Web Search

Web Search Toolkit

Search the web and extract readable content. Stable CLI with JSON output for agents.

Setup

cd {baseDir}
uv sync  # Install dependencies (once)

Optional: Set BRAVE_API_KEY for better search reliability (ddgs is keyless but flaky).

Commands

Search

{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk search "query"                    # Default (10 results)
{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk search "query" -n 5 --plain       # URLs only, one per line
{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk search "query" --json             # Machine-readable
{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk search "query" --time-range w     # Last week
{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk search "site:docs.python.org asyncio"  # Site-scoped

Key flags:

• -n, --max-results <N> — Number of results (default: 10)
• --time-range <d|w|m|y> — Filter by recency
• --provider <ddgs|brave_api|auto> — Search provider
• --plain — Output URLs only (for piping)
• --json — Structured output

Pipeline (search → extract)

{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk pipeline "python asyncio tutorial" --json
{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk pipeline "python asyncio tutorial" --plan --plain

Key flags:

• --top-k <N> — Search results to consider
• --extract-k <N> — Number of results to extract
• --plan — Return candidates without fetching
• --method <http|browser|auto> — Extraction method (default: http)

Extract (fetch + extract readable content)

{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk extract https://example.com --plain     # Markdown output
{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk extract https://example.com --text      # Plain text
{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk extract https://example.com --json      # Full metadata
{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk extract ./local-file.html --plain       # From file

Key flags:

• --markdown / --text / --both — Output format
• --strategy <auto|readability|docs> — Extraction strategy
• --max-chars <N> — Truncate output
• --allow-domain <domain> — Restrict to specific domains (safety)

Fetch (raw HTTP, no extraction)

{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk fetch https://example.com --json        # Metadata + status
{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk fetch https://example.com --plain       # Path to cached body

List providers

{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk providers --plain

Decision Guide

• search when you need discovery or candidate URLs.
• pipeline when you want a one-shot search → extract bundle.
• fetch when you need HTTP metadata or the cached body path (no extraction).
• extract when you want readable content from a URL or local HTML.
• render when a page is JS-only or blocked (or use extract --method browser for one-step extraction).

Common Patterns

Search → extract top result:

url=$({baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk search "python asyncio tutorial" --plain | head -1)
{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk extract "$url" --plain --max-chars 8000

Search with JSON for programmatic use:

{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk search "openai api reference" --json | jq '.data.results[0].url'

Safe extraction (restrict domains):

{baseDir}/.venv/bin/wstk extract https://docs.python.org/3/library/asyncio.html \
  --allow-domain docs.python.org --plain

Output Formats

• --plain — Stable text for piping (URLs for search, content for extract)
• --json — Structured envelope: { "ok": bool, "data": {...}, "error": {...} }
• Default — Human-readable with colors

Agent Defaults

• Default to --json in agent wrappers; parse ok, error.code, and warnings.
• Surface concise diagnostics by relaying error.message and error.details.reason when ok=false.
• Use --plain only for piping, and add --no-input for non-interactive runs.
• Consider --redact when handling sensitive URLs or content.

Exit Codes

• 0 — Success
• 1 — Runtime failure (network, provider error)
• 2 — Invalid usage
• 3 — Not found / empty result
• 4 — Blocked / access denied
• 5 — Needs JS rendering (page is JS-only)

Global Flags

• --timeout <seconds> — Network timeout
• --no-cache — Disable caching
• --fresh — Bypass cache reads (still writes)
• --quiet — Minimal output
• --verbose — Debug diagnostics to stderr
• --policy <standard|strict|permissive> — Safety defaults

References

• references/troubleshooting.md — 403/JS-only guidance and advanced fetch flags.
• references/providers.md — Provider selection and privacy notes.
• docs/claude-code.md — Claude Code wrapper usage.

When to Use

• Searching for documentation or API references
• Looking up facts or current information
• Extracting content from known URLs
• Any task requiring web search without interactive browsing

Prefer browser-tools when you need: JS interaction, form filling, clicking, or visual inspection.