web-search

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name: web-search description: Search the web and fetch web pages. Use when user wants to look up information, find answers, or search for anything online. Supports multiple free methods: Jina AI reader, DuckDuckGo Lite, and Python ddgs fallback. No API keys required for basic use. metadata: { "openclaw": { "emoji": "🔍", "homepage": "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw", "requires": {} } }

Web Search Skill

Comprehensive web search and content extraction — free, no API keys required.

Quick Start

Just want to search? Use DuckDuckGo Lite:

web_fetch url="https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/?q=YOUR+QUERY"

Want full page content? Use Jina Reader:

web_fetch url="https://r.jina.ai/http://TARGET_URL"

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Method 1: Jina AI Reader (Free - Recommended for Content)

Extract full page content using Jina's free reader API.

Read a URL

web_fetch url="https://r.jina.ai/http://example.com"

Search the Web

web_fetch url="https://r.jina.ai/http://duckduckgo.com/?q=YOUR+QUERY"

Examples:

Task	Command
Get Next.js docs	web_fetch url="https://r.jina.ai/http://nextjs.org"
Get React docs	web_fetch url="https://r.jina.ai/http://react.dev"
Get Python docs	web_fetch url="https://r.jina.ai/http://docs.python.org"

Advanced Jina Reader (with API Key)

For advanced features, get a free API key from jina.ai/reader:

export JINA_API_KEY="jina_..."

Then use the bundled script:

{baseDir}/scripts/reader.sh "https://example.com"
{baseDir}/scripts/reader.sh --mode search "AI news 2025"
{baseDir}/scripts/reader.sh --mode ground "OpenAI founded 2015"

Options: --mode, --selector, --remove, --format, --json

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Method 2: DuckDuckGo Lite (Free - Recommended for Search)

Search without any API key using DuckDuckGo Lite.

Basic Search

web_fetch url="https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/?q=YOUR+QUERY"

Regional Search

web_fetch url="https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/?q=QUERY&kl=us-en"

Regions: au-en, us-en, uk-en, de-de, fr-fr

Search Tips

• Use + for spaces: python+tutorial
• Use quotes for exact phrases: %22exact+phrase%22
• Skip first 1-2 results (ads)

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Method 3: Python ddgs (Fallback)

If web_fetch is blocked, use Python's ddgs package:

pip install ddgs

from ddgs import DDGS
ddgs = DDGS()
results = ddgs.text("search query", max_results=5)
for r in results:
    print(f"{r['title']}: {r['url']}")

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Workflow: Search then Fetch

1. Search → DDG Lite to find relevant URLs
2. Pick → Identify best result(s)
3. Fetch → Jina Reader to extract full content

Example:

# Step 1: Find info about Next.js auth
web_fetch url="https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/?q=nextjs+authentication+docs"

# Step 2: Fetch the official docs
web_fetch url="https://r.jina.ai/http://nextjs.org/docs/app/..."

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Quick Reference

Need	Method	Command
Find URLs	DDG Lite	?q=search+terms
Get page content	Jina Reader	r.jina.ai/http://URL
Advanced extraction	Jina API	--mode search --json
Python fallback	ddgs	ddgs.text()
Browser (if available)	Headless	browser action=navigate

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Limitations

• Google search blocked (captcha)
• No date filtering via DDG Lite
• Jina free tier has rate limits