Web Search (Tavily API)

Search the web using Tavily's AI-optimized search API. Returns high-quality, structured results with relevance scores and optional AI-generated summaries.

Note: This skill requires a Tavily API key. For basic web search using the agent's built-in capability, see web-search .

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• You need to find current information not in your training data

• The user asks about recent events, news, or updates

• You need to verify facts or find authoritative sources

• Research requires real-time web data

• Keywords mentioned: search, look up, find online, current, latest, news

Do NOT use this skill when:

• Information is already in your knowledge base and doesn't need verification

• The user asks about historical facts that don't change

• You're working with local files or code (use other tools)

• A more specific skill exists for the task (e.g., documentation lookup)

Prerequisites

Before using this skill, ensure:

• TAVILY_API_KEY environment variable is set with a valid API key

• Deno is installed (for running the search script)

• Internet access is available

Get a Tavily API key at: https://tavily.com

Quick Start

Run a simple search:

deno run --allow-env --allow-net=api.tavily.com scripts/search.ts "your search query"

Example with AI-generated answer:

deno run --allow-env --allow-net=api.tavily.com scripts/search.ts "React 19 new features" --answer

Script Usage

deno run --allow-env --allow-net=api.tavily.com scripts/search.ts [options] "query"

Options

Option Description Default

--answer

Include AI-generated answer summary false

--depth <level>

Search depth: basic or advanced

basic

--results <n>

Number of results to return 5

--topic <type>

Topic type: general , news , or finance

general

--time <range>

Time filter: day , week , month , or year

none

--include <domains>

Only include these domains (comma-separated) none

--exclude <domains>

Exclude these domains (comma-separated) none

--raw

Include raw page content in results false

--json

Output as JSON (for programmatic use) false

--help

Show help message

Search Parameters

Topic Types

• general (default): Broad web search across all content types

• news: Prioritizes news articles and current events

• finance: Focuses on financial information and market data

Search Depth

• basic (default): Fast search, good for most queries

• advanced: Deeper search with more comprehensive results (slower, higher API cost)

Time Range

Filter results by recency:

• day: Last 24 hours

• week: Last 7 days

• month: Last 30 days

• year: Last 365 days

Domain Filtering

Control which sites appear in results:

Only search documentation sites

scripts/search.ts "React hooks" --include docs.react.dev,developer.mozilla.org

Exclude social media

scripts/search.ts "AI news" --exclude twitter.com,reddit.com

Output Format

Human-Readable Output (default)

🔍 Search: "React 19 new features"

Found 5 results in 234ms

📝 AI Answer: ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── React 19 introduces several new features including... ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

1. React 19 Release Notes https://react.dev/blog/2024/04/25/react-19 React 19 is now available on npm! This release includes... Score: 0.987

2. What's New in React 19 https://example.com/react-19-features A comprehensive overview of React 19's new features... Score: 0.945

JSON Output (--json)

{ "query": "React 19 new features", "results": [ { "title": "React 19 Release Notes", "url": "https://react.dev/blog/2024/04/25/react-19", "content": "React 19 is now available on npm...", "score": 0.987, "published_date": "2024-04-25" } ], "answer": "React 19 introduces several new features...", "response_time": 234 }

Result Fields

Field Type Description

title

string Page title

url

string Source URL

content

string Relevant excerpt from the page

score

number Relevance score (0-1, higher is better)

published_date

string Publication date (if available)

raw_content

string Full page content (only with --raw)

Examples

Example 1: Current Events Search

Scenario: Find recent news about a technology topic

scripts/search.ts "OpenAI GPT-5 announcement" --topic news --time week --answer

Expected output: Recent news articles about GPT-5, with an AI-generated summary

Example 2: Documentation Lookup

Scenario: Find specific technical documentation

scripts/search.ts "Deno deploy edge functions tutorial" --depth advanced --results 10

Expected output: Comprehensive results from documentation and tutorial sites

Example 3: Fact Verification

Scenario: Verify a specific claim or statistic

scripts/search.ts "world population 2024" --include un.org,worldbank.org,census.gov --json

Expected output: JSON results from authoritative sources for programmatic verification

Example 4: Financial Research

Scenario: Research market information

scripts/search.ts "NVIDIA stock analysis 2024" --topic finance --answer

Expected output: Financial analysis and market data with AI summary

Common Issues and Solutions

Issue: "TAVILY_API_KEY environment variable is not set"

Symptoms: Script exits immediately with API key error

Solution:

• Get an API key from https://tavily.com

• Set the environment variable: export TAVILY_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

• Or run with the variable inline: TAVILY_API_KEY="your-key" deno run --allow-env --allow-net=api.tavily.com scripts/search.ts "query"

Issue: "Invalid Tavily API key"

Symptoms: 401 authentication error

Solution:

• Verify your API key is correct (no extra spaces)

• Check if your API key has expired

• Verify your Tavily account is active

Issue: "Tavily API rate limit exceeded"

Symptoms: 429 error response

Solution:

• Wait a moment and retry

• Reduce request frequency

• Consider upgrading your Tavily plan for higher limits

Issue: No results returned

Symptoms: Empty results array

Solution:

• Try broader search terms

• Remove domain filters that might be too restrictive

• Check if the topic exists online

• Try --depth advanced for harder queries

Limitations

This skill has the following limitations:

• Requires active internet connection

• API rate limits apply based on your Tavily plan

• Results depend on Tavily's index coverage

• Cannot access paywalled or login-required content

• Real-time accuracy depends on Tavily's crawling frequency

• Maximum query length and result count have API limits

Related Skills

• research-workflow: For comprehensive research projects that use multiple searches with planning and synthesis