javimosch YaCy Skill
Control and manage a local YaCy search engine instance.
Description
This skill provides an interface to interact with YaCy, the open-source distributed search engine, running on localhost. It allows you to start/stop the service, check status, and integrate search capabilities into your OpenClaw workflows.
Prerequisites
- Docker installed and running
- Ports 8090 and 8443 available on localhost
Installation
The YaCy container runs with persistent data stored in a Docker volume (yacy_search_server_data). To install:
docker run -d --name yacy_search_server -p 8090:8090 -p 8443:8443 -v yacy_search_server_data:/opt/yacy_search_server/DATA --restart unless-stopped --log-opt max-size=200m --log-opt max-file=2 yacy/yacy_search_server:latest
Access the web interface at: http://localhost:8090
Default credentials: admin / yacy (change after first login)
Capabilities
- Start YaCy container/daemon
- Stop YaCy container/daemon
- Check YaCy status
- Perform web searches (RSS API)
- Manage indexing (future)
Tools
This skill provides:
yacy_start- Start the YaCy serviceyacy_stop- Stop the YaCy serviceyacy_status- Check if YaCy is running and view logsyacy_search- Perform a search query (replaces Brave search when configured as default)
Configuration
Set in OpenClaw config or via environment:
yacy_dir- Path to YaCy installation (default:/home/q/.openclaw/workspace/yacy_search_server)port- HTTP port (default:8090)
Replacing Brave Search
To make YaCy your default web search:
- Install and start YaCy
- Set OpenClaw config:
tools.defaultSearch = "yacy_search" - Remove
BRAVE_API_KEYenvironment variable if set
Now all "search for X" requests will use your local YaCy instance instead of Brave.
Notes
YaCy runs completely locally and can be used as a privacy-focused search solution. It also participates in the global YaCy peer-to-peer network by default, but this can be disabled in settings.
License
GPL 2.0+ (same as YaCy)
Created: 2026-02-11 Skill version: 0.1.0 Target OpenClaw: 2026.2.9+