web-search – OpenClaw Skill

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name: web-search description: Web search using DuckDuckGo Instant Answer API (no API key required). Use when you need to search the web for information, definitions, calculations, conversions, or quick facts. Also use when user mentions "search", "look up", "find information", "what is", "how to", or "google something". The skill provides instant answers, definitions, abstracts, and related topics without requiring external API credentials.

Web Search

Free web search using DuckDuckGo's Instant Answer API. No API key required.

Quick Start

# Basic search
cd /home/hxx/clawd/tools && ./web-search.sh "your query"

# Examples
./web-search.sh "what is artificial intelligence"
./web-search.sh "python programming"
./web-search.sh "define recursion"
./web-search.sh "2+2"

Command-Line Options

Core Options

• -h, --help - Display help message with usage examples
• --format <format> - Output format: text, markdown, plain (default: text)
  • text: Colored terminal output (default)
  • markdown: Clean markdown format (no ANSI colors)
  • plain: Plain text without colors
• --no-color - Disable colored output (same as --format plain)
• --max-related <N> - Control number of related topics to show (default: 5)
• --quiet - Minimal output mode (just results, no headers/footer)

Output to File

Use shell redirection to save results to file:

# Save to file
./web-search.sh "query" > output.txt

# With markdown format
./web-search.sh --format markdown "query" > results.md

# With no colors for logs
./web-search.sh --no-color "query" > search.log

What It Returns

The tool provides several result types:

• Answers - Direct answers for calculations, conversions, weather, etc.
• Abstracts - Wikipedia-style summaries with source and URL
• Definitions - Word/term definitions
• Related Topics - Additional relevant results (configurable, 5 default)

Best Practices

1. Be specific - More specific queries get better instant answers
2. Try variations - If no results, rephrase your query
3. Use for facts - Definitions, calculations, quick lookups work best
4. Check URL - Always provides DuckDuckGo link for full search
5. Use appropriate format:
   • Terminal output: --format text (colored, default)
   • Documentation: --format markdown > file.md`
   • Logs/piping: --format plain or --no-color

Limitations

• No full web search results (only instant answers)
• Some queries return limited results depending on DuckDuckGo's data
• Character encoding issues in some abstracts (known limitation)
• Requires internet access to query DuckDuckGo API
• Not all query types return instant answers (e.g., complex math like sqrt(144))
• Definitions may not always be available for all terms
• Recent news may not appear (DuckDuckGo focuses on evergreen content)

Usage Examples

Basic Search

# Simple query
./web-search.sh "open source AI models"

# Wikipedia-style query
./web-search.sh "what is recursion"

Markdown Format

# Clean markdown output
./web-search.sh --format markdown "python programming"

# Save to markdown file
./web-search.sh --format markdown "AI research" > research.md

Plain/No Color

# For logs or piping
./web-search.sh --format plain "search query"

# Disable colors explicitly
./web-search.sh --no-color "search query"

Control Related Topics

# Show fewer related topics
./web-search.sh --max-related 3 "machine learning"

# Show more related topics
./web-search.sh --max-related 10 "open source"

Quiet Mode

# Minimal output (just results)
./web-search.sh --quiet "what is 42 + 7"

Combined Options

# Markdown, no color, saved to file
./web-search.sh --format markdown --no-color "topic" > results.md

# Quiet with custom related count
./web-search.sh --quiet --max-related 2 "definition"

Tested Scenarios

Tested and verified to work:

• ✅ Calculations: 2+2, 10% of 500
• ✅ Conversions: 100 miles to km
• ✅ Wikipedia queries: what is artificial intelligence
• ✅ Programming: what is python, how to install docker
• ✅ People: who is Elon Musk
• ✅ Scientific facts: speed of light
• ✅ Weather: weather in Tokyo
• ✅ Edge cases: empty queries, special characters, no results
• ✅ Output formats: text, markdown, plain
• ✅ Flags: --help, --format, --no-color, --max-related, --quiet

See test-outputs.md for detailed test results.

Troubleshooting

"No direct results found"

Try rephasing your query or using the provided DuckDuckGo URL for full search.

Network errors

Check internet connection. Tool requires network access.

Character encoding issues

Some abstracts display garbled characters. This is a known issue with basic parsing (install jq for better results).

"jq not found" warning

The tool works without jq using basic text extraction, but installing jq improves JSON parsing:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install jq

# macOS
brew install jq

# Via package managers
npm install -g jq

Output Format

Text Format (default)

• Blue - Headers and search info
• Green - Result markers and content
• Yellow - Sources, URLs, and warnings
• Red - Errors

Use --format plain or --no-color to disable colors.

Markdown Format

Clean markdown with:

• ## headers for sections
• **bold** for emphasis
• - bullet lists
• *italics* for metadata
• [links]() for URLs

Plain Format

No ANSI codes or markdown formatting - suitable for logs and piping.

Requirements

• curl or wget (for HTTP requests)
• Optional: jq (for better JSON parsing)

Web Search Tool

DuckDuckGo Instant Answer API client - free web search without API keys.

API Details

• Endpoint: https://api.duckduckgo.com/

• Parameters:

  • q - Search query (URL-encoded)
  • format=json - JSON response
  • no_html=1 - Plain text (no HTML)
  • skip_disambig=0 - Include disambiguation results

• Documentation: https://duckduckgo.com/api

• Rate Limits: None documented (be respectful)

Response Structure

{
  "Abstract": "Full text summary",
  "AbstractSource": "Wikipedia",
  "AbstractURL": "https://...",
  "Answer": "Direct answer (e.g., 4 for 2+2)",
  "AnswerType": "calc",
  "Definition": "Term definition",
  "Heading": "Result title",
  "RelatedTopics": [
    {
      "Text": "Topic description",
      "FirstURL": "https://..."
    }
  ]
}

Query Types That Work Well

1. Calculations: 2+2, sqrt(144), 10% of 500
2. Definitions: define recursion, what is AI
3. Conversions: 100 miles to km, 50c to fahrenheit
4. Facts: population of Tokyo, who won 2024 Olympics
5. Wikipedia: quantum physics, French Revolution

Query Types That Don't Work Well

1. Full web searches: Use DuckDuckGo URL provided in output
2. Recent news: DuckDuckGo focuses on evergreen content
3. Personal queries: Location-specific, user-specific data
4. Real-time data: Stock prices, live scores, etc.

Character Encoding

Some abstracts have Unicode issues in basic parsing (non-ASCII characters garbled). Install jq for cleaner output:

sudo apt-get install jq  # Ubuntu/Debian
brew install jq          # macOS

Error Handling

• Network timeout → Tool retries once, then reports error
• Empty response → Reports "No results found" with DuckDuckGo URL
• Invalid JSON → Falls back to basic grep parsing
• No curl/wget → Error message recommending installation