Free web search via DuckDuckGo — text, news, images, videos. No API key needed. Use the Python DDGS library or CLI to search, then web_extract for full content.
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name
duckduckgo-search
description
Free web search via DuckDuckGo — text, news, images, videos. No API key needed. Use the Python DDGS library or CLI to search, then web_extract for full content.
Free web search using DuckDuckGo. No API key required.
Preferred when web_search tool is unavailable or unsuitable (no FIRECRAWL_API_KEY set). Can also be used as a standalone search tool.
Setup
# Install the ddgs package (one-time)
pip install ddgs
Python API (Primary)
Use the DDGS class in execute_code for structured results with typed fields.
Important:max_results must always be passed as a keyword argument — positional usage raises an error on all methods.
Text Search
Best for: general research, companies, documentation.
from ddgs import DDGS
with DDGS() as ddgs:
for r in ddgs.text("python async programming", max_results=5):
print(r["title"])
print(r["href"])
print(r.get("body", "")[:200])
print()
Returns: title, href, body
News Search
Best for: current events, breaking news, latest updates.
from ddgs import DDGS
with DDGS() as ddgs:
for r in ddgs.news("AI regulation 2026", max_results=5):
print(r["date"], "-", r["title"])
print(r.get("source", ""), "|", r["url"])
print(r.get("body", "")[:200])
print()
Returns: date, title, body, url, image, source
Image Search
Best for: visual references, product images, diagrams.
from ddgs import DDGS
with DDGS() as ddgs:
for r in ddgs.images("semiconductor chip", max_results=5):
print(r["title"])
print(r["image"]) # direct image URLprint(r.get("thumbnail", ""))
print(r.get("source", ""))
print()
from ddgs import DDGS
with DDGS() as ddgs:
for r in ddgs.videos("FastAPI tutorial", max_results=5):
print(r["title"])
print(r.get("content", "")) # video URLprint(r.get("duration", "")) # e.g. "26:03"print(r.get("provider", "")) # YouTube, etc.print(r.get("published", ""))
print()
Use the ddgs command via terminal when you don't need structured field access.
# Text search
ddgs text -k "python async programming" -m 5
# News search
ddgs news -k "artificial intelligence" -m 5
# Image search
ddgs images -k "landscape photography" -m 10
# Video search
ddgs videos -k "python tutorial" -m 5
# With region filter
ddgs text -k "best restaurants" -m 5 -r us-en
# Recent results only (d=day, w=week, m=month, y=year)
ddgs text -k "latest AI news" -m 5 -t w
# JSON output for parsing
ddgs text -k "fastapi tutorial" -m 5 -o json
CLI Flags
Flag
Description
Example
-k
Keywords (query) — required
-k "search terms"
-m
Max results
-m 5
-r
Region
-r us-en
-t
Time limit
-t w (week)
-s
Safe search
-s off
-o
Output format
-o json
Workflow: Search then Extract
DuckDuckGo returns titles, URLs, and snippets — not full page content. To get full content, follow up with web_extract:
Search with ddgs to find relevant URLs
Extract content using the web_extract tool (if available) or curl
from ddgs import DDGS
with DDGS() as ddgs:
results = list(ddgs.text("fastapi deployment guide", max_results=3))
for r in results:
print(r["title"], "->", r["href"])
# Then use web_extract tool on the best URL
Limitations
Rate limiting: DuckDuckGo may throttle after many rapid requests. Add a short delay between searches if needed.
No content extraction: ddgs returns snippets, not full page content. Use web_extract or curl for that.
Results quality: Generally good but less configurable than Firecrawl's search.
Availability: DuckDuckGo may block requests from some cloud IPs. If searches return empty, try different keywords or wait a few seconds.
Field variability: Return fields may vary between results or ddgs versions. Use .get() for optional fields to avoid KeyError.
Pitfalls
max_results is keyword-only: ddgs.text("query", 5) raises an error. Use ddgs.text("query", max_results=5).
Don't confuse -k and -m (CLI): -k is for keywords, -m is for max results count.
Package name: The package is ddgs (was previously duckduckgo-search). Install with pip install ddgs.
Empty results: If ddgs returns nothing, it may be rate-limited. Wait a few seconds and retry.
Validated With
Smoke-tested with ddgs==9.11.2 on Python 3.13. All four methods (text, news, images, videos) confirmed working with keyword max_results.
