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title sidebarTitle summary read_when
Web Search Web Search web_search, x_search, and web_fetch -- search the web, search X posts, or fetch page content
You want to enable or configure web_search
You want to enable or configure x_search
You need to choose a search provider
You want to understand auto-detection and provider fallback

Web Search

The web_search tool searches the web using your configured provider and returns results. Results are cached by query for 15 minutes (configurable).

OpenClaw also includes x_search for X (formerly Twitter) posts and web_fetch for lightweight URL fetching. In this phase, web_fetch stays local while web_search and x_search can use xAI Responses under the hood.

`web_search` is a lightweight HTTP tool, not browser automation. For JS-heavy sites or logins, use the [Web Browser](/tools/browser). For fetching a specific URL, use [Web Fetch](/tools/web-fetch).

Quick start

Pick a provider and get an API key. See the provider pages below for sign-up links. ```bash openclaw configure --section web ``` This stores the key and sets the provider. You can also set an env var (e.g. `BRAVE_API_KEY`) and skip this step. The agent can now call `web_search`: 
```javascript
await web_search({ query: "OpenClaw plugin SDK" });
```

For X posts, use:

```javascript
await x_search({ query: "dinner recipes" });
```

Choosing a provider

Structured results with snippets. Supports `llm-context` mode, country/language filters. Free tier available. Key-free fallback. No API key needed. Unofficial HTML-based integration. Neural + keyword search with content extraction (highlights, text, summaries). Structured results. Best paired with `firecrawl_search` and `firecrawl_scrape` for deep extraction. AI-synthesized answers with citations via Google Search grounding. AI-synthesized answers with citations via xAI web grounding. AI-synthesized answers with citations via Moonshot web search. Structured results with content extraction controls and domain filtering. Structured results with search depth, topic filtering, and `tavily_extract` for URL extraction.

Provider comparison

Provider Result style Filters API key
Brave Structured snippets Country, language, time, llm-context mode BRAVE_API_KEY
DuckDuckGo Structured snippets -- None (key-free)
Exa Structured + extracted Neural/keyword mode, date, content extraction EXA_API_KEY
Firecrawl Structured snippets Via firecrawl_search tool FIRECRAWL_API_KEY
Gemini AI-synthesized + citations -- GEMINI_API_KEY
Grok AI-synthesized + citations -- XAI_API_KEY
Kimi AI-synthesized + citations -- KIMI_API_KEY / MOONSHOT_API_KEY
Perplexity Structured snippets Country, language, time, domains, content limits PERPLEXITY_API_KEY / OPENROUTER_API_KEY
Tavily Structured snippets Via tavily_search tool TAVILY_API_KEY

Auto-detection

Provider lists in docs and setup flows are alphabetical. Auto-detection keeps a separate precedence order:

If no provider is set, OpenClaw checks for API keys in this order and uses the first one found:

  1. Brave -- BRAVE_API_KEY or plugins.entries.brave.config.webSearch.apiKey
  2. Gemini -- GEMINI_API_KEY or plugins.entries.google.config.webSearch.apiKey
  3. Grok -- XAI_API_KEY or plugins.entries.xai.config.webSearch.apiKey
  4. Kimi -- KIMI_API_KEY / MOONSHOT_API_KEY or plugins.entries.moonshot.config.webSearch.apiKey
  5. Perplexity -- PERPLEXITY_API_KEY / OPENROUTER_API_KEY or plugins.entries.perplexity.config.webSearch.apiKey
  6. Firecrawl -- FIRECRAWL_API_KEY or plugins.entries.firecrawl.config.webSearch.apiKey
  7. Tavily -- TAVILY_API_KEY or plugins.entries.tavily.config.webSearch.apiKey

If no keys are found, it falls back to Brave (you will get a missing-key error prompting you to configure one).

All provider key fields support SecretRef objects. In auto-detect mode, OpenClaw resolves only the selected provider key -- non-selected SecretRefs stay inactive.

Config

{
  tools: {
    web: {
      search: {
        enabled: true, // default: true
        provider: "brave", // or omit for auto-detection
        maxResults: 5,
        timeoutSeconds: 30,
        cacheTtlMinutes: 15,
      },
    },
  },
}

Provider-specific config (API keys, base URLs, modes) lives under plugins.entries.<plugin>.config.webSearch.*. See the provider pages for examples.

For x_search, configure tools.web.x_search.* directly. It uses the same XAI_API_KEY fallback as Grok web search. When you choose Grok during openclaw onboard or openclaw configure --section web, OpenClaw can also offer optional x_search setup with the same key. This is a separate follow-up step inside the Grok path, not a separate top-level web-search provider choice. If you pick another provider, OpenClaw does not show the x_search prompt.

Storing API keys

Run `openclaw configure --section web` or set the key directly: 
```json5
{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      brave: {
        config: {
          webSearch: {
            apiKey: "YOUR_KEY", // pragma: allowlist secret
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}
```
Set the provider env var in the Gateway process environment: 
```bash
export BRAVE_API_KEY="YOUR_KEY"
```

For a gateway install, put it in `~/.openclaw/.env`.
See [Env vars](/help/faq#env-vars-and-env-loading).

Tool parameters

Parameter Description
query Search query (required)
count Results to return (1-10, default: 5)
country 2-letter ISO country code (e.g. "US", "DE")
language ISO 639-1 language code (e.g. "en", "de")
freshness Time filter: day, week, month, or year
date_after Results after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
date_before Results before this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
ui_lang UI language code (Brave only)
domain_filter Domain allowlist/denylist array (Perplexity only)
max_tokens Total content budget, default 25000 (Perplexity only)
max_tokens_per_page Per-page token limit, default 2048 (Perplexity only)
Not all parameters work with all providers. Brave `llm-context` mode rejects `ui_lang`, `freshness`, `date_after`, and `date_before`. Firecrawl and Tavily only support `query` and `count` through `web_search` -- use their dedicated tools for advanced options.

x_search

x_search queries X (formerly Twitter) posts using xAI and returns AI-synthesized answers with citations. It accepts natural-language queries and optional structured filters. OpenClaw only enables the built-in xAI x_search tool on the request that serves this tool call.

xAI documents `x_search` as supporting keyword search, semantic search, user search, and thread fetch. For per-post engagement stats such as reposts, replies, bookmarks, or views, prefer a targeted lookup for the exact post URL or status ID. Broad keyword searches may find the right post but return less complete per-post metadata. A good pattern is: locate the post first, then run a second `x_search` query focused on that exact post.

x_search config

{
  tools: {
    web: {
      x_search: {
        enabled: true,
        apiKey: "xai-...", // optional if XAI_API_KEY is set
        model: "grok-4-1-fast-non-reasoning",
        inlineCitations: false,
        maxTurns: 2,
        timeoutSeconds: 30,
        cacheTtlMinutes: 15,
      },
    },
  },
}

x_search parameters

Parameter Description
query Search query (required)
allowed_x_handles Restrict results to specific X handles
excluded_x_handles Exclude specific X handles
from_date Only include posts on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
to_date Only include posts on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
enable_image_understanding Let xAI inspect images attached to matching posts
enable_video_understanding Let xAI inspect videos attached to matching posts

x_search example

await x_search({
  query: "dinner recipes",
  allowed_x_handles: ["nytfood"],
  from_date: "2026-03-01",
});

// Per-post stats: use the exact status URL or status ID when possible
await x_search({
  query: "https://x.com/huntharo/status/1905678901234567890",
});

Examples

// Basic search
await web_search({ query: "OpenClaw plugin SDK" });

// German-specific search
await web_search({ query: "TV online schauen", country: "DE", language: "de" });

// Recent results (past week)
await web_search({ query: "AI developments", freshness: "week" });

// Date range
await web_search({
  query: "climate research",
  date_after: "2024-01-01",
  date_before: "2024-06-30",
});

// Domain filtering (Perplexity only)
await web_search({
  query: "product reviews",
  domain_filter: ["-reddit.com", "-pinterest.com"],
});

Tool profiles

If you use tool profiles or allowlists, add web_search, x_search, or group:web:

{
  tools: {
    allow: ["web_search", "x_search"],
    // or: allow: ["group:web"]  (includes web_search, x_search, and web_fetch)
  },
}

Related

  • Web Fetch -- fetch a URL and extract readable content
  • Web Browser -- full browser automation for JS-heavy sites
  • Grok Search -- Grok as the web_search provider