Firecrawl Core Workflow B — Extract, Batch & Map

Overview

Secondary workflow complementing the scrape/crawl workflow. Covers LLM-powered structured data extraction with JSON schemas, batch scraping multiple known URLs, and rapid site map discovery. Use this when you need typed data rather than raw markdown.

Prerequisites

• @mendable/firecrawl-js installed
• FIRECRAWL_API_KEY environment variable set
• Understanding of JSON Schema (for extract)

Instructions

Step 1: LLM Extract — Structured Data from Pages

import FirecrawlApp from "@mendable/firecrawl-js";

const firecrawl = new FirecrawlApp({
  apiKey: process.env.FIRECRAWL_API_KEY!,
});

// Extract structured data using an LLM + JSON schema
const result = await firecrawl.scrapeUrl("https://firecrawl.dev/pricing", {
  formats: ["extract"],
  extract: {
    schema: {
      type: "object",
      properties: {
        plans: {
          type: "array",
          items: {
            type: "object",
            properties: {
              name: { type: "string" },
              price: { type: "string" },
              credits_per_month: { type: "number" },
              features: { type: "array", items: { type: "string" } },
            },
            required: ["name", "price"],
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
});

console.log("Extracted plans:", JSON.stringify(result.extract, null, 2));

Step 2: Extract with Prompt (No Schema)

// Use natural language prompt instead of rigid schema
const result = await firecrawl.scrapeUrl("https://news.ycombinator.com", {
  formats: ["extract"],
  extract: {
    prompt: "Extract the top 5 stories with their title, URL, points, and comment count",
  },
});

console.log(result.extract);

Step 3: Batch Scrape Known URLs

// Scrape multiple specific URLs at once — more efficient than individual calls
const batchResult = await firecrawl.batchScrapeUrls(
  [
    "https://docs.firecrawl.dev/features/scrape",
    "https://docs.firecrawl.dev/features/crawl",
    "https://docs.firecrawl.dev/features/extract",
    "https://docs.firecrawl.dev/features/map",
  ],
  {
    formats: ["markdown"],
    onlyMainContent: true,
  }
);

for (const page of batchResult.data || []) {
  console.log(`${page.metadata?.title}: ${page.markdown?.length} chars`);
}

Step 4: Async Batch Scrape (Large Sets)

// Start async batch scrape for many URLs — returns job ID
const job = await firecrawl.asyncBatchScrapeUrls(
  urls,  // array of 100+ URLs
  { formats: ["markdown"] }
);

// Poll for completion
let status = await firecrawl.checkBatchScrapeStatus(job.id);
while (status.status !== "completed") {
  await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 5000));
  status = await firecrawl.checkBatchScrapeStatus(job.id);
}

console.log(`Batch complete: ${status.data?.length} pages`);

Step 5: Map — Rapid URL Discovery

// Discover all URLs on a site in ~2-3 seconds
// Uses sitemap.xml + SERP + cached crawl data
const mapResult = await firecrawl.mapUrl("https://docs.firecrawl.dev");

const urls = mapResult.links || [];
console.log(`Discovered ${urls.length} URLs`);

// Categorize by section
const sections = {
  docs: urls.filter(u => u.includes("/docs/")),
  api: urls.filter(u => u.includes("/api-reference/")),
  features: urls.filter(u => u.includes("/features/")),
  other: urls.filter(u => !u.includes("/docs/") && !u.includes("/api-reference/")),
};

Object.entries(sections).forEach(([name, list]) => {
  console.log(`  ${name}: ${list.length} URLs`);
});

Step 6: Map + Selective Scrape Pipeline

// 1. Map to discover URLs, 2. Filter, 3. Batch scrape relevant ones
async function intelligentScrape(siteUrl: string, pathFilter: string) {
  const map = await firecrawl.mapUrl(siteUrl);
  const relevant = (map.links || []).filter(url => url.includes(pathFilter));

  console.log(`Map found ${map.links?.length} URLs, ${relevant.length} match filter`);

  if (relevant.length === 0) return [];
  if (relevant.length <= 10) {
    return firecrawl.batchScrapeUrls(relevant, { formats: ["markdown"] });
  }

  // For large sets, use async batch
  const job = await firecrawl.asyncBatchScrapeUrls(relevant.slice(0, 100), {
    formats: ["markdown"],
  });
  // ...poll for completion
  return job;
}

await intelligentScrape("https://docs.firecrawl.dev", "/features/");

Output

• Typed JSON objects extracted from web pages
• Batch scrape results for multiple URLs
• Complete site URL map for discovery
• Filtered scrape pipeline combining map + batch

Error Handling

Examples

Extract Products from E-Commerce

const products = await firecrawl.scrapeUrl("https://store.example.com/products", {
  formats: ["extract"],
  extract: {
    schema: {
      type: "object",
      properties: {
        products: {
          type: "array",
          items: {
            type: "object",
            properties: {
              name: { type: "string" },
              price: { type: "number" },
              availability: { type: "string" },
            },
            required: ["name", "price"],
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
});

Resources

• Extract (JSON Mode)
• Batch Scrape
• Map Endpoint
• Extract v2 Blog

Next Steps

For common errors, see firecrawl-common-errors.