Ceramic Search
Keyword web search via Ceramic.ai — a fast,
exact-match engine that returns 10 results with rich page extracts (up to 8,000
characters per result). The long descriptions make it particularly useful as an
LLM retrieval source where you need dense context, not just snippets.
When To Use
- LLM-augmented search where you need long page extracts for in-context grounding
- Keyword-based web search with specific entities, dates, locations
- Multi-query retrieval strategies (issue several focused keyword queries, aggregate)
- Quick structured web results when you don't need citation verification
- Feeding search context into other skills or agent pipelines
When Not To Use
- Authoritative primary sources (gov, academic) at top of results →
perplexity-research
- Citation verification, audit, or bibliography formatting →
web-researcher
- Conversational/natural-language queries (Ceramic is exact-match, not semantic)
- Known URL expansion →
gemini-url-context
- Interactive browser automation →
browser / playwright
- Multi-agent deep research →
deep-research
Quick start
Needs CERAMIC_API_KEY (get one at https://platform.ceramic.ai/keys; free tier
1,000 credits). Single endpoint:
curl -s https://api.ceramic.ai/search \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $CERAMIC_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"query": "California rental laws", "maxDescriptionLength": 8000}'
Ceramic is exact-match keyword, not semantic — use 2–8 specific keywords
(entities, dates, locations), not conversational phrasing, and issue synonym
variants for recall. See references/query-best-practices.md.
Choosing a search skill
Ceramic is a strong default when you want dense source text to feed back into a
prompt — keyword, fast, rich extracts. It is not the only choice; pick by intent,
and for anything complex or high-stakes, run more than one engine in parallel and
cross-verify.
| Need |
Skill |
| Dense keyword retrieval — long extracts to ground an LLM, fast exact matching |
ceramic-search (this) |
| Authoritative sources, academic/policy filters, synthesized answer |
perplexity-research |
| Quick built-in fallback, no API key needed |
Claude WebSearch |
| Complex or important — cross-engine triangulation |
run several in parallel, dedupe + cross-verify |
| Verifiable citations — you pick the engine + trusted-domain lenses, full source reading, citation audit |
web-researcher |
| Multi-agent deep report — fan-out + adversarial verification + cited synthesis |
deep-research |
| Expand a single known URL |
gemini-url-context / web-summary |
References
references/api-reference.md — endpoint, parameters, response schema, rate limits, error handling with retry.references/cookbook.md — runnable curl/Python/shell patterns, multi-query retrieval, Anthropic tool-use definition, MCP server registration, composition recipes.references/query-best-practices.md — do/don't query table for the exact-match engine and word-order notes.
Related Skills
| Need |
Skill |
| Authoritative gov/academic sources |
perplexity-research |
| Verifiable citations + lenses |
web-researcher |
| Multi-agent deep research |
deep-research |
| Known URL expansion |
gemini-url-context |
| Experiment optimisation loops |
autoresearch |
| Ontology grounding |
ontology-augment |
1---2name: ceramic-search3description: Keyword web search that returns long page extracts for grounding an LLM in dense source context rather than a synthesized answer. Use when you need exact-match keyword retrieval over the live web — specific entities, dates, or locations — and want raw source text to feed into a prompt or agent pipeline. Not for conversational/semantic queries or citation verification.4---56# Ceramic Search78Keyword web search via [Ceramic.ai](https://docs.ceramic.ai) — a fast,9exact-match engine that returns 10 results with rich page extracts (up to 8,00010characters per result). The long descriptions make it particularly useful as an11LLM retrieval source where you need dense context, not just snippets.1213## When To Use1415- LLM-augmented search where you need long page extracts for in-context grounding16- Keyword-based web search with specific entities, dates, locations17- Multi-query retrieval strategies (issue several focused keyword queries, aggregate)18- Quick structured web results when you don't need citation verification19- Feeding search context into other skills or agent pipelines2021## When Not To Use2223- Authoritative primary sources (gov, academic) at top of results → `perplexity-research`24- Citation verification, audit, or bibliography formatting → `web-researcher`25- Conversational/natural-language queries (Ceramic is exact-match, not semantic)26- Known URL expansion → `gemini-url-context`27- Interactive browser automation → `browser` / `playwright`28- Multi-agent deep research → `deep-research`2930## Quick start3132Needs `CERAMIC_API_KEY` (get one at https://platform.ceramic.ai/keys; free tier331,000 credits). Single endpoint:3435```bash36curl -s https://api.ceramic.ai/search \37 -H "Authorization: Bearer $CERAMIC_API_KEY" \38 -H "Content-Type: application/json" \39 -d '{"query": "California rental laws", "maxDescriptionLength": 8000}'40```4142Ceramic is **exact-match keyword**, not semantic — use 2–8 specific keywords43(entities, dates, locations), not conversational phrasing, and issue synonym44variants for recall. See `references/query-best-practices.md`.4546## Choosing a search skill4748Ceramic is a strong default when you want dense source text to feed back into a49prompt — keyword, fast, rich extracts. It is not the only choice; pick by intent,50and for anything complex or high-stakes, run more than one engine in parallel and51cross-verify.5253| Need | Skill |54|------|-------|55| **Dense keyword retrieval** — long extracts to ground an LLM, fast exact matching | **`ceramic-search`** (this) |56| **Authoritative sources**, academic/policy filters, synthesized answer | **`perplexity-research`** |57| **Quick built-in fallback**, no API key needed | **Claude WebSearch** |58| **Complex or important** — cross-engine triangulation | run several in parallel, dedupe + cross-verify |59| **Verifiable citations** — you pick the engine + trusted-domain lenses, full source reading, citation audit | **`web-researcher`** |60| **Multi-agent deep report** — fan-out + adversarial verification + cited synthesis | **`deep-research`** |61| Expand a single known URL | **`gemini-url-context`** / **`web-summary`** |6263## References6465- `references/api-reference.md` — endpoint, parameters, response schema, rate limits, error handling with retry.66- `references/cookbook.md` — runnable curl/Python/shell patterns, multi-query retrieval, Anthropic tool-use definition, MCP server registration, composition recipes.67- `references/query-best-practices.md` — do/don't query table for the exact-match engine and word-order notes.6869## Related Skills7071| Need | Skill |72|------|-------|73| Authoritative gov/academic sources | `perplexity-research` |74| Verifiable citations + lenses | `web-researcher` |75| Multi-agent deep research | `deep-research` |76| Known URL expansion | `gemini-url-context` |77| Experiment optimisation loops | `autoresearch` |78| Ontology grounding | `ontology-augment` |
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