Unified Web Search 🐧

Reliable web search via 3-tier fallback strategy: Brave API → DuckDuckGo → claude.ai browser

Search Strategy

Tier 1: web_search (Brave API) — ⚡ Fast and Reliable (Recommended)

Use OpenClaw built-in web_search tool.

web_search(query="search query", count=5, freshness="pw")

Pros:

• Fast response (1-2s)
• Structured JSON results
• freshness parameter support (pd=24h, pw=1 week, pm=1 month)
• search_lang, country parameters for Korean/regional search

Cons:

• Requires Brave API key
• missing_brave_api_key error without key

Tier 2: duckduckgo-search — 🔒 Privacy-focused (Fallback)

Use DuckDuckGo API when Brave fails.

python -c "
from duckduckgo_search import DDGS

with DDGS() as ddgs:
    results = list(ddgs.text('query', region='wt-wt', max_results=5))
    for r in results:
        print(f\"{r['title']}: {r['href']}\")
"

Pros:

• No API key required
• Privacy-friendly
• Various search types (text, news, images, videos)

Cons:

• Lower result quality than Brave
• Request limits (blocks if too many consecutive requests)

Tier 3: web-claude (Browser) — 🧠 Analysis+Search (Last Resort)

Trigger web search in claude.ai browser tab.

1. browser navigate → https://claude.ai/new
2. browser act type → "search question"
3. browser act press → Enter
4. sleep 15-30s
5. browser snapshot → extract response

Pros:

• No API key required
• claude.ai auto web search + analyze + summarize
• Useful for complex research

Cons:

• Slow (15-30s)
• Requires browser (port 18800, openclaw profile)
• Daily message limit (free account)
• Automation detection risk

Auto-fallback Logic

if web_search available:
    try web_search(query)
    if success: return results
    
if web_search failed or unavailable:
    try duckduckgo-search
    if success: return results
    
if both failed:
    fallback to web-claude browser method

Search Results Auto-cache

All search results automatically saved to memory/research/ folder:

Filename Convention:

memory/research/search-YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM-[keyword].md

Saved Content:

• Search query
• Timestamp
• Search method used (Brave/DuckDuckGo/claude.ai)
• Search results (links + summaries)
• Extracted insights

Example:

# Web Search: AI Agent Market Size

- **Search Time:** 2026-02-14 07:56 KST
- **Search Method:** web_search (Brave API)
- **Query:** "AI agent market size 2026"

## Results

1. **AI Agent Market to Reach $47B by 2030** - TechCrunch
   https://techcrunch.com/...
   - CAGR 43.2% growth forecast
   - Enterprise agents account for 60%

2. **Korean AI Market Exceeds 1 Trillion KRW** - Chosun Ilbo
   https://chosun.com/...
   - Q1 2026 basis
   - Led by generative AI

...

## Insights

- AI agent market growing rapidly
- Enterprise automation is core driver
- Korean market also active

Usage

General Search