diff --git a/apps/js-sdk/firecrawl/src/__tests__/index.test.ts b/apps/js-sdk/firecrawl/src/__tests__/index.test.ts
index 92951237..6958abf8 100644
--- a/apps/js-sdk/firecrawl/src/__tests__/index.test.ts
+++ b/apps/js-sdk/firecrawl/src/__tests__/index.test.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-import { describe, test, expect, jest } from '@jest/globals';
-import axios from 'axios';
-import FirecrawlApp from '../index';
+import { describe, expect, jest, test } from '@jest/globals';
 
-import { readFile } from 'fs/promises';
+import FirecrawlApp from '../index';
+import axios from 'axios';
 import { join } from 'path';
+import { readFile } from 'fs/promises';
 
 // Mock jest and set the type
 jest.mock('axios');
@@ -14,13 +14,22 @@ async function loadFixture(name: string): Promise<string> {
   return await readFile(join(__dirname, 'fixtures', `${name}.json`), 'utf-8')
 }
 
+const API_URL = process.env.API_URL ?? "https://api.firecrawl.dev";
+
 describe('the firecrawl JS SDK', () => {
 
-  test('Should require an API key to instantiate FirecrawlApp', async () => {
-    const fn = () => {
-      new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: undefined });
-    };
-    expect(fn).toThrow('No API key provided');
+  test('Should require an API key only for cloud service', async () => {
+    if (API_URL.includes('api.firecrawl.dev')) {
+      // Should throw for cloud service
+      expect(() => {
+        new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: undefined, apiUrl: API_URL });
+      }).toThrow('No API key provided');
+    } else {
+      // Should not throw for self-hosted
+      expect(() => {
+        new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: undefined, apiUrl: API_URL });
+      }).not.toThrow();
+    }
   });
 
   test('Should return scraped data from a /scrape API call', async () => {
diff --git a/apps/js-sdk/firecrawl/src/__tests__/v1/e2e_withAuth/index.test.ts b/apps/js-sdk/firecrawl/src/__tests__/v1/e2e_withAuth/index.test.ts
index dea55846..60d0b44f 100644
--- a/apps/js-sdk/firecrawl/src/__tests__/v1/e2e_withAuth/index.test.ts
+++ b/apps/js-sdk/firecrawl/src/__tests__/v1/e2e_withAuth/index.test.ts
@@ -9,15 +9,28 @@ const TEST_API_KEY = process.env.TEST_API_KEY;
 const API_URL = process.env.API_URL ?? "https://api.firecrawl.dev";
 
 describe('FirecrawlApp E2E Tests', () => {
-  test.concurrent('should throw error for no API key', async () => {
-    expect(() => {
-      new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: null, apiUrl: API_URL });
-    }).toThrow("No API key provided");
+  test.concurrent('should throw error for no API key only for cloud service', async () => {
+    if (API_URL.includes('api.firecrawl.dev')) {
+      // Should throw for cloud service
+      expect(() => {
+        new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: null, apiUrl: API_URL });
+      }).toThrow("No API key provided");
+    } else {
+      // Should not throw for self-hosted
+      expect(() => {
+        new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: null, apiUrl: API_URL });
+      }).not.toThrow();
+    }
   });
 
   test.concurrent('should throw error for invalid API key on scrape', async () => {
-    const invalidApp = new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: "invalid_api_key", apiUrl: API_URL });
-    await expect(invalidApp.scrapeUrl('https://roastmywebsite.ai')).rejects.toThrow("Request failed with status code 401");
+    if (API_URL.includes('api.firecrawl.dev')) {
+      const invalidApp = new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: "invalid_api_key", apiUrl: API_URL });
+      await expect(invalidApp.scrapeUrl('https://roastmywebsite.ai')).rejects.toThrow("Unexpected error occurred while trying to scrape URL. Status code: 404");
+    } else {
+      const invalidApp = new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: "invalid_api_key", apiUrl: API_URL });
+      await expect(invalidApp.scrapeUrl('https://roastmywebsite.ai')).resolves.not.toThrow();
+    }
   });
 
   test.concurrent('should throw error for blocklisted URL on scrape', async () => {
@@ -155,8 +168,13 @@ describe('FirecrawlApp E2E Tests', () => {
   }, 30000); // 30 seconds timeout
 
   test.concurrent('should throw error for invalid API key on crawl', async () => {
-    const invalidApp = new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: "invalid_api_key", apiUrl: API_URL });
-    await expect(invalidApp.crawlUrl('https://roastmywebsite.ai')).rejects.toThrow("Request failed with status code 401");
+    if (API_URL.includes('api.firecrawl.dev')) {
+      const invalidApp = new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: "invalid_api_key", apiUrl: API_URL });
+      await expect(invalidApp.crawlUrl('https://roastmywebsite.ai')).rejects.toThrow("Request failed with status code 404");
+    } else {
+      const invalidApp = new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: "invalid_api_key", apiUrl: API_URL });
+      await expect(invalidApp.crawlUrl('https://roastmywebsite.ai')).resolves.not.toThrow();
+    }
   });
 
   test.concurrent('should throw error for blocklisted URL on crawl', async () => {
@@ -337,8 +355,13 @@ describe('FirecrawlApp E2E Tests', () => {
   }, 60000); // 60 seconds timeout
 
   test.concurrent('should throw error for invalid API key on map', async () => {
-    const invalidApp = new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: "invalid_api_key", apiUrl: API_URL });
-    await expect(invalidApp.mapUrl('https://roastmywebsite.ai')).rejects.toThrow("Request failed with status code 401");
+    if (API_URL.includes('api.firecrawl.dev')) {
+      const invalidApp = new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: "invalid_api_key", apiUrl: API_URL });
+      await expect(invalidApp.mapUrl('https://roastmywebsite.ai')).rejects.toThrow("Request failed with status code 404");
+    } else {
+      const invalidApp = new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: "invalid_api_key", apiUrl: API_URL });
+      await expect(invalidApp.mapUrl('https://roastmywebsite.ai')).resolves.not.toThrow();
+    }
   });
 
   test.concurrent('should throw error for blocklisted URL on map', async () => {
@@ -355,8 +378,7 @@ describe('FirecrawlApp E2E Tests', () => {
   }, 30000); // 30 seconds timeout
 
   test.concurrent('should return successful response for valid map', async () => {
-    const app = new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: TEST_API_KEY, apiUrl: API_URL });
-    const response = await app.mapUrl('https://roastmywebsite.ai') as MapResponse;
+    const app = new FirecrawlApp({ apiKey: TEST_API_KEY, apiUrl: API_URL });    const response = await app.mapUrl('https://roastmywebsite.ai') as MapResponse;
     expect(response).not.toBeNull();
     
     expect(response.links?.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
diff --git a/apps/js-sdk/firecrawl/src/index.ts b/apps/js-sdk/firecrawl/src/index.ts
index 020a2293..6d9a0a73 100644
--- a/apps/js-sdk/firecrawl/src/index.ts
+++ b/apps/js-sdk/firecrawl/src/index.ts
@@ -289,17 +289,23 @@ export default class FirecrawlApp {
   public apiKey: string;
   public apiUrl: string;
 
+  private isCloudService(url: string): boolean {
+    return url.includes('api.firecrawl.dev');
+  }
+
   /**
    * Initializes a new instance of the FirecrawlApp class.
    * @param config - Configuration options for the FirecrawlApp instance.
    */
   constructor({ apiKey = null, apiUrl = null }: FirecrawlAppConfig) {
-    if (typeof apiKey !== "string") {
+    const baseUrl = apiUrl || "https://api.firecrawl.dev";
+    
+    if (this.isCloudService(baseUrl) && typeof apiKey !== "string") {
       throw new FirecrawlError("No API key provided", 401);
     }
 
-    this.apiKey = apiKey;
-    this.apiUrl = apiUrl || "https://api.firecrawl.dev";
+    this.apiKey = apiKey || '';
+    this.apiUrl = baseUrl;
   }
 
   /**