| name | tavily-search |
| description | Web search via Tavily API (alternative to Brave). Use when the user asks to search the web / look up sources / find links and Brave web_search is unavailable or undesired. Returns a small set of relevant results (title, url, snippet) and can optionally include short answer summaries. |
| whenToUse | User needs web search and Brave Search is unavailable or undesired |
Tavily Search
Use the bundled script to search the web with Tavily.
Requirements
- Provide API key via either:
- environment variable:
TAVILY_API_KEY, or
~/.openclaw/.env line: TAVILY_API_KEY=...
Commands
Run from the OpenClaw workspace:
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/tavily_search.py --query "..." --max-results 5
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/tavily_search.py --query "..." --max-results 5 --include-answer
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/tavily_search.py --query "..." --max-results 5 --format brave
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/tavily_search.py --query "..." --max-results 5 --format md
Output
raw (default)
- JSON:
query, optional answer, results: [{title,url,content}]
brave
- JSON:
query, optional answer, results: [{title,url,snippet}]
md
- A compact Markdown list with title/url/snippet.
Notes
- Keep
max-results small by default (3–5) to reduce token/reading load.
- Prefer returning URLs + snippets; fetch full pages only when needed.