docs: update README to reflect latest version v0.3.745

- Acknowledge contributor paulokuong for fixing RAWL4_AI_BASE_DIRECTORY issue
  - Refine base directory handling in `setup.py`
  - Clarify Playwright installation instructions and improve error handling

CONTRIBUTORS.md

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ We would like to thank the following people for their contributions to Crawl4AI:
 - [nelzomal](https://github.com/nelzomal) - Enhance development installation instructions [#286](https://github.com/unclecode/crawl4ai/pull/286)
 - [HamzaFarhan](https://github.com/HamzaFarhan) - Handled the cases where markdown_with_citations, references_markdown, and filtered_html might not be defined [#293](https://github.com/unclecode/crawl4ai/pull/293)
 - [NanmiCoder](https://github.com/NanmiCoder) - fix: crawler strategy exception handling and fixes [#271](https://github.com/unclecode/crawl4ai/pull/271)
+- [paulokuong](https://github.com/paulokuong) - fix: RAWL4_AI_BASE_DIRECTORY should be Path object instead of string [#298](https://github.com/unclecode/crawl4ai/pull/298)
 
 
 ## Other Contributors

README.md

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 Crawl4AI is the #1 trending GitHub repository, actively maintained by a vibrant community. It delivers blazing-fast, AI-ready web crawling tailored for LLMs, AI agents, and data pipelines. Open source, flexible, and built for real-time performance, Crawl4AI empowers developers with unmatched speed, precision, and deployment ease.  
 
-[✨ Check out what's new in the latest update!](#recent-updates)  
+[✨ Check out latest update v0.3.745](#-recent-updates)
 
 ## 🧐 Why Crawl4AI?
 

crawl4ai/__version__.py

@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # crawl4ai/_version.py
-__version__ = "0.3.744"
+__version__ = "0.3.745"

setup.py

@@ -9,10 +9,17 @@ import asyncio
 
 # Create the .crawl4ai folder in the user's home directory if it doesn't exist
 # If the folder already exists, remove the cache folder
-crawl4ai_folder = os.getenv("CRAWL4_AI_BASE_DIRECTORY", Path.home()) / ".crawl4ai"
+base_dir = os.getenv("CRAWL4_AI_BASE_DIRECTORY")
+crawl4ai_folder = Path(base_dir) if base_dir else Path.home()
+crawl4ai_folder = crawl4ai_folder / ".crawl4ai"
 cache_folder = crawl4ai_folder / "cache"
-content_folders = ['html_content', 'cleaned_html', 'markdown_content', 
-                  'extracted_content', 'screenshots']
+content_folders = [
+    "html_content",
+    "cleaned_html",
+    "markdown_content",
+    "extracted_content",
+    "screenshots",
+]
 
 # Clean up old cache if exists
 if cache_folder.exists():
@@ -28,7 +35,7 @@ for folder in content_folders:
 __location__ = os.path.realpath(os.path.join(os.getcwd(), os.path.dirname(__file__)))
 with open(os.path.join(__location__, "requirements.txt")) as f:
     requirements = f.read().splitlines()
-    
+
 with open("crawl4ai/__version__.py") as f:
     for line in f:
         if line.startswith("__version__"):
@@ -37,11 +44,12 @@ with open("crawl4ai/__version__.py") as f:
 
 # Define requirements
 default_requirements = requirements
-torch_requirements = ["torch", "nltk",  "scikit-learn"]
+torch_requirements = ["torch", "nltk", "scikit-learn"]
 transformer_requirements = ["transformers", "tokenizers"]
-cosine_similarity_requirements = ["torch", "transformers", "nltk" ]
+cosine_similarity_requirements = ["torch", "transformers", "nltk"]
 sync_requirements = ["selenium"]
 
+
 def install_playwright():
     print("Installing Playwright browsers...")
     try:
@@ -49,16 +57,22 @@ def install_playwright():
         print("Playwright installation completed successfully.")
     except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
         print(f"Error during Playwright installation: {e}")
-        print("Please run 'python -m playwright install' manually after the installation.")
+        print(
+            "Please run 'python -m playwright install' manually after the installation."
+        )
     except Exception as e:
         print(f"Unexpected error during Playwright installation: {e}")
-        print("Please run 'python -m playwright install' manually after the installation.")
+        print(
+            "Please run 'python -m playwright install' manually after the installation."
+        )
+
 
 def run_migration():
     """Initialize database during installation"""
     try:
         print("Starting database initialization...")
         from crawl4ai.async_database import async_db_manager
+
         asyncio.run(async_db_manager.initialize())
         print("Database initialization completed successfully.")
     except ImportError:
@@ -67,12 +81,14 @@ def run_migration():
         print(f"Warning: Database initialization failed: {e}")
         print("Database will be initialized on first use")
 
+
 class PostInstallCommand(install):
     def run(self):
         install.run(self)
         install_playwright()
         # run_migration()
 
+
 setup(
     name="Crawl4AI",
     version=version,
@@ -84,18 +100,23 @@ setup(
     author_email="unclecode@kidocode.com",
     license="MIT",
     packages=find_packages(),
-    install_requires=default_requirements + ["playwright", "aiofiles"],  # Added aiofiles
+    install_requires=default_requirements
+    + ["playwright", "aiofiles"],  # Added aiofiles
     extras_require={
         "torch": torch_requirements,
         "transformer": transformer_requirements,
         "cosine": cosine_similarity_requirements,
         "sync": sync_requirements,
-        "all": default_requirements + torch_requirements + transformer_requirements + cosine_similarity_requirements + sync_requirements,
+        "all": default_requirements
+        + torch_requirements
+        + transformer_requirements
+        + cosine_similarity_requirements
+        + sync_requirements,
     },
     entry_points={
-        'console_scripts': [
-            'crawl4ai-download-models=crawl4ai.model_loader:main',
-            'crawl4ai-migrate=crawl4ai.migrations:main',  # Added migration command
+        "console_scripts": [
+            "crawl4ai-download-models=crawl4ai.model_loader:main",
+            "crawl4ai-migrate=crawl4ai.migrations:main",  # Added migration command
         ],
     },
     classifiers=[
@@ -110,6 +131,6 @@ setup(
     ],
     python_requires=">=3.7",
     cmdclass={
-        'install': PostInstallCommand,
+        "install": PostInstallCommand,
     },
-)
+)