search

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Search Skill

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

Authentication

The script uses OAuth via the Tavily MCP server. No manual setup required - on first run, it will:

• Check for existing tokens in ~/.mcp-auth/

• If none found, automatically open your browser for OAuth authentication

Note: You must have an existing Tavily account. The OAuth flow only supports login — account creation is not available through this flow. Sign up at tavily.com first if you don't have an account.

Alternative: API Key

If you prefer using an API key, get one at https://tavily.com and 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", "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"]
  }'

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 10 Maximum results (0-20)

search_depth string "basic" ultra-fast, fast, basic, advanced

topic string "general" Search topic (general only)

time_range string null day, week, month, year

start_date string null Return results after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)

end_date string null Return results before this date (YYYY-MM-DD)

include_domains array [] Domains to include (max 300)

exclude_domains array [] Domains to exclude (max 150)

country string null Boost results from a specific country (general topic only)

include_raw_content boolean false Include full page content

include_images boolean false Include image results

include_image_descriptions boolean false Include descriptions for images

include_favicon boolean false Include favicon URL for each result

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

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
  }'

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

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