toml` | active |

research-kit/README.md

@@ -453,7 +453,7 @@ node research-kit/bin/selftest.mjs            # all of it
 node research-kit/bin/selftest.mjs gate hook  # just these files
 ```
 
-1512 tests, offline, no key and no network. The runner **awaits** every test, so `ok` means
+1515 tests, offline, no key and no network. The runner **awaits** every test, so `ok` means
 the assertions settled (ADR-0021), and each test is raced against a watchdog
 (`RESEARCH_KIT_TEST_TIMEOUT`, default 60s).
 

research-kit/lib/firecrawl.mjs

@@ -455,8 +455,15 @@ export function cliVersion({ execFn = exec, ...opts } = {}) {
  * no `url`, so none reaches a result) beside `data.web`; `--status` is the same text. The
  * bundle is unchanged (SDK 4.40.0, node >= 22), so the proxy behaviour that forced the
  * previous move is not in question.
+ *
+ * Moved from 1.25.2 to 1.25.3 on 2026-10-03. The release is one commit, "fix: make --objective
+ * optional for alexandria feedback" (firecrawl/cli#301), with nothing on scrape, search or
+ * `--status`; the bundle is unchanged (SDK 4.40.0, axios 1.18.0, node >= 22). Captured anyway,
+ * the same way (test/fixtures/*-1.25.3.*): the three outputs read unchanged by these parsers -
+ * the receipt on stderr, `data.tools` populated and reaching no result, `--status` the same
+ * text with a 1,500-credit cycle behind it.
  */
-export const TESTED_CLI_VERSION = '1.25.2';
+export const TESTED_CLI_VERSION = '1.25.3';
 export const SUPPORTED_CLI_MAJOR = 1;
 
 /**

research-kit/test/fixtures/firecrawl-scrape-1.25.3.stderr.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Scrape ID: 01a10321-2ecb-73a9-9ec2-ddcd9c51dcc5

research-kit/test/fixtures/firecrawl-search-1.25.3.json

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"success":true,"data":{"tools":[{"provider":"github-com","capability":"repositories/contributors","description":"One page of a repository's contributors ordered by commit count on the default branch, with login, account type and contribution count. Anonymous (email-only) contributors are not listed. GitHub refuses this listing for repositories with very large histories (for example torvalds/linux), which surfaces as an error naming the reason."},{"provider":"github-com","capability":"repositories/issue_counts","description":"Exact issue counts for a repository (pull requests excluded, unlike the repository's open_issues_count): the total for the given state plus one count per requested label, from GitHub's issue search. Makes 1 + labels.length search requests; at most 5 labels per call because GitHub allows 10 keyless searches per minute per IP."},{"provider":"github-com","capability":"repositories/issues","description":"One page of a repository's issues filtered by state and labels (all given labels must match), sorted by created/updated/comments. Pull requests are excluded unless include_pull_requests is true, so a page may hold fewer than per_page records; pull_requests_excluded says how many were dropped. Each record carries title, state, labels, assignees, milestone, comment and reaction counts, body and timestamps."}],"web":[{"url":"https://docs.firecrawl.dev/sdks/cli","title":"CLI - Firecrawl Docs","description":"## Documentation Index\nThe Firecrawl CLI works standalone or with skills that AI coding agents like Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, and OpenCode can discover and use automatically.\n\n## [​](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/sdks/cli#installation)  Installation\n```\n# Install globally with npm\nnpm install -g firecrawl-cli\n```\n\n## [​](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/sdks/cli#commands)  Commands\n### [​](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/sdks/cli#scrape)  Scrape\n#### [​](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/sdks/cli#scrape-options)  Scrape Options\n```\n# Extract only main content (removes navs, footers)\nfirecrawl https://example.com --only-main-content\n\n# Wait for JavaScript rendering\nfirecrawl https://example.com --wait-for 3000\n\n# Take a screenshot\nfirecrawl https://example.com --screenshot\n\n# Extract structured JSON with a schema\nfirecrawl https://example.com --format json --schema '{\"type\":\"object\",\"properties\":{\"title\":{\"type\":\"string\"}}}'\n\n# Run lightweight scrape actions before extraction\nfirecrawl https://example.com --actions '[{\"type\":\"wait\",\"milliseconds\":1000}]'\n\n# Select proxy mode\nfirecrawl https://example.com --proxy basic\n\n# Redact personally identifiable information\nfirecrawl https://example.com --redact-pii\n\n# Include/exclude specific HTML tags\nfirecrawl https://example.com --include-tags article,main\nfirecrawl https://example.com --exclude-tags nav,footer\n\n# Save output to file\nfirecrawl https://example.com -o output.md\n\n# Pretty print JSON output\nfirecrawl https://example.com --format markdown,links --pretty\n\n# Force JSON output even with single format\nfirecrawl https://example.com --json\n\n# Show request timing information\nfirecrawl https://example.com --timing\n```\n\n### [​](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/sdks/cli#crawl)  Crawl\n#### [​](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/sdks/cli#crawl-options)  Crawl Options\nCLI\n\n```\n# Limit crawl depth and pages\nfirecrawl crawl https://example.com --limit 100 --max-depth 3 --wait\n\n# Include only specific paths\nfirecrawl crawl https://example.com --include-paths /blog,/docs --wait\n\n# Exclude specific paths\nfirecrawl crawl https://example.com --exclude-paths /admin,/login --wait\n\n# Include subdomains\nfirecrawl crawl https://example.com --allow-subdomains --wait\n\n# Crawl entire domain\nfirecrawl crawl https://example.com --crawl-entire-domain --wait\n\n# Rate limiting\nfirecrawl crawl https://example.com --delay 1000 --max-concurrency 2 --wait\n\n# Pass scrape options to each crawled page\nfirecrawl crawl https://example.com --scrape-options '{\"formats\":[\"markdown\"],\"onlyMainContent\":true}'\n\n# Send crawl completion events to a webhook\nfirecrawl crawl https://example.com --webhook '{\"url\":\"https://example.com/webhook\",\"events\":[\"completed\"]}'\n\n# Cancel an active crawl\nfirecrawl crawl <job-id> --cancel\n\n# Custom polling interval and timeout\nfirecrawl crawl https://example.com --wait --poll-interval 10 --timeout 300\n\n# Save results to file\nfirecrawl crawl https://example.com --wait --pretty -o results.json\n```\n\n## [​](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/sdks/cli#examples)  Examples\n### [​](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/sdks/cli#full-site-crawl)  Full Site Crawl\nCLI\n\n## [​](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/sdks/cli#open-source)  Open Source\nThe Firecrawl CLI and all three skill segments are open source on GitHub:\n\n- [`firecrawl/cli`](https://github.com/firecrawl/cli) — the CLI and CLI skills (live web work)","position":1},{"url":"https://github.com/firecrawl/cli","title":"CLI and Agent Skill for Firecrawl - Add scrape, search, and ... - GitHub","description":"# 🔥 Firecrawl CLI\n## Installation\n```\nnpm install -g firecrawl-cli\n```\n\n## Quick Start\n```\nfirecrawl https://example.com\n```\n\n## Global Options\n### Check Status\n```\n  🔥 firecrawl cli v1.20.0\n\n  ● Authenticated via stored credentials\n  Concurrency: 0/100 jobs (parallel scrape limit)\n  Credits: 500,000 / 1,000,000 (50% left this cycle)\n```\n\n## Tips & Tricks\n[Permalink: Tips & Tricks](https://github.com/firecrawl/cli#tips--tricks)\n\n### CI/CD Usage\n[Permalink: CI/CD Usage](https://github.com/firecrawl/cli#cicd-usage)\n\n```\n# Set API key via environment\nexport FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=${{ secrets.FIRECRAWL_API_KEY }}\nfirecrawl crawl https://docs.example.com --wait -o docs.json\n\n# Use self-hosted instance\nexport FIRECRAWL_API_URL=${{ secrets.FIRECRAWL_API_URL }}\nfirecrawl scrape https://example.com -o output.md\n```\n\n## Documentation\nFor more details, visit the [Firecrawl Documentation](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/).\n\n## Languages\n- [TypeScript98.3%](https://github.com/firecrawl/cli/search?l=typescript)\n- [Shell1.1%](https://github.com/firecrawl/cli/search?l=shell)\n- [Other0.6%](https://github.com/firecrawl/cli/search?l=Other)\n\nYou can’t perform that action at this time.","position":2,"category":"github"},{"url":"https://www.firecrawl.dev/blog/introducing-firecrawl-skill-and-cli","title":"Introducing Firecrawl Skill and CLI: The Complete Web Data Toolkit for ...","description":"# Introducing Firecrawl Skill and CLI: The Complete Web Data Toolkit for Agents\n## Meet Firecrawl CLI\n[Firecrawl CLI](https://docs.firecrawl.dev/sdks/cli) is a unified command-line interface designed for agents and developers who need **reliable web data.**\n\n### Context-Efficient Data for Agents\nFirecrawl CLI uses a file-based approach for context management and bash methods for efficient search and retrieval.\n\n### Industry-Leading Reliability\nIt handles JavaScript rendering, dynamic content, authentication flows, and complex page structures that break other scrapers.\n\n## Get Started\nOr use the CLI directly:\n\n```\n$ npm install -g firecrawl-cli\n$ firecrawl auth --api-key fc-YOUR_KEY\n$ firecrawl scrape https://example.com\n```","position":3}]},"id":"01a10321-273e-74bd-821f-5c1339008379","creditsUsed":2}

research-kit/test/fixtures/firecrawl-status-1.25.3.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+
+  🔥 firecrawl cli v1.25.3
+
+  ● Authenticated via FIRECRAWL_API_KEY
+  Concurrency: 0/2 jobs (parallel scrape limit)
+  Credits: 1,175 / 1,500 (78% left this cycle)
+  .firecrawl: not found - no local cache
+  .gitignore: missing - add .firecrawl/ to ignore cache
+

research-kit/test/transport.test.mjs

@@ -656,7 +656,7 @@ test('O-4: the status parser reads the CLI\'s actual output', () => {
 });
 
 // Captured from firecrawl-cli v1.24.6 on 2026-09-26, the version TESTED_CLI_VERSION moved to
-// that day (and on from, 2026-10-02 - the 1.25.2 fixtures below).
+// that day (and on from, 2026-10-02 and 2026-10-03 - the 1.25.2 and 1.25.3 fixtures below).
 // Why it moved: 1.23.3 bundles axios 1.15.2, which sends plain proxied requests that an
 // HTTPS proxy requiring CONNECT tunnels refuses with 405 - every call failed behind one
 // (research/BRIEF.md, 2026-09-26 addendum). 1.24.6 bundles axios 1.18.0.
@@ -698,10 +698,10 @@ const REAL_SEARCH_1252 = readText(path.join(KIT_ROOT, 'test', 'fixtures', 'firec
 const REAL_SCRAPE_1252 = readText(path.join(KIT_ROOT, 'test', 'fixtures', 'firecrawl-scrape-1.25.2.json'));
 const REAL_SCRAPE_1252_STDERR = readText(path.join(KIT_ROOT, 'test', 'fixtures', 'firecrawl-scrape-1.25.2.stderr.txt'));
 
-test('O-4: the status parser reads the TESTED version\'s actual output (1.25.2)', () => {
+test('O-4: the status parser reads 1.25.2\'s actual output, the previously tested version', () => {
   assert.ok(REAL_STATUS_1252, 'the fixture must exist');
   const s = firecrawl.parseStatus(REAL_STATUS_1252);
-  assert.equal(s.version, firecrawl.TESTED_CLI_VERSION, 'the fixture and the tested version must be the same release');
+  assert.equal(s.version, '1.25.2', 'the fixture is the release its name says');
   assert.equal(s.authenticated, true);
   assert.equal(s.credits, 154);
   assert.equal(s.creditLimit, 1000);
@@ -732,6 +732,50 @@ test('O-4: 1.25.2 scrape stdout is one JSON value - the receipt is on stderr - a
   assert.equal(page.transport, 'firecrawl-cli');
 });
 
+// Captured from firecrawl-cli v1.25.3 on 2026-10-03, the same way (a scratch prefix, the key
+// per command, three credits, stdout and stderr apart). The release is one fix - `--objective`
+// optional for alexandria feedback (firecrawl/cli#301) - with nothing on scrape, search or
+// `--status`; the capture says so rather than the note: the same fields come back.
+const REAL_STATUS_1253 = readText(path.join(KIT_ROOT, 'test', 'fixtures', 'firecrawl-status-1.25.3.txt'));
+const REAL_SEARCH_1253 = readText(path.join(KIT_ROOT, 'test', 'fixtures', 'firecrawl-search-1.25.3.json'));
+const REAL_SCRAPE_1253 = readText(path.join(KIT_ROOT, 'test', 'fixtures', 'firecrawl-scrape-1.25.3.json'));
+const REAL_SCRAPE_1253_STDERR = readText(path.join(KIT_ROOT, 'test', 'fixtures', 'firecrawl-scrape-1.25.3.stderr.txt'));
+
+test('O-4: the status parser reads the TESTED version\'s actual output (1.25.3)', () => {
+  assert.ok(REAL_STATUS_1253, 'the fixture must exist');
+  const s = firecrawl.parseStatus(REAL_STATUS_1253);
+  assert.equal(s.version, firecrawl.TESTED_CLI_VERSION, 'the fixture and the tested version must be the same release');
+  assert.equal(s.authenticated, true);
+  assert.equal(s.credits, 1175);
+  assert.equal(s.creditLimit, 1500, 'the plan behind the capture allows 1,500 a cycle; the parser reads the comma');
+  assert.equal(s.concurrencyLimit, 2);
+});
+
+test('O-4: 1.25.3 search output normalises as 1.25.2\'s did - data.tools still reaches no result', () => {
+  const raw = JSON.parse(REAL_SEARCH_1253);
+  assert.ok(Array.isArray(raw.data.web) && raw.data.web.length, 'the fixture must carry real results');
+  assert.ok(Array.isArray(raw.data.tools) && raw.data.tools.length, 'the fixture must carry the populated tools list');
+  const rows = firecrawl.normalizeSearch(REAL_SEARCH_1253);
+  assert.equal(rows.length, raw.data.web.length);
+  assert.deepEqual(rows.map((r) => r.url), raw.data.web.map((r) => r.url));
+  assert.deepEqual(rows.map((r) => r.position), [1, 2, 3]);
+  for (const row of rows) assert.match(row.url, /^https?:\/\//);
+  assert.equal(JSON.stringify(rows).includes('capability'), false, 'a tool entry leaked into the results');
+  assert.equal(firecrawl.creditsUsed(REAL_SEARCH_1253), 2, 'the vendor says what the search cost');
+});
+
+test('O-4: 1.25.3 scrape stdout is one JSON value - the receipt is on stderr - and normalises whole', () => {
+  assert.doesNotThrow(() => JSON.parse(REAL_SCRAPE_1253), 'stdout holds nothing before or after the payload');
+  assert.match(REAL_SCRAPE_1253_STDERR, /^Scrape ID: [0-9a-f-]+\s*$/, 'the receipt went to stderr');
+  const page = firecrawl.normalizeScrape(REAL_SCRAPE_1253, 'https://docs.firecrawl.dev/sdks/cli');
+  assert.equal(page.url, 'https://docs.firecrawl.dev/sdks/cli');
+  assert.equal(page.title, 'CLI | Firecrawl');
+  assert.equal(page.statusCode, 200);
+  assert.ok(page.markdown.length > 20000, `the whole page text is kept (${page.markdown.length} chars)`);
+  assert.equal(page.completeness, 'full');
+  assert.equal(page.transport, 'firecrawl-cli');
+});
+
 test('O-4: stripAnsi removes the ESCAPE, not just the bracket sequence', () => {
   const ESC = String.fromCharCode(27);
   assert.ok(REAL_STATUS.includes(ESC), 'the fixture carries real escapes');