| name | pi-web-search |
| description | ONLY for Pi Agents — all other agents have their own web tools. How Pi accesses the web via the pi-web-access package — search, fetch URLs/PDFs/YouTube/GitHub. Use whenever a Pi task needs current info, docs, news, prices, or content from a specific URL. |
Web Search
The pi-web-access package is installed globally. Zero-config via Exa MCP (no API key), with fallback Exa → Perplexity → Gemini.
CRITICAL: always pass workflow: "none"
Every web_search call MUST include workflow: "none". This skips the interactive browser curator popup (David does not want it opening). No exceptions — single query or batched queries, always set workflow: "none".
web_search({ queries: ["query 1", "query 2"], workflow: "none" })
Tools
web_search — search the web; returns synthesized answers with citations. Can be called many times per turn. Always pass workflow: "none".code_search — zero-key Exa code-context. Use for library/API/code lookups instead of generic web_search.fetch_content — fetch URL(s) → markdown; handles PDFs, YouTube, GitHub.get_search_content — big pages (>30k chars) are truncated in responses but stored in full; call this to pull the rest on demand so they don't blow context.
fetch_content specifics
- GitHub URLs are cloned, not scraped — you get real files + a local path to explore with
read/bash (private repos need the gh CLI). Use this for dev work.
- PDFs → auto-extracted to markdown in
~/Downloads/, readable in sections (text-only, no OCR).
- YouTube/video → full raw transcripts + frame extraction. Needs a
GEMINI_API_KEY (not zero-config); frame extraction also needs ffmpeg/yt-dlp.
Routing — match the user's phrasing
Always use the web_search tool. These counts are HARD MINIMUMS — count your queries before answering and do not stop short:
- "web search" → at least 2 queries, varied keywords/angles, then synthesize.
- "extensive web research" → at least 4 queries, totally different keywords and angles.
- "deep research" → at least 8 queries, totally different keywords and angles, run across 2–3 successive batches (refine angles after each batch), to learn as much as possible about the topic.
A single batched web_search call counts each query in queries[] toward the total. If your first batch is under the minimum, fire another batch before synthesizing.
Fallback / alternative: DeepAPI web search
If the Exa → Perplexity → Gemini chain fails, or you need ranked results with URLs (David's own product — we dogfood it):
KEY=${DEEPAPI_API_KEY:-$(rg -o 'DEEPAPI_API_KEY=\S+' ~/.zshrc | head -1 | cut -d= -f2)}
curl -s --max-time 60 "https://deepapi.co/v1/search/web" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
-d '{"query": "your search terms", "maxResults": 5, "maxCostUsd": "0.05"}'
Results are in .output (title, url, snippet per item). Query under 500 chars. Full details: deepapi skill.
