name: search description: "Search the web using Tavily's LLM-optimized search API. Returns relevant results with content snippets, scores, and metadata. Use when you need to find web content on any topic without writing code."

Search Skill

Search the web and get relevant results optimized for LLM consumption.

Prerequisites

Tavily API Key Required - Get your key at https://tavily.com

Add to ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "env": {
    "TAVILY_API_KEY": "tvly-your-api-key-here"
  }
}

Quick Start

Using the Script

./scripts/search.sh '<json>'

Examples:

# Basic search
./scripts/search.sh '{"query": "python async patterns"}'

# With options
./scripts/search.sh '{"query": "React hooks tutorial", "max_results": 10}'

# Advanced search with filters
./scripts/search.sh '{"query": "AI news", "topic": "news", "time_range": "week", "max_results": 10}'

# Domain-filtered search
./scripts/search.sh '{"query": "machine learning", "include_domains": ["arxiv.org", "github.com"], "search_depth": "advanced"}'

Basic Search

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.tavily.com/search \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "query": "latest developments in quantum computing",
    "max_results": 5
  }'

Advanced Search

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.tavily.com/search \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "query": "machine learning best practices",
    "max_results": 10,
    "search_depth": "advanced",
    "include_domains": ["arxiv.org", "github.com"],
    "chunks_per_source": 3
  }'

API Reference

Endpoint

POST https://api.tavily.com/search

Headers

| Header | Value | |--------|-------| | Authorization | Bearer <TAVILY_API_KEY> | | Content-Type | application/json |

Request Body

| Field | Type | Default | Description | |-------|------|---------|-------------| | query | string | Required | Search query (keep under 400 chars) | | max_results | integer | 5 | Maximum results (0-20) | | search_depth | string | "basic" | ultra-fast, fast, basic, advanced | | topic | string | "general" | general, news, finance | | chunks_per_source | integer | 3 | Chunks per source (advanced/fast only) | | time_range | string | null | day, week, month, year | | include_domains | array | [] | Domains to include (max 300) | | exclude_domains | array | [] | Domains to exclude (max 150) | | include_answer | boolean | false | Include AI-generated answer | | include_raw_content | boolean | false | Include full page content | | include_images | boolean | false | Include image results |

Response Format

{
  "query": "latest developments in quantum computing",
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "Page Title",
      "url": "https://example.com/page",
      "content": "Extracted text snippet...",
      "score": 0.85
    }
  ],
  "response_time": 1.2
}

Search Depth

| Depth | Latency | Relevance | Content Type | |-------|---------|-----------|--------------| | ultra-fast | Lowest | Lower | NLP summary | | fast | Low | Good | Chunks | | basic | Medium | High | NLP summary | | advanced | Higher | Highest | Chunks |

When to use each:

• ultra-fast: Real-time chat, autocomplete
• fast: Need chunks but latency matters
• basic: General-purpose, balanced
• advanced: Precision matters (default recommendation)

Examples

News Search

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.tavily.com/search \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "query": "AI news today",
    "topic": "news",
    "time_range": "day",
    "max_results": 10
  }'

Domain-Filtered Search

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.tavily.com/search \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "query": "Python async best practices",
    "include_domains": ["docs.python.org", "realpython.com", "github.com"],
    "search_depth": "advanced"
  }'

Search with Full Content

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.tavily.com/search \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "query": "React hooks tutorial",
    "max_results": 3,
    "include_raw_content": true
  }'

Finance Search

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.tavily.com/search \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "query": "AAPL earnings Q4 2024",
    "topic": "finance",
    "max_results": 10
  }'

Tips

• Keep queries under 400 characters - Think search query, not prompt
• Break complex queries into sub-queries - Better results than one massive query
• Use include_domains to focus on trusted sources
• Use time_range for recent information
• Filter by score (0-1) to get highest relevance results