modbender Bailian Search
Real-time web search powered by Alibaba Cloud Bailian (DashScope) MCP service.
Overview
This skill integrates with Alibaba Cloud Bailian's Web Search MCP (Model Context Protocol) service, enabling AI assistants to retrieve real-time information from the internet, improving response accuracy and timeliness.
Features
- 🔍 Real-time web search
- 🌐 Global information coverage
- ⚡ Fast response via SSE (Server-Sent Events)
- 🔒 Secure API key management
- 🛠️ Easy integration with OpenClaw
Prerequisites
- Alibaba Cloud Account: Register at Alibaba Cloud Bailian
- API Key: Obtain a DashScope API Key from the console
Installation
Using ClawHub (Recommended)
openclaw skill install bailian-search
# or
clawhub install bailian-search
Manual Installation
# Clone to OpenClaw workspace
git clone <repository-url> ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/bailian-search
# Or download and extract to:
# ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/bailian-search/
Configuration
Set Environment Variable
Option 1: Temporary (current session)
export DASHSCOPE_API_KEY="your-dashscope-api-key"
Option 2: Permanent (recommended)
Add to your shell profile (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc):
echo 'export DASHSCOPE_API_KEY="your-dashscope-api-key"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc
Option 3: OpenClaw Config
openclaw config set env.DASHSCOPE_API_KEY "your-dashscope-api-key"
Usage
Command Line
# After setting environment variable
./search.sh "latest tech news"
# Or one-liner
DASHSCOPE_API_KEY="your-key" ./search.sh "OpenAI GPT-5 release"
Via AI Assistant
Once configured, simply ask your AI assistant:
- "Search for today's tech news"
- "Find OpenAI's latest announcements"
- "Look up 2025 China EV sales data"
The AI will automatically use this skill to fetch real-time information.
How It Works
This skill connects to Alibaba Cloud Bailian's MCP SSE (Server-Sent Events) service:
- Receives user search query
- Establishes SSE connection to Bailian MCP server
- Retrieves real-time search results
- Returns structured content to the AI
MCP Configuration (Advanced)
For use with other MCP-compatible clients (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.):
{
"mcpServers": {
"WebSearch": {
"type": "sse",
"name": "Alibaba Cloud Bailian Web Search",
"description": "Real-time web search powered by Tongyi Lab's Text-Embedding, GTE-reRank, Query Rewriting, and Search Judgment models.",
"baseUrl": "https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/api/v1/mcps/WebSearch/sse",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer ${DASHSCOPE_API_KEY}"
}
}
}
}
API Reference
Environment Variables
| Variable | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
DASHSCOPE_API_KEY |
Yes | Alibaba Cloud DashScope API Key |
Command Arguments
./search.sh <query>
| Argument | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
query |
string | Yes | Search query string |
Troubleshooting
Error: "DASHSCOPE_API_KEY environment variable is not set"
Solution: Ensure the environment variable is set:
export DASHSCOPE_API_KEY="your-key"
Empty results or timeout
- Verify your API key is valid
- Check network connectivity
- Bailian service may take time to respond, please be patient
How to get DashScope API Key?
- Visit Alibaba Cloud Bailian Console
- Register/login with Alibaba Cloud account
- Create an API Key in the console
- Copy the key and set it as environment variable
Privacy & Security
- Your API key is never hardcoded in the skill files
- API key is read from environment variables only
- No data is stored or logged by this skill
- All requests go directly to Alibaba Cloud servers
License
MIT License - See LICENSE file for details
Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please submit issues or pull requests via ClawHub.
Acknowledgments
- Alibaba Cloud Bailian (DashScope) for providing the MCP service
- OpenClaw team for the skill framework
- MCP community for the protocol specification