Tavily Web

Tavily Web

Use the Tavily CLI as Agent Layer's web retrieval path. Route the request to the smallest useful Tavily command, then summarize the sourced result.

Defaults

• Use tvly search for general web discovery when no URL or known site is provided.
• Use tvly extract directly when the user provides exact URLs.
• Use tvly map only when the user provides a known site/domain and needs URL discovery.
• Use tvly research only when the user wants cited synthesis, comparison, or report-style analysis.
• Prefer --json when the CLI supports it so results can be parsed before summarizing.

Global constraints

• Run tvly --help before the first Tavily command in a session, then run tvly --status to verify readiness.
• Treat installed CLI help as the source of truth for commands, arguments, flags, output modes, and defaults.
• If tvly is missing, unauthenticated, or exits non-zero, stop and tell the user to install or authenticate the Tavily CLI.
• Do not install Tavily from this skill. Do not run curl | bash, package managers, or login commands unless the user explicitly asks for setup help.
• Do not use Tavily MCP or Fetch MCP as a fallback.
• Do not use tvly crawl in the default Agent Layer workflow.
• When saving output or scratch data, write under .agent-layer/tmp/.
• Before using non-obvious flags, run tvly <command> --help or tvly research <subcommand> --help; do not rely on memorized CLI syntax.

Required artifacts

• No artifact is required for quick lookups.
• If saving intermediate retrieval output, use .agent-layer/tmp/tavily-web.<run-id>.<type>.json or .agent-layer/tmp/tavily-web.<run-id>.<type>.md.
• Final answers that depend on web retrieval must name or cite the source URLs used.

Human checkpoints

• Ask before installing the Tavily CLI, running login/authentication commands, or changing Tavily configuration.
• Do not ask for permission merely to run read-only tvly search, tvly extract, tvly map, or tvly research commands.

Command routing

Use tvly search when:

• The user does not provide a specific URL.
• The task is source discovery, current facts, recent news, or finding relevant pages.
• You need domain filters, time filters, or a small set of result snippets.

Use tvly extract when:

• The user provides one or more URLs.
• A search or map result identifies pages that need full content.
• You need clean page content, JavaScript-heavy page extraction, or query-focused chunks.

Use tvly map when:

• The user knows the site/domain but not the exact page.
• You need URL discovery or site structure without extracting page contents.
• The efficient path is map first, then extract only selected URLs.

Use tvly research when:

• The user asks for a report, comparison, market scan, literature-style review, or multi-source cited synthesis.
• A simple search would only discover sources, but the desired output is analysis grounded in citations.

Workflow

1. Inspect root help with tvly --help, then confirm CLI readiness with tvly --status.
2. Select the smallest command that matches the request.
3. Run command-specific help if flags matter:
   • tvly search --help
   • tvly extract --help
   • tvly map --help
   • tvly research run --help
   • tvly research status --help
   • tvly research poll --help
4. Prefer --json for agent workflows so results can be parsed and summarized deliberately.
5. Keep queries short and search-like. Break complex prompts into focused searches instead of sending one long prompt to search.
6. For known URLs, skip search and go directly to extract.
7. For known sites with unknown pages, map first and extract only the useful URLs.
8. For long-running research, use Tavily's async status/poll flow when it prevents blocking or losing the request ID.

Guardrails

• Do not dump large raw outputs into the conversation when a narrower query, domain filter, time filter, or selected URL list would answer the question.
• Do not ask Tavily to synthesize when the user only needs source discovery; use search and summarize the results yourself.
• Do not use search when the user gave the exact URL; use extract.
• Do not use map for general web search; use map only for known sites/domains.
• Do not use research for quick factual lookups unless the user explicitly wants a cited report.
• Do not treat Tavily output as authoritative by itself. Report source URLs and distinguish sourced facts from your synthesis.

Definition of done

• The selected Tavily command path matches the user's retrieval intent.
• The answer names or cites source URLs when it depends on web retrieval.
• Any saved retrieval artifacts are under .agent-layer/tmp/ using the tavily-web.<run-id>.<type> naming pattern.
• Missing CLI, authentication, inaccessible pages, timeouts, or incomplete coverage are reported explicitly.

Final handoff

State which Tavily command path was used, summarize the result, include source URLs when relevant, and mention any retrieval limits.