| name | search-strategies |
| description | Search strategy guidelines — tool selection, fallback chains, query optimization, and parallel search orchestration. Use when choosing which search tools to use, handling tool failures, or optimizing search queries. |
Search Strategies
Search strategies, provider selection, and query optimization. All calls use ~~capability — on error, automatically try the next provider (see CONNECTORS.md for fallback chains).
When to Use Each Provider
Exa
- Semantic meaning-based search (not keyword matching)
- Find similar content
- Filter by category (company, research_paper, news)
- Code and technical context search
Perplexity
- Factual questions (market size, dates, definitions)
- AI-synthesized answer with citations
- Quick fact-checking
Jina
- Multiple queries at once (~~batch_search)
- Reading URLs (~~scrape — primary)
- Scientific papers (arXiv, SSRN)
- Deduplication and relevance ranking
- Query expansion
Firecrawl
- JS-heavy pages (with waitFor)
- Crawling entire sites (~~crawl)
- Structured data extraction (~~extract with JSON schema)
- Screenshots and browser sessions
Exhaustive Discovery Protocol
CRITICAL: When searching for a specific product, project, brand, or tool by name — ALWAYS run this protocol BEFORE concluding "not found".
Step 1: Direct URL Probing
Try reading the project's likely homepage across ALL common domain zones:
For query "{Name}":
1. ~~scrape("https://{name}.com")
2. ~~scrape("https://{name}.ai") ← CRITICAL for AI projects
3. ~~scrape("https://{name}.dev")
4. ~~scrape("https://{name}.io")
5. ~~scrape("https://{name}.app")
6. ~~scrape("https://{name}.org")
7. ~~scrape("https://{name}.co")
8. ~~scrape("https://{name}.sh") ← for CLI tools
Run ALL. Most will fail — that's expected.
Even ONE success gives you the real homepage.
Step 2: Platform-Specific Checks
GitHub:
- ~~scrape("https://github.com/{name}")
- ~~scrape("https://github.com/{name}/{name}")
- ~~search("{name} site:github.com")
Package registries:
- ~~scrape("https://www.npmjs.com/package/{name}")
- ~~scrape("https://pypi.org/project/{name}/")
Documentation:
- ~~scrape("https://docs.{name}.ai")
- ~~scrape("https://docs.{name}.dev")
Step 3: Search Variations
1. Exact match: "{Name}" (in quotes)
2. With context: "{Name}" + domain keywords
3. Hyphenated: "{name-name}" or "{name_name}"
4. GitHub search: "{name}" site:github.com
5. Discussions: "{name}" site:reddit.com OR site:news.ycombinator.com
Step 4: Escalation
If Steps 1-3 all return empty:
1. ~~search("What is {Name}? {context}") — try Perplexity first
2. ~~search("{Name}") — try other providers
3. ~~search("{Name} twitter OR linkedin OR discord")
NEVER conclude "not found" until ALL 4 steps are exhausted.
Minimum Discovery Attempts
| Query Type | Minimum Probes Before "Not Found" |
|---|
| Product/Project name | 8 domain probes + 3 GitHub + 2 registry + 5 search = 18 |
| Company name | 5 domain probes + 3 search + Perplexity + Crunchbase = 10 |
| Person name | 3 search queries + Perplexity + LinkedIn search = 5 |
| Generic topic | 3 search queries across providers = 3 |
Query Optimization
Expanding queries
1. Use query expansion utility to get related terms
2. Form 3-7 queries from different angles:
- Direct: "RAG frameworks comparison"
- Synonym: "retrieval augmented generation tools"
- Comparison: "RAG vs fine-tuning"
- Expert: "best RAG framework expert review"
- Data: "RAG benchmark results 2026"
Parallel Search Strategy
1. Expand query → related terms
2. Form 3-5 queries from different angles
3. ~~batch_search(queries) → batch results
4. Rank by relevance → top results
5. Deduplicate → remove duplicates
Domain-Specific Search
Target specific domains based on research type:
| Research Type | Domain Strategy |
|---|
| Technical / Code | ~~search + site:github.com OR site:stackoverflow.com OR site:dev.to |
| Business / Market | ~~search + site:crunchbase.com OR site:linkedin.com OR site:bloomberg.com |
| Academic / Papers | ~~academic_search (arXiv, SSRN) |
| News / Trends | ~~search + date filter (last 3-6 months) + site:techcrunch.com OR site:reuters.com |
| Product / Company | Exhaustive Discovery Protocol (domain probes + GitHub + registries) |
Combine domain filtering with general search for broader coverage. Never rely on domain filtering alone.
Exa Semantic Search
Exa provides meaning-based search (not keyword matching). Use category filters for targeted discovery:
| Category | What it finds | When to use |
|---|
company | Company profiles, about pages, team info | Person/Company Lookup |
research_paper | Academic papers, studies, reports | Market Research, Technical Audit |
news | News articles, press releases | News & Trends |
| (no filter) | Everything — semantic matching by meaning | Topic Deep Dive, general search |
Exa type modes:
auto — balanced (default, recommended)fast — quick results, less semantic depth
Exa date filtering:
start_published_date — filter to recent content (e.g., "2025-06-01")- Combine with category for targeted fresh results
When Exa shines:
- Finding conceptually similar content (not just keyword matches)
- Discovering competitors and alternatives
- Finding company/product information with structured context
Error Handling
| Error | Action |
|---|
| Provider error | Try next provider in fallback chain |
| Empty results | Broaden query, try different provider |
| Rate limited | Try alternative provider immediately |
| Timeout | Try lighter alternative (map instead of crawl) |
| Invalid URL | Check URL, try ~~scrape with next provider |
| Content blocked | Try provider with proxy/stealth support |
