search

name	search
description	Search the web using Tavily's LLM-optimized search API. Returns relevant results with content snippets, scores, and metadata. Use when you need to find web content on any topic without writing code.

Search Skill

Search the web and get relevant results optimized for LLM consumption.

Authentication

The script uses OAuth via the Tavily MCP server. No manual setup required - on first run, it will:

1. Check for existing tokens in ~/.mcp-auth/
2. If none found, automatically open your browser for OAuth authentication

Note: You must have an existing Tavily account. The OAuth flow only supports login — account creation is not available through this flow. Sign up at tavily.com first if you don't have an account.

Alternative: API Key

If you prefer using an API key, get one at https://tavily.com and add to ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "env": {
    "TAVILY_API_KEY": "tvly-your-api-key-here"
  }
}

Quick Start

Using the Script

./scripts/search.sh '<json>'

Examples:

# Basic search
./scripts/search.sh '{"query": "python async patterns"}'

# With options
./scripts/search.sh '{"query": "React hooks tutorial", "max_results": 10}'

# Advanced search with filters
./scripts/search.sh '{"query": "AI news", "time_range": "week", "max_results": 10}'

# Domain-filtered search
./scripts/search.sh '{"query": "machine learning", "include_domains": ["arxiv.org", "github.com"], "search_depth": "advanced"}'

Basic Search

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.tavily.com/search \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "query": "latest developments in quantum computing",
    "max_results": 5
  }'

Advanced Search

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.tavily.com/search \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "query": "machine learning best practices",
    "max_results": 10,
    "search_depth": "advanced",
    "include_domains": ["arxiv.org", "github.com"]
  }'

API Reference

Endpoint

POST https://api.tavily.com/search

Headers

Header	Value
Authorization	Bearer <TAVILY_API_KEY>
Content-Type	application/json

Request Body

Field	Type	Default	Description
query	string	Required	Search query (keep under 400 chars)
max_results	integer	10	Maximum results (0-20)
search_depth	string	"basic"	ultra-fast, fast, basic, advanced
topic	string	"general"	Search topic (general only)
time_range	string	null	day, week, month, year
start_date	string	null	Return results after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
end_date	string	null	Return results before this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
include_domains	array	[]	Domains to include (max 300)
exclude_domains	array	[]	Domains to exclude (max 150)
country	string	null	Boost results from a specific country (general topic only)
include_raw_content	boolean	false	Include full page content
include_images	boolean	false	Include image results
include_image_descriptions	boolean	false	Include descriptions for images
include_favicon	boolean	false	Include favicon URL for each result

Response Format

{
  "query": "latest developments in quantum computing",
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "Page Title",
      "url": "https://example.com/page",
      "content": "Extracted text snippet...",
      "score": 0.85
    }
  ],
  "response_time": 1.2
}

Search Depth

Depth	Latency	Relevance	Content Type
ultra-fast	Lowest	Lower	NLP summary
fast	Low	Good	Chunks
basic	Medium	High	NLP summary
advanced	Higher	Highest	Chunks

When to use each:

• ultra-fast: Real-time chat, autocomplete
• fast: Need chunks but latency matters
• basic: General-purpose, balanced
• advanced: Precision matters (default recommendation)

Examples

Domain-Filtered Search

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.tavily.com/search \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "query": "Python async best practices",
    "include_domains": ["docs.python.org", "realpython.com", "github.com"],
    "search_depth": "advanced"
  }'

Search with Full Content

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.tavily.com/search \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "query": "React hooks tutorial",
    "max_results": 3,
    "include_raw_content": true
  }'

Tips

• Keep queries under 400 characters - Think search query, not prompt
• Break complex queries into sub-queries - Better results than one massive query
• Use include_domains to focus on trusted sources
• Use time_range for recent information
• Filter by score (0-1) to get highest relevance results