Tavily Skill

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name: tavily-search description: "Use Tavily API for real-time web search and content extraction. Use when: user needs real-time web search results, research, or current information from the web. Requires Tavily API key." homepage: https://tavily.com metadata: { "openclaw": { "emoji": "🔍", "requires": { "bins": ["curl", "jq"] } } }

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Tavily Search Skill

Use Tavily API for real-time web search and content extraction.

When to Use

✅ USE this skill when:

"Search the web for [topic]"

"Find recent information about [subject]"

"Get current news about [topic]"

"Research [topic] online"

"Find up-to-date information"

When NOT to Use

❌ DON'T use this skill when:

Simple URL fetching → use web_fetch tool

No API key available → use web_fetch for specific URLs

Historical/archival data → use specialized archives

Setup

1. Get a Tavily API key from https://tavily.com 2. Set the API key in environment or config

Configuration

Set your Tavily API key in one of these ways:

Environment variable:

export TAVILY_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

OpenClaw config:

Add to your openclaw.json:

{
  "tavily": {
    "apiKey": "your-api-key-here"
  }
}

Usage Examples

Basic Search

# Search for a topic
curl -X POST "https://api.tavily.com/search" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "query": "latest AI developments 2026",
    "search_depth": "basic",
    "max_results": 5
  }' | jq .

Research Query

# Get detailed research results
curl -X POST "https://api.tavily.com/search" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "query": "climate change impact on agriculture 2026",
    "search_depth": "advanced",
    "max_results": 10,
    "include_answer": true,
    "include_images": false
  }' | jq .

News Search

# Search for recent news
curl -X POST "https://api.tavily.com/search" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TAVILY_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "query": "technology news today",
    "search_depth": "basic",
    "max_results": 5,
    "include_raw_content": false
  }' | jq .

API Parameters

query: Search query string (required)

search_depth: "basic" or "advanced" (default: "basic")

max_results: Number of results (1-10, default: 5)

include_answer: Include AI-generated answer (true/false)

include_images: Include image URLs (true/false)

include_raw_content: Include full page content (true/false)

Error Handling

Check API key is set: echo $TAVILY_API_KEY

Test connection: Use the basic search example above

Rate limits: Tavily has usage limits based on your plan

Alternatives

If Tavily API is not available: 1. Use web_fetch for specific URLs 2. Use web_search with Kimi API (if configured) 3. Manual web browsing with browser tool

Set your Tavily API key in one of these ways:

Environment variable:

export TAVILY_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

OpenClaw config:

Add to your openclaw.json:

{
  "tavily": {
    "apiKey": "your-api-key-here"
  }
}