IQS Weather Query - 7-Day Weather Forecast

Query 7-day weather forecasts for any city using Alibaba Cloud IQS web search (UnifiedSearch) and page reading (ReadPageBasic) capabilities.

Underlying Service: alibabacloud-iqs-search

Hybrid Parsing Strategy:

• Known sites (weather.cma.cn, weather.com.cn): Dedicated parsers extract structured JSON → parseMode: "structured"
• Unknown sites: ReadPage extracts main content (readabilityMode: article), returns raw text with extraction hint → parseMode: "raw", agent (LLM) interprets directly

Environment Configuration

Pre-check: ALIYUN_IQS_API_KEY Required

echo $ALIYUN_IQS_API_KEY | head -c 4

If output is empty, the API Key is not configured.

How to obtain ALIYUN_IQS_API_KEY: Please refer to Aliyun IQS Documentation

Configure environment variable (choose one):

Option 1: Temporary (current terminal session only)

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

Option 2: Permanent (recommended)

Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc:

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

Run source ~/.zshrc or source ~/.bashrc to apply.

Alternative: Place API Key in ~/.alibabacloud/iqs/env file:

ALIYUN_IQS_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

Workflow

User Input (city name)
        │
        ▼
┌─────────────────────────┐
│ Step 1: UnifiedSearch    │  Search: "{city} 天气预报 未来7天"
│ (Web Search)            │  Priority: weather.cma.cn > weather.com.cn
└──────────┬──────────────┘
           │ Best weather URL
           ▼
┌─────────────────────────┐
│ Step 2: ReadPageBasic    │  Known site → readabilityMode: normal
│ (Page Reading)          │  Unknown site → readabilityMode: article
└──────────┬──────────────┘
           │ Page content
           ▼
     Known site?
      ╱        ╲
    YES          NO
     │            │
     ▼            ▼
  Parser       Return rawText
  Router       + hint for agent
     │         (parseMode: raw)
     ▼
  Structured JSON
  (parseMode: structured)

Usage

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18 (native fetch support required)
• No additional npm dependencies needed

Execute Query

node scripts/weather.mjs <city>

Examples:

node scripts/weather.mjs 北京
node scripts/weather.mjs 上海
node scripts/weather.mjs 杭州
node scripts/weather.mjs Tokyo

Output Format

Structured mode (known sites — parsed successfully):

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "city": "北京",
    "parseMode": "structured",
    "queryTime": "2026-03-26T10:00:00.000Z",
    "forecastDays": 7,
    "forecast": [
      {
        "date": "3月26日",
        "weather": "晴",
        "temperature": "5°C ~ 18°C",
        "windDirection": "北风",
        "windSpeed": "3-4级"
      }
    ],
    "source": "https://weather.cma.cn/..."
  }
}

Raw mode (unknown sites — agent interprets the text):

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "city": "北京",
    "parseMode": "raw",
    "hint": "以下是北京天气网页的正文内容，请从中提取未来7天的天气预报信息...",
    "rawText": "北京天气预报\n今天 晴 18°C/5°C ...",
    "evolveHint": "[持续进化] 当前站点 \"example.com\" 没有匹配的解析器...",
    "source": "https://example.com/weather/beijing"
  }
}

IQS APIs Used

Search Priority Sites (with dedicated parsers):

1. weather.cma.cn (China Meteorological Administration) — parseCmaWeather → readabilityMode: normal
2. baidu.weather.com.cn / sq.weather.com.cn (China Weather Network mobile) — parseBaiduWeatherComCn → readabilityMode: normal
3. weather.com.cn (China Weather Network, all other subdomains) — parseWeatherComCn → readabilityMode: normal
4. Other sites — no parser, return raw text → readabilityMode: article (cleaner body extraction)

Error Handling

Best Practices

1. Use Chinese city names for domestic weather queries for better accuracy
2. Node.js >= 18 required - native fetch API is used, no npm install needed
3. Cache awareness - ReadPage uses maxAge not set, always fetches latest data
4. Extensible parsers - Each weather site has its own parser; add new sites by registering in PARSER_REGISTRY

Continuous Evolution

This skill is designed to self-improve over time. When the script encounters an unknown site format (no matching parser), it returns parseMode: "raw" with an evolveHint field.

Agent behavior when parseMode is "raw":

1. First: Answer the user — Extract weather info from rawText using LLM understanding and respond to the user immediately.
2. Then: Evolve — Read the evolveHint and analyze the rawText format pattern, then write a new parser function and register it in PARSER_REGISTRY (see Extending section below). This ensures that next time the same site format is hit, it goes through structured mode directly.

First query for unknown site:
  search → readpage → no parser match → raw mode → agent answers user
                                                  → agent writes new parser ← evolveHint

Subsequent queries for same site:
  search → readpage → parser match → structured mode → direct JSON output

Key: The skill gets smarter with every new city searched. Each raw-mode encounter is an opportunity to add a new parser, progressively covering more site formats.

Extending: Add a New Weather Site Parser

The script uses a Parser Registry pattern. Each weather site has its own dedicated parser function, and the router automatically dispatches based on URL. To add support for a new site, follow these 3 steps:

Step 1: Write a Parser Function

Add a new parser function in scripts/weather.mjs. It must accept (content, city) and return the standard format:

function parseMyNewSite(content, city) {
  const forecast = [];

  // Parse the text content from ReadPage for this specific site
  // Extract: date, weather, temperature, windDirection, windSpeed
  // ...your parsing logic here...

  return {
    city,
    queryTime: new Date().toISOString(),
    forecastDays: Math.min(forecast.length, 7),
    forecast: forecast.slice(0, 7),
    raw: forecast.length === 0 ? content.substring(0, 2000) : undefined,
  };
}

Return format for each forecast item:

Step 2: Register in PARSER_REGISTRY

Add your parser to the registry array at the top of weather.mjs. Order matters — higher position = higher priority:

const PARSER_REGISTRY = [
  { pattern: 'weather.cma.cn',          parser: parseCmaWeather },
  { pattern: 'baidu.weather.com.cn',    parser: parseBaiduWeatherComCn },
  { pattern: 'sq.weather.com.cn',       parser: parseBaiduWeatherComCn },
  { pattern: 'weather.com.cn',          parser: parseWeatherComCn },
  { pattern: 'mynewsite.com',           parser: parseMyNewSite },    // ← Add here
];

Step 3: Add to Search Priority (optional)

If you want the new site to be prioritized in search results, add it to PREFERRED_WEATHER_SITES:

const PREFERRED_WEATHER_SITES = [
  'weather.cma.cn',
  'weather.com.cn',
  'mynewsite.com',           // ← Add here
];

How the Router Works

parseWeatherData(content, city, url)
  │
  ├─ URL contains "weather.cma.cn"?          → parseCmaWeather(content, city)
  ├─ URL contains "baidu.weather.com.cn"?    → parseBaiduWeatherComCn(content, city)
  ├─ URL contains "sq.weather.com.cn"?       → parseBaiduWeatherComCn(content, city)
  ├─ URL contains "weather.com.cn"?          → parseWeatherComCn(content, city)
  ├─ URL contains "mynewsite.com"?           → parseMyNewSite(content, city)
  │
  └─ No match or result < 3 days?           → return rawText + hint (agent interprets)

Tip: Use node -e "..." with the ReadPage API to fetch and inspect the raw text format of a new site before writing the parser. See existing parsers (parseCmaWeather, parseWeatherComCn) as reference implementations.