openclaw/docs/tools/web.md

summary	read_when	title	sidebarTitle
web_search tool -- search the web with Brave, Firecrawl, Gemini, Grok, Kimi, Perplexity, or Tavily	You want to enable or configure web_search You need to choose a search provider You want to understand auto-detection and provider fallback	Web Search	Web Search

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).

`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" });
```

Choosing a provider

Structured results with snippets. Supports `llm-context` mode, country/language filters. Free tier available. 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
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

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.

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#how-does-openclaw-load-environment-variables).

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.

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 or group:web:

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

Related

• Web Fetch -- fetch a URL and extract readable content
• Web Browser -- full browser automation for JS-heavy sites