urjuyaimon09 Web Search
Free web search using DuckDuckGo's Instant Answer API. No API key required.
Quick Start
Basic search
cd /home/hxx/clawd/tools && ./web-search.sh "your query"
Examples
./web-search.sh "what is artificial intelligence" ./web-search.sh "python programming" ./web-search.sh "define recursion" ./web-search.sh "2+2"
Command-Line Options Core Options -h, --help - Display help message with usage examples --format - Output format: text, markdown, plain (default: text) text: Colored terminal output (default) markdown: Clean markdown format (no ANSI colors) plain: Plain text without colors --no-color - Disable colored output (same as --format plain) --max-related - Control number of related topics to show (default: 5) --quiet - Minimal output mode (just results, no headers/footer) Output to File
Use shell redirection to save results to file:
Save to file
./web-search.sh "query" > output.txt
With markdown format
./web-search.sh --format markdown "query" > results.md
With no colors for logs
./web-search.sh --no-color "query" > search.log
What It Returns
The tool provides several result types:
Answers - Direct answers for calculations, conversions, weather, etc. Abstracts - Wikipedia-style summaries with source and URL Definitions - Word/term definitions Related Topics - Additional relevant results (configurable, 5 default) Best Practices Be specific - More specific queries get better instant answers Try variations - If no results, rephrase your query Use for facts - Definitions, calculations, quick lookups work best Check URL - Always provides DuckDuckGo link for full search Use appropriate format: Terminal output: --format text (colored, default) Documentation: --format markdown > file.md` Logs/piping: --format plain or --no-color Limitations No full web search results (only instant answers) Some queries return limited results depending on DuckDuckGo's data Character encoding issues in some abstracts (known limitation) Requires internet access to query DuckDuckGo API Not all query types return instant answers (e.g., complex math like sqrt(144)) Definitions may not always be available for all terms Recent news may not appear (DuckDuckGo focuses on evergreen content) Usage Examples Basic Search
Simple query
./web-search.sh "open source AI models"
Wikipedia-style query
./web-search.sh "what is recursion"
Markdown Format
Clean markdown output
./web-search.sh --format markdown "python programming"
Save to markdown file
./web-search.sh --format markdown "AI research" > research.md
Plain/No Color
For logs or piping
./web-search.sh --format plain "search query"
Disable colors explicitly
./web-search.sh --no-color "search query"
Control Related Topics
Show fewer related topics
./web-search.sh --max-related 3 "machine learning"
Show more related topics
./web-search.sh --max-related 10 "open source"
Quiet Mode
Minimal output (just results)
./web-search.sh --quiet "what is 42 + 7"
Combined Options
Markdown, no color, saved to file
./web-search.sh --format markdown --no-color "topic" > results.md
Quiet with custom related count
./web-search.sh --quiet --max-related 2 "definition"
Tested Scenarios
Tested and verified to work:
✅ Calculations: 2+2, 10% of 500 ✅ Conversions: 100 miles to km ✅ Wikipedia queries: what is artificial intelligence ✅ Programming: what is python, how to install docker ✅ People: who is Elon Musk ✅ Scientific facts: speed of light ✅ Weather: weather in Tokyo ✅ Edge cases: empty queries, special characters, no results ✅ Output formats: text, markdown, plain ✅ Flags: --help, --format, --no-color, --max-related, --quiet
See test-outputs.md for detailed test results.
Troubleshooting "No direct results found"
Try rephasing your query or using the provided DuckDuckGo URL for full search.
Network errors
Check internet connection. Tool requires network access.
Character encoding issues
Some abstracts display garbled characters. This is a known issue with basic parsing (install jq for better results).
"jq not found" warning
The tool works without jq using basic text extraction, but installing jq improves JSON parsing:
Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install jq
macOS
brew install jq
Via package managers
npm install -g jq
Output Format Text Format (default) Blue - Headers and search info Green - Result markers and content Yellow - Sources, URLs, and warnings Red - Errors
Use --format plain or --no-color to disable colors.
Markdown Format
Clean markdown with:
headers for sections
bold for emphasis
- bullet lists italics for metadata links for URLs Plain Format
No ANSI codes or markdown formatting - suitable for logs and piping.
Requirements curl or wget (for HTTP requests) Optional: jq (for better JSON parsing)