Web search

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Quick start

openclaw configure --section web

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

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

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Choosing a provider

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Provider comparison

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Auto-detection

1. Brave — BRAVE_API_KEY or plugins.entries.brave.config.webSearch.apiKey (order 10)
2. MiniMax Search — MINIMAX_CODE_PLAN_KEY / MINIMAX_CODING_API_KEY / MINIMAX_OAUTH_TOKEN / MINIMAX_API_KEY or plugins.entries.minimax.config.webSearch.apiKey (order 15)
3. Gemini — plugins.entries.google.config.webSearch.apiKey, GEMINI_API_KEY, or models.providers.google.apiKey (order 20)
4. Grok — xAI OAuth, XAI_API_KEY, or plugins.entries.xai.config.webSearch.apiKey (order 30)
5. Kimi — KIMI_API_KEY / MOONSHOT_API_KEY or plugins.entries.moonshot.config.webSearch.apiKey (order 40)
6. Perplexity — PERPLEXITY_API_KEY / OPENROUTER_API_KEY or plugins.entries.perplexity.config.webSearch.apiKey (order 50)
7. Firecrawl — FIRECRAWL_API_KEY or plugins.entries.firecrawl.config.webSearch.apiKey (order 60)
8. Exa — EXA_API_KEY or plugins.entries.exa.config.webSearch.apiKey; optional plugins.entries.exa.config.webSearch.baseUrl overrides the Exa endpoint (order 65)
9. Tavily — TAVILY_API_KEY or plugins.entries.tavily.config.webSearch.apiKey (order 70)
10. Parallel — paid Parallel Search API via PARALLEL_API_KEY or plugins.entries.parallel.config.webSearch.apiKey; optional plugins.entries.parallel.config.webSearch.baseUrl overrides the endpoint (order 75)

11. SearXNG — SEARXNG_BASE_URL or plugins.entries.searxng.config.webSearch.baseUrl (order 200)

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Native OpenAI web search

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Native Codex web search

• Configure native search under tools.web.search.openaiCodex
• Set tools.web.search.provider: "codex" to provision Codex Hosted Search as the managed web_search provider for any parent model. Each call runs a bounded ephemeral Codex app-server turn and fails if Codex does not emit a hosted webSearch item.
• mode: "cached" is the default preference, but Codex resolves it to live external access for unrestricted app-server turns; set "live" to request live access explicitly
• Set tools.web.search.provider to a managed provider such as brave to use OpenClaw’s managed web_search instead
• Set tools.web.search.openaiCodex.enabled: false to opt out of Codex-hosted search; other managed providers remain available
• Restricting the Codex native tool surface also keeps managed web_search available
• When allowedDomains is set, automatic managed fallback fails closed if hosted search is unavailable so the native allowlist cannot be bypassed
• Tool-disabled LLM-only runs disable both native and managed search
• tools.web.search.enabled: false disables both managed and native search

{
  tools: {
    web: {
      search: {
        enabled: true,
        // Optional: use Codex Hosted Search from non-Codex parent models too.
        provider: "codex",
        openaiCodex: {
          enabled: true,
          mode: "cached",
          allowedDomains: ["example.com"],
          contextSize: "high",
          userLocation: {
            country: "US",
            city: "New York",
            timezone: "America/New_York",
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

​

Network safety

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Config

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

• choose it with tools.web.fetch.provider
• or omit that field and let OpenClaw auto-detect the first ready web-fetch provider from configured credentials
• non-sandboxed web_fetch can use installed plugin providers that declare contracts.webFetchProviders; sandboxed fetches allow bundled providers and verified official plugin installs, but exclude third-party external plugins
• the official Firecrawl plugin is the only bundled webFetchProviders contributor today, configured under plugins.entries.firecrawl.config.webFetch.*

• the Moonshot API region (https://api.moonshot.ai/v1 or https://api.moonshot.cn/v1)
• the default Kimi web-search model (defaults to kimi-k2.6)

​

Storing API keys

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      brave: {
        config: {
          webSearch: {
            apiKey: "YOUR_KEY", // pragma: allowlist secret
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

export BRAVE_API_KEY="YOUR_KEY"

​

Tool parameters

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x_search

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x_search config

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      xai: {
        config: {
          xSearch: {
            enabled: true,
            model: "grok-4-1-fast-non-reasoning",
            baseUrl: "https://api.x.ai/v1", // optional, overrides webSearch.baseUrl
            inlineCitations: false,
            maxTurns: 2,
            timeoutSeconds: 30,
            cacheTtlMinutes: 15,
          },
          webSearch: {
            apiKey: "xai-...", // optional if an xAI auth profile or XAI_API_KEY is set
            baseUrl: "https://api.x.ai/v1", // optional shared xAI Responses base URL
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

​

x_search parameters

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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

{
  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
• Ollama Web Search — key-free web search through your Ollama host