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.

Prerequisites

Tavily API Key Required - Get your key at https://tavily.com

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", "topic": "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"],
    "chunks_per_source": 3
  }'

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	5	Maximum results (0-20)
search_depth	string	"basic"	ultra-fast, fast, basic, advanced
topic	string	"general"	general, news, finance
chunks_per_source	integer	3	Chunks per source (advanced/fast only)
time_range	string	null	day, week, month, year
include_domains	array	[]	Domains to include (max 300)
exclude_domains	array	[]	Domains to exclude (max 150)
include_answer	boolean	false	Include AI-generated answer
include_raw_content	boolean	false	Include full page content
include_images	boolean	false	Include image results

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

News Search

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.tavily.com/search \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "query": "AI news today",
    "topic": "news",
    "time_range": "day",
    "max_results": 10
  }'

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
  }'

Finance Search

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.tavily.com/search \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "query": "AAPL earnings Q4 2024",
    "topic": "finance",
    "max_results": 10
  }'

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