fix(cli): keep first-run commands from hanging or faking success without a terminal

package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "firecrawl-cli",
-  "version": "1.26.15",
+  "version": "1.26.16",
   "publishConfig": {
     "tag": "latest"
   },

src/__tests__/commands/init.test.ts

@@ -25,14 +25,19 @@ vi.mock('../../utils/skill-catalog', () => ({
   ]),
 }));
 
-const { installMcpMock, getApiKeyMock, confirmMock, checkboxMock } = vi.hoisted(
-  () => ({
-    installMcpMock: vi.fn(),
-    getApiKeyMock: vi.fn(),
-    confirmMock: vi.fn(),
-    checkboxMock: vi.fn(),
-  })
-);
+const {
+  installMcpMock,
+  getApiKeyMock,
+  confirmMock,
+  checkboxMock,
+  interactiveLoginMock,
+} = vi.hoisted(() => ({
+  installMcpMock: vi.fn(),
+  getApiKeyMock: vi.fn(),
+  confirmMock: vi.fn(),
+  checkboxMock: vi.fn(),
+  interactiveLoginMock: vi.fn(),
+}));
 
 vi.mock('child_process', () => ({
   execSync: vi.fn(),
@@ -59,6 +64,11 @@ vi.mock('../../utils/config', async (importOriginal) => ({
   getApiKey: getApiKeyMock,
 }));
 
+vi.mock('../../utils/auth', async (importOriginal) => ({
+  ...(await importOriginal<typeof import('../../utils/auth')>()),
+  interactiveLogin: interactiveLoginMock,
+}));
+
 vi.mock('@inquirer/prompts', () => ({
   confirm: confirmMock,
   checkbox: checkboxMock,
@@ -104,6 +114,18 @@ describe('handleInitCommand', () => {
     );
   });
 
+  it('installs skills before a non-interactive login that can fail or wait', async () => {
+    interactiveLoginMock.mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('No input'));
+
+    await handleInitCommand({ yes: true, skipInstall: true });
+
+    const skillOrders = vi.mocked(execSync).mock.invocationCallOrder;
+    const loginOrder = interactiveLoginMock.mock.invocationCallOrder[0];
+    expect(skillOrders).toHaveLength(2);
+    expect(Math.max(...skillOrders)).toBeLessThan(loginOrder);
+    expect(process.exitCode).toBe(1);
+  });
+
   it('preserves detected targets when native installation falls back to npx', async () => {
     vi.mocked(skillsNative.detectInstalledAgentNames).mockReturnValue([
       'claude-code',

src/commands/init.ts

@@ -954,9 +954,9 @@ export async function handleInitCommand(
 async function runNonInteractive(options: InitOptions): Promise<void> {
   const failures: string[] = [];
   const steps: string[] = [];
-  if (!options.skipAuth) steps.push('auth');
   if (!options.skipInstall) steps.push('install');
   if (!options.skipSkills) steps.push('skills');
+  if (!options.skipAuth) steps.push('auth');
   const total = steps.length;
   let current = 0;
 
@@ -965,6 +965,31 @@ async function runNonInteractive(options: InitOptions): Promise<void> {
     return `${bold}[${current}/${total}]${reset}`;
   };
 
+  if (!options.skipInstall) {
+    console.log(`${stepLabel()} Installing firecrawl-cli globally...`);
+    if (!installGlobalCli()) failures.push('global CLI installation');
+  }
+
+  let skillCount: number | null = null;
+  let skillsInstalled = false;
+  if (!options.skipSkills) {
+    console.log(
+      `${stepLabel()} Installing firecrawl skills for AI coding agents...`
+    );
+    for (const selection of [INIT_CLI_SELECTION, INIT_WORKFLOW_SELECTION]) {
+      try {
+        const count = await installSkillRepoQuiet(selection, options);
+        skillsInstalled = true;
+        if (count != null) skillCount = (skillCount ?? 0) + count;
+      } catch {
+        console.error(
+          `\n${dim}Failed to install ${selection.label}. Retry with: ${selection.retryCommand}${reset}`
+        );
+        failures.push(selection.label);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   if (!options.skipAuth) {
     if (options.apiKey) {
       console.log(`${stepLabel()} Authenticating with API key...`);
@@ -1006,31 +1031,6 @@ async function runNonInteractive(options: InitOptions): Promise<void> {
     }
   }
 
-  if (!options.skipInstall) {
-    console.log(`${stepLabel()} Installing firecrawl-cli globally...`);
-    if (!installGlobalCli()) failures.push('global CLI installation');
-  }
-
-  let skillCount: number | null = null;
-  let skillsInstalled = false;
-  if (!options.skipSkills) {
-    console.log(
-      `${stepLabel()} Installing firecrawl skills for AI coding agents...`
-    );
-    for (const selection of [INIT_CLI_SELECTION, INIT_WORKFLOW_SELECTION]) {
-      try {
-        const count = await installSkillRepoQuiet(selection, options);
-        skillsInstalled = true;
-        if (count != null) skillCount = (skillCount ?? 0) + count;
-      } catch {
-        console.error(
-          `\n${dim}Failed to install ${selection.label}. Retry with: ${selection.retryCommand}${reset}`
-        );
-        failures.push(selection.label);
-      }
-    }
-  }
-
   printNextSteps(
     skillCount,
     false,

src/commands/launch.ts

@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 import { existsSync } from 'fs';
 import os from 'os';
 import path from 'path';
-import readline from 'readline';
 import { spawnSync } from 'child_process';
 import { installMcp, installSkillsForAgent } from './setup';
 import { ALL_SKILL_REPOS } from './skills-install';
 import { getApiKey } from '../utils/config';
+import { promptInput } from '../utils/prompt';
 
 export interface LaunchOptions {
   config?: boolean;
@@ -121,19 +121,6 @@ function supportedTargets(): string {
     .join(', ');
 }
 
-function promptInput(question: string): Promise<string> {
-  const rl = readline.createInterface({
-    input: process.stdin,
-    output: process.stdout,
-  });
-  return new Promise((resolve) => {
-    rl.question(question, (answer: string) => {
-      rl.close();
-      resolve(answer.trim());
-    });
-  });
-}
-
 async function pickLaunchTarget(): Promise<LaunchTarget> {
   if (!process.stdin.isTTY) {
     throw new Error(
@@ -147,7 +134,10 @@ async function pickLaunchTarget(): Promise<LaunchTarget> {
   });
   console.log('');
 
-  const answer = await promptInput('Launch app: ');
+  const answer = await promptInput(
+    'Launch app: ',
+    'No launch app chosen. Pass the app name, for example "firecrawl launch claude".'
+  );
   const byNumber = Number.parseInt(answer, 10);
   if (
     Number.isInteger(byNumber) &&

src/commands/setup.ts

@@ -16,10 +16,10 @@ import {
 } from 'fs';
 import os from 'os';
 import path from 'path';
-import readline from 'readline';
 import { parse as parseYaml, stringify as stringifyYaml } from 'yaml';
 import { getApiKey, updateConfig } from '../utils/config';
 import { browserLogin, isAuthenticated } from '../utils/auth';
+import { promptInput } from '../utils/prompt';
 import { saveCredentials } from '../utils/credentials';
 import { getCatalogSkills } from '../utils/skill-catalog';
 import { rememberSkillInstall } from '../utils/skill-update-notice';
@@ -538,19 +538,6 @@ function resolveWebAgent(agent: string): WebAgent | null {
   return null;
 }
 
-function promptInput(question: string): Promise<string> {
-  const rl = readline.createInterface({
-    input: process.stdin,
-    output: process.stdout,
-  });
-  return new Promise((resolve) => {
-    rl.question(question, (answer: string) => {
-      rl.close();
-      resolve(answer.trim());
-    });
-  });
-}
-
 /**
  * Interactively ask which harnesses to apply the change to, one by one.
  * Returns the selected agents, or null if the user aborted.
@@ -569,7 +556,10 @@ async function pickWebAgents(undo: boolean): Promise<WebAgent[] | null> {
   const selected: WebAgent[] = [];
   for (const agent of WEB_AGENTS) {
     const answer = (
-      await promptInput(`  ${verb} ${agent}? [Y/n] `)
+      await promptInput(
+        `  ${verb} ${agent}? [Y/n] `,
+        'No answer received. Run "firecrawl setup defaults --agent <name>" or "firecrawl setup defaults --yes" to skip the harness prompts.'
+      )
     ).toLowerCase();
     if (answer === '' || answer === 'y' || answer === 'yes') {
       selected.push(agent);

src/index.ts

@@ -2766,7 +2766,7 @@ async function main() {
   if (args.length === 0) {
     const { isAuthenticated } = await import('./utils/auth');
 
-    if (!isAuthenticated()) {
+    if (!isAuthenticated() && process.stdin.isTTY) {
       // Not authenticated - run the onboarding auth step, which offers logging in
       // OR continuing on the keyless free tier (no API key required).
       printBanner();
@@ -2778,7 +2778,7 @@ async function main() {
       return;
     }
 
-    // Authenticated - show banner and help
+    // Authenticated, or no terminal to prompt in - show banner and help
     printBanner();
     program.outputHelp();
     return;

src/utils/auth.ts

@@ -3,14 +3,14 @@
  * Provides automatic authentication prompts when credentials are missing
  */
 
-import * as readline from 'readline';
 import * as crypto from 'crypto';
 import {
   loadCredentials,
   saveCredentials,
   getConfigDirectoryPath,
 } from './credentials';
 import { updateConfig, getApiKey } from './config';
+import { promptInput } from './prompt';
 
 const DEFAULT_API_URL = 'https://api.firecrawl.dev';
 // The apex redirects to www, and egress allowlists often permit only www.
@@ -27,93 +27,6 @@ const MAX_SERVER_FAILURES = 5;
 const NO_LOGIN_INPUT_MESSAGE =
   'No input to log in with. Run "firecrawl login --browser", pass --api-key, or set FIRECRAWL_API_KEY.';
 
-type PipedInput = {
-  input: NodeJS.ReadableStream;
-  rl: readline.Interface;
-  lines: string[];
-  waiters: Array<(line: string | null) => void>;
-  closed: boolean;
-};
-
-let piped: PipedInput | undefined;
-
-/**
- * Next line of non-terminal stdin. One reader serves every prompt, so a pipe
- * that answers several prompts (`printf '2\nfc-...\n'`) keeps its later lines.
- * Resolves null once stdin has ended.
- */
-function nextPipedLine(): Promise<string | null> {
-  if (!piped || piped.input !== process.stdin) {
-    const state: PipedInput = {
-      input: process.stdin,
-      rl: readline.createInterface({ input: process.stdin }),
-      lines: [],
-      waiters: [],
-      closed: false,
-    };
-    state.rl.on('line', (line) => {
-      const waiter = state.waiters.shift();
-      if (waiter) waiter(line);
-      else state.lines.push(line);
-      if (!state.waiters.length) {
-        state.rl.pause();
-        (state.input as { unref?: () => void }).unref?.();
-      }
-    });
-    state.rl.on('close', () => {
-      state.closed = true;
-      for (const waiter of state.waiters.splice(0)) waiter(null);
-    });
-    piped = state;
-  }
-  const state = piped;
-  const buffered = state.lines.shift();
-  if (buffered !== undefined) return Promise.resolve(buffered);
-  if (state.closed) return Promise.resolve(null);
-  return new Promise((resolve) => {
-    state.waiters.push(resolve);
-    (state.input as { ref?: () => void }).ref?.();
-    state.rl.resume();
-  });
-}
-
-/**
- * Prompt for one line of input. Rejects when stdin ends before an answer (CI,
- * agents, `</dev/null`, Ctrl+D), so callers fail instead of the process
- * exiting 0 mid-prompt. Ctrl+C exits 130.
- */
-function promptInput(question: string): Promise<string> {
-  const noInput = NO_LOGIN_INPUT_MESSAGE;
-  if (!process.stdin.isTTY) {
-    process.stdout.write(question);
-    return nextPipedLine().then((line) => {
-      if (line === null) throw new Error(noInput);
-      return line.trim();
-    });
-  }
-
-  const rl = readline.createInterface({
-    input: process.stdin,
-    output: process.stdout,
-  });
-
-  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-    let answered = false;
-    rl.on('SIGINT', () => {
-      rl.close();
-      process.exit(130);
-    });
-    rl.on('close', () => {
-      if (!answered) reject(new Error(noInput));
-    });
-    rl.question(question, (answer: string) => {
-      answered = true;
-      rl.close();
-      resolve(answer.trim());
-    });
-  });
-}
-
 /**
  * Open URL in the default browser
  */
@@ -741,15 +654,19 @@ async function manualLogin(
 
   if (isCustomUrl) {
     const apiKey = await promptInput(
-      'Enter your API key (press Enter to skip): '
+      'Enter your API key (press Enter to skip): ',
+      'No input to configure this API URL. Pass --api-key or set FIRECRAWL_API_KEY.'
     );
     return {
       apiKey: apiKey.trim(),
       apiUrl,
     };
   }
 
-  const apiKey = await promptInput('Enter your Firecrawl API key: ');
+  const apiKey = await promptInput(
+    'Enter your Firecrawl API key: ',
+    NO_LOGIN_INPUT_MESSAGE
+  );
 
   if (!apiKey || apiKey.trim().length === 0) {
     throw new Error('API key cannot be empty');
@@ -838,7 +755,10 @@ async function interactiveLogin(
   printEnvHint();
   printTelemetryNotice();
 
-  const choice = await promptInput('Enter choice [1/2]: ');
+  const choice = await promptInput(
+    'Enter choice [1/2]: ',
+    NO_LOGIN_INPUT_MESSAGE
+  );
 
   if (choice === '2' || choice.toLowerCase() === 'manual') {
     return manualLogin(effectiveApiUrl);