Web Search

Web Search

Overview

This skill provides access to multiple web search engines. It allows agents to retrieve search results (titles, snippets, and URLs) for a given query, which can be useful for gathering current information, answering questions that require real-time data, or finding relevant references.

Usage

Use the provided scripts with the --query flag.

python scripts/search.py --query "your search query"

You can also use a specific provider directly:

python scripts/search_duckduckgo.py --query "your search query" --max-results 5 --json

Capabilities/Tools

Search (search.py)

• Automatically searches based off environment variable.
• Executes search queries through the duckduckgo-search package as a default.

DuckDuckGo Search (search_duckduckgo.py)

• Free and requires no authentication or API keys.
• Ideal for general web searches when no API keys are configured.
• Executes search queries through the duckduckgo-search package.

Google Search (search_google.py)

• Utilizes the Google Custom Search API.
• Requires both GOOGLE_API_KEY and GOOGLE_CX (Custom Search Engine ID) environment variables.
• Excellent for highly relevant and authoritative results.

Bing Search (search_bing.py)

• Utilizes the Bing Web Search API.
• Requires the BING_API_KEY environment variable.
• Great alternative to Google for general and comprehensive web searches.

Searxng Search (search_searxng.py)

• Utilizes a given Searxng instance (public or self-hosted).
• Requires the SEARXNG_URL environment variable (e.g., https://searx.be).
• A privacy-respecting metasearch engine.

Transport policy

All providers use the agent-utilities outbound-source boundary. TLS verification, private CA bundles, proxies, approved private hosts, redirect policy, and response limits come from AgentConfig/XDG configuration (TLS_PROFILE_REF, TLS_CA_BUNDLE_REF, and SOURCE_HTTP_*). Provider scripts do not expose a verify=False or --insecure shortcut and do not persist endpoint or credential material.

Best Practices

• Prefer DuckDuckGo if no API keys are available in the environment.
• Use specific search providers securely by providing the required API keys as environment variables.
• Formulate clear and precise queries to obtain the best results.
• Limit the number of search results retrieved per request to avoid unnecessary token usage unless more context is explicitly required.

Resources

• scripts/search.py: Comprehensive web search dispatcher.
• scripts/search_duckduckgo.py: DuckDuckGo search script.
• scripts/search_google.py: Google Custom Search API script.
• scripts/search_bing.py: Bing Web Search API script.
• scripts/search_searxng.py: Searxng API script.