Tavily Search 🔎

AI-powered web search platform with 5 modes: Search, Extract, Crawl, Map, and Research.

Requirements

• TAVILY_API_KEY environment variable

Configuration

Set in OpenClaw config:

{
  "env": {
    "TAVILY_API_KEY": "tvly-..."
  }
}

Script Location

python3 skills/tavily/lib/tavily_search.py <command> "query" [options]

Commands

search — Web Search (Default)

General-purpose web search with optional LLM-synthesized answer.

python3 lib/tavily_search.py search "query" [options]

Examples:

# Basic search
python3 lib/tavily_search.py search "latest AI news"

# With LLM answer
python3 lib/tavily_search.py search "what is quantum computing" --answer

# Advanced depth (better results, 2 credits)
python3 lib/tavily_search.py search "climate change solutions" --depth advanced

# Time-filtered
python3 lib/tavily_search.py search "OpenAI announcements" --time week

# Domain filtering
python3 lib/tavily_search.py search "machine learning" --include-domains arxiv.org,nature.com

# Country boost
python3 lib/tavily_search.py search "tech startups" --country US

# With raw content and images
python3 lib/tavily_search.py search "solar energy" --raw --images -n 10

# JSON output
python3 lib/tavily_search.py search "bitcoin price" --json

Output format (text):

Answer: <LLM-synthesized answer if --answer>

Results:
  1. Result Title
     https://example.com/article
     Content snippet from the page...

  2. Another Result
     https://example.com/other
     Another snippet...

news — News Search

Search optimized for news articles. Sets topic=news.

python3 lib/tavily_search.py news "query" [options]

Examples:

python3 lib/tavily_search.py news "AI regulation"
python3 lib/tavily_search.py news "Israel tech" --time day --answer
python3 lib/tavily_search.py news "stock market" --time week -n 10

finance — Finance Search

Search optimized for financial data and news. Sets topic=finance.

python3 lib/tavily_search.py finance "query" [options]

Examples:

python3 lib/tavily_search.py finance "NVIDIA stock analysis"
python3 lib/tavily_search.py finance "cryptocurrency market trends" --time month
python3 lib/tavily_search.py finance "S&P 500 forecast 2026" --answer

extract — Extract Content from URLs

Extract readable content from one or more URLs.

python3 lib/tavily_search.py extract URL [URL...] [options]

Parameters:

• urls: One or more URLs to extract (positional args)

• --depth basic|advanced: Extraction depth

• --format markdown|text: Output format (default: markdown)

• --query "text": Rerank extracted chunks by relevance to query

Examples:

# Extract single URL
python3 lib/tavily_search.py extract "https://example.com/article"

# Extract multiple URLs
python3 lib/tavily_search.py extract "https://url1.com" "https://url2.com"

# Advanced extraction with relevance reranking
python3 lib/tavily_search.py extract "https://arxiv.org/paper" --depth advanced --query "transformer architecture"

# Text format output
python3 lib/tavily_search.py extract "https://example.com" --format text

Output format:

URL: https://example.com/article
─────────────────────────────────
<Extracted content in markdown/text>

URL: https://another.com/page
─────────────────────────────────
<Extracted content>

crawl — Crawl a Website

Crawl a website starting from a root URL, following links.

python3 lib/tavily_search.py crawl URL [options]

Parameters:

• url: Root URL to start crawling

• --depth basic|advanced: Crawl depth

• --max-depth N: Maximum link depth to follow (default: 2)

• --max-breadth N: Maximum pages per depth level (default: 10)

• --limit N: Maximum total pages (default: 10)

• --instructions "text": Natural language crawl instructions

• --select-paths p1,p2: Only crawl these path patterns

• --exclude-paths p1,p2: Skip these path patterns

• --format markdown|text: Output format

Examples:

# Basic crawl
python3 lib/tavily_search.py crawl "https://docs.example.com"

# Focused crawl with instructions
python3 lib/tavily_search.py crawl "https://docs.python.org" --instructions "Find all asyncio documentation" --limit 20

# Crawl specific paths only
python3 lib/tavily_search.py crawl "https://example.com" --select-paths "/blog,/docs" --max-depth 3

Output format:

Crawled 5 pages from https://docs.example.com

Page 1: https://docs.example.com/intro
─────────────────────────────────
<Content>

Page 2: https://docs.example.com/guide
─────────────────────────────────
<Content>

map — Sitemap Discovery

Discover all URLs on a website (sitemap).

python3 lib/tavily_search.py map URL [options]

Parameters:

• url: Root URL to map

• --max-depth N: Depth to follow (default: 2)

• --max-breadth N: Breadth per level (default: 20)

• --limit N: Maximum URLs (default: 50)

Examples:

# Map a site
python3 lib/tavily_search.py map "https://example.com"

# Deep map
python3 lib/tavily_search.py map "https://docs.python.org" --max-depth 3 --limit 100

Output format:

Sitemap for https://example.com (42 URLs found):

  1. https://example.com/
  2. https://example.com/about
  3. https://example.com/blog
  ...

research — Deep Research

Comprehensive AI-powered research on a topic with citations.

python3 lib/tavily_search.py research "query" [options]

Parameters:

• query: Research question

• --model mini|pro|auto: Research model (default: auto)

  • mini: Faster, cheaper
  • pro: More thorough
  • auto: Let Tavily decide

• --json: JSON output (supports structured output schema)

Examples:

# Basic research
python3 lib/tavily_search.py research "Impact of AI on healthcare in 2026"

# Pro model for thorough research
python3 lib/tavily_search.py research "Comparison of quantum computing approaches" --model pro

# JSON output
python3 lib/tavily_search.py research "Electric vehicle market analysis" --json

Output format:

Research: Impact of AI on healthcare in 2026

<Comprehensive research report with citations>

Sources:
  [1] https://source1.com
  [2] https://source2.com
  ...

Options Reference

Error Handling

• Missing API key: Clear error message with setup instructions.

• 401 Unauthorized: Invalid API key.

• 429 Rate Limit: Rate limit exceeded, try again later.

• Network errors: Descriptive error with cause.

• No results: Clean "No results found." message.

• Timeout: 30-second timeout on all HTTP requests.

Credits & Pricing

Install

bash skills/tavily/install.sh