| name | web-search |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| description | Search the web across four backends (DuckDuckGo, Tavily, Firecrawl,
Serper). Use only for things outside the app's local data — news,
current prices, opening hours, recent events, places not in the
destination catalog. The local catalog skills come first.
|
| triggers | ["search the web","look up","what is the latest","current price of","recent reviews of","news about","opening hours"] |
| tools | ["search_duckduckgo","search_tavily","search_firecrawl","search_serper"] |
| mutating | false |
When to use
Call a search tool when:
- The user asks something time-sensitive (today's news, current prices,
recent reviews, opening hours TODAY).
- The catalog skills can't answer (city not in
destination-catalog,
product not in product-catalog).
- The user explicitly says "search", "look up", "what is the latest".
Do NOT call when:
- A local skill covers the question (
destination-catalog,
product-catalog, weather-forecast). Try those first.
- The question is fully answerable from registered state or stable
background knowledge.
How to use: pick ONE backend per question
Default order of preference:
search_serper — general factual lookup (Google index, fast).search_tavily — research-heavy questions where you want longer
per-result context (multi-paragraph snippets).search_firecrawl — when your next step will be to scrape a
specific page (Firecrawl can search-then-scrape).search_duckduckgo — fallback that needs no API key. Note: shared
IPs hit CAPTCHAs occasionally; expect intermittent failures.
If a backend returns { ok: false, code: "missing_key" } or
{ ok: false, code: "rate_limited" }, fall back to the next preferred
backend. Do NOT report the failure as if it were the answer; transparently
retry with the next option.
Query craft
A good query is short, specific, and uses real-world terms.
- DO:
"lisbon airport metro hours 2026", "best travel adapter europe usb-c 2026"
- DON'T:
"can you search for the current operating hours of the metro at lisbon airport this year"
Strip filler. Pin the year on time-sensitive queries.
Output narration
- Quote the source domain inline ("per nytimes.com,..."). Don't paste raw
URLs unless the user asks.
- Combine 2-3 results for any non-trivial claim.
- If sources disagree, flag the disagreement explicitly.
- If the freshest source is older than the question requires, say so.
Anti-patterns
- Do NOT call a backend when a local catalog skill would answer.
- Do NOT call multiple backends in parallel "just in case".
- Do NOT return the raw
{ ok: false } envelope to the user — fall back,
then narrate the actual answer.
- Do NOT recommend a product / hotel / restaurant from a single search
snippet without naming the source.
