search: --categories rejects "developer" client-side although POST /v2/search accepts it
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Assessment
- Difficulty
- 2/5
- Estimated time
- 1-3 hours
- Newbie friendliness
- 75/100
- Issue type
- Bug
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Activity status
- Active
- Tech stack
- node.js, typescript
- Domain
- cli
Research direction
Start at dist/index.js line 701 and compare the CLI category validation with the hosted MCP categories enum and the API behavior described in the issue. Run the provided firecrawl search command with --categories developer; done means the CLI accepts developer and sends the request successfully instead of rejecting it locally.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Description
Summary
firecrawl search --categories developer exits 1 with Error: Invalid category "developer". Valid categories: github, research, pdf before any request is made, but the API accepts the category and returns results tagged developer.
Version
firecrawl-cli 1.19.26 (npm), Node 24.12.0, Linux.
Where
dist/index.js line 701 in the published package:
const validCategories = ['github', 'research', 'pdf'];
Reproduction
$ firecrawl search "foundationdb queue worker shutdown" --categories developer --limit 2 --json
Error: Invalid category "developer". Valid categories: github, research, pdf
The same request against the API succeeds (2026-09-13):
POST https://api.firecrawl.dev/v2/search
{"query": "foundationdb queue worker shutdown", "categories": ["developer"], "limit": 2}
-> HTTP 200, success: true, creditsUsed present, results with "category": "developer"
(forums.foundationdb.org pages, which the github category does not return)
The hosted MCP server's firecrawl_search tool already lists developer in its categories enum alongside github, research, and pdf.
Suggested fix
Add 'developer' to validCategories, or drop the client-side list and let the API validate so new categories work without a CLI release.
- Dominant language
- TypeScript
- Stars
- 645
- Forks
- 112
- Avg merge
- 7h 30m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 57
Getting set up
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First steps
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