Unified Web Search 🐧

Reliable web search via 3-tier fallback strategy: Brave API → DuckDuckGo → claude.ai browser

Search Strategy

Tier 1: web_search (Brave API) — ⚡ Fast and Reliable (Recommended)

Use OpenClaw built-in web_search tool.

web_search(query="search query", count=5, freshness="pw")

Pros: - Fast response (1-2s) - Structured JSON results - freshness parameter support (pd=24h, pw=1 week, pm=1 month) - search_lang, country parameters for Korean/regional search

Cons: - Requires Brave API key - missing_brave_api_key error without key

Tier 2: duckduckgo-search — 🔒 Privacy-focused (Fallback)

Use DuckDuckGo API when Brave fails.

python -c "
from duckduckgo_search import DDGS

with DDGS() as ddgs:
    results = list(ddgs.text('query', region='wt-wt', max_results=5))
    for r in results:
        print(f"{r['title']}: {r['href']}")
"

Pros: - No API key required - Privacy-friendly - Various search types (text, news, images, videos)

Cons: - Lower result quality than Brave - Request limits (blocks if too many consecutive requests)

Tier 3: web-claude (Browser) — 🧠 Analysis+Search (Last Resort)

Trigger web search in claude.ai browser tab.

1. browser navigate → https://claude.ai/new
2. browser act type → "search question"
3. browser act press → Enter
4. sleep 15-30s
5. browser snapshot → extract response

Pros: - No API key required - claude.ai auto web search + analyze + summarize - Useful for complex research

Cons: - Slow (15-30s) - Requires browser (port 18800, openclaw profile) - Daily message limit (free account) - Automation detection risk

Auto-fallback Logic

if web_search available:
    try web_search(query)
    if success: return results

if web_search failed or unavailable:
    try duckduckgo-search
    if success: return results

if both failed:
    fallback to web-claude browser method

Search Results Auto-cache

All search results automatically saved to memory/research/ folder:

Filename Convention:

memory/research/search-YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM-[keyword].md

Saved Content: - Search query - Timestamp - Search method used (Brave/DuckDuckGo/claude.ai) - Search results (links + summaries) - Extracted insights

Example:

# Web Search: AI Agent Market Size

- **Search Time:** 2026-02-14 07:56 KST
- **Search Method:** web_search (Brave API)
- **Query:** "AI agent market size 2026"

## Results

1. **AI Agent Market to Reach $47B by 2030** - TechCrunch
   https://techcrunch.com/...
   - CAGR 43.2% growth forecast
   - Enterprise agents account for 60%

2. **Korean AI Market Exceeds 1 Trillion KRW** - Chosun Ilbo
   https://chosun.com/...
   - Q1 2026 basis
   - Led by generative AI

...

## Insights

- AI agent market growing rapidly
- Enterprise automation is core driver
- Korean market also active

Usage

General Search

"Search for latest AI agent trends"
"Find 2026 Korean SaaS investment status"

→ Auto-attempts Tier 1 Brave → Tier 2 DDG → Tier 3 claude.ai

Force Specific Method

# Brave only
"Search with web_search: AI market size"

# DuckDuckGo only
"Search with duckduckgo: privacy-focused"

# claude.ai browser only
"Analyze with web-claude: complex market research"

Using freshness Parameter

# Last 24 hours news
web_search(..., freshness="pd")

# Last week
web_search(..., freshness="pw")

# Last month
web_search(..., freshness="pm")

Korean Search

web_search(query="query", search_lang="ko", country="KR")

Browser Method (web-claude) Details

Prerequisites

• OpenClaw browser running (port 18800)
• claude.ai logged in (openclaw profile)

Automation Steps

1. browser navigate → https://claude.ai/new (or existing tab)
2. browser snapshot → save targetId
3. Find input field (contenteditable div or textarea)
4. browser act type → enter question
5. browser act press → Enter
6. sleep 15-30s (wait for response)
7. browser snapshot → extract response text
8. Return result to caller + save to memory/research/

Tips

• Clear search intent: Include time keywords like "latest data", "as of 2026", "current"
• Explicit request: Specify "search and tell me"
• Recommend new chat: Prevent previous context pollution
• Automation detection caution: Don't ask consecutive questions too quickly

Integration with Other Skills

competitor-watch

Use this unified search skill when monitoring competitors: - quick-check: Prioritize web_search - deep-dive: Combine web_search + duckduckgo - Complex analysis: web-claude fallback

cardnews

Use search results for card news research: - Topic research → unified search - Search results → cardnews content planning

yt-digest

Search for related info after YouTube summary: - Video topic → additional web search - Search results → supplementary insights

When to Use Which Method

Situation	Recommended Method
Need fast search	web_search (Brave)
No Brave key	duckduckgo-search
Privacy important	duckduckgo-search
Need analysis+summary	web-claude
Complex research	web-claude
Image/video search	duckduckgo-search
Latest news (24h)	web_search (freshness="pd")

Cautions

• web_search: Requires Brave API key (auto-fallback if unavailable)
• duckduckgo: Blocks if too many consecutive requests (wait 1s between requests)
• web-claude: Daily message limit, requires browser
• Search result cache: memory/research/ folder auto-created

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