Tavily Web Tools

Tavily web tools plugin for OpenClaw. Exposes tavily_search, tavily_extract, tavily_crawl, tavily_map, and tavily_research as agent tools.

The Tavily Web Tools plugin brings Tavily's AI-optimized search infrastructure to OpenClaw, giving your agent five powerful web tools: search, extract, crawl, map, and research. Built by the Framix team, it's the most feature-rich web search plugin available for OpenClaw with over 5,000 weekly downloads — making it the go-to choice for users who need more than basic web search. The plugin was created after Brave killed their free search API tier, leaving many OpenClaw users without affordable web search. Tavily fills this gap with a free tier and results specifically optimized for AI agents — cleaner, more structured, less noise than general-purpose search APIs. Beyond basic search, it adds capabilities that OpenClaw's built-in web_search tool lacks: website crawling (traverse entire sites and extract content), site mapping (discover all URLs before targeted extraction), and deep agentic research (multi-step investigation returning comprehensive reports with citations). Once installed, the bundled skill automatically tells the agent to prefer tavily_search over the built-in web_search — no manual config changes needed beyond the API key. The plugin includes an in-memory cache that deduplicates identical queries within a configurable TTL window, domain filtering (include/exclude specific domains), and topic-specific search modes for news and finance. It gracefully degrades if no API key is configured, going idle rather than throwing errors. Tavily Web Tools is ideal for agents that need to do real research — not just quick lookups, but deep dives involving multiple pages, site analysis, and comprehensive reports. The tavily_research tool is particularly powerful, running multi-step agentic research with structured output and citation formatting. For simple web lookups, the built-in Brave search or Ollama web search may suffice, but for serious research workflows, Tavily is the clear choice.

Tags: search, tool, web

Use Cases

  • Deep research workflows — multi-step investigation producing comprehensive reports with citations
  • Competitor analysis — crawl competitor websites, extract content, and map site structures
  • Content creation — research topics thoroughly before writing blog posts or articles
  • Documentation lookup — search and extract specific information from technical documentation
  • News monitoring — search recent news with time_range filtering for daily briefings
  • SEO analysis — map site URLs and extract content to analyze site structure

Tips

  • Get a free API key at app.tavily.com — the free tier is generous enough for personal use
  • Use 'basic' searchDepth for quick lookups and 'advanced' for thorough research
  • tavily_map first, then tavily_extract on specific URLs — more efficient than crawling everything
  • Use domain filtering (include_domains/exclude_domains) to focus searches on trusted sources
  • Set topic to 'news' for current events or 'finance' for financial data for better results
  • The tavily_research tool with output_schema produces structured JSON reports — great for automated workflows
  • Pair with a memory plugin so research results persist across sessions

Known Issues & Gotchas

  • The agent may still try to use the built-in web_search alongside tavily_search — the skill helps but isn't foolproof
  • Some users report Brave API key missing errors even with Tavily installed — ensure the skill is properly loaded
  • tavily_research uses significantly more API credits than basic search — monitor usage on advanced tier
  • Cache TTL defaults to 15 minutes — identical queries within that window return cached results, which can be stale for fast-moving topics
  • The 'advanced' search depth is more thorough but slower and uses more credits than 'basic'
  • Site crawling with large max_depth/max_breadth values can quickly consume your API quota
  • The plugin needs TAVILY_API_KEY env var OR apiKey in config — setting both can cause confusion

Alternatives

  • Ollama Web Search
  • Brave Search (built-in)
  • Free Web Search (SearXNG)

Community Feedback

I put together an open-source plugin that gives OpenClaw access to the full Tavily API. Been using it daily and it's been solid. Brave killed their free search API tier. Tavily still has one, and their results are specifically optimized for AI agents — cleaner, more structured, less noise.

— Reddit r/openclaw

I use the tavily web search skill and OpenClaw is constantly telling me its Brave API key is missing. This is despite a skill for search and a tavily plugin.

— Reddit r/openclaw

Now testing a few search APIs for agents (Tavily, Linkup, Exa). So far Linkup's been the best combo of performance + cost for me.

— Reddit r/openclaw

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Tavily API free?

Yes, Tavily offers a free tier with limited monthly searches. Sign up at app.tavily.com to get your API key. The free tier is generous enough for personal use. Paid plans unlock higher limits and advanced features.

How is this different from OpenClaw's built-in web_search?

The built-in web_search uses the Brave API for basic search queries. Tavily adds five tools: search (with AI answers), extract (clean content from URLs), crawl (traverse sites), map (discover URLs), and research (deep multi-step investigation). It's significantly more powerful for research workflows.

Does the agent automatically prefer Tavily over built-in search?

Yes. The plugin bundles a skill that instructs the agent to prefer tavily_search over the built-in web_search. However, some users report the agent occasionally still referencing Brave — ensure the plugin is properly installed and the gateway restarted.

What is tavily_research and when should I use it?

tavily_research runs a deep agentic research task — it searches multiple sources, cross-references information, and produces a comprehensive report with citations. Use it for thorough research questions, competitive analysis, or when you need a well-sourced report. It takes 30-60+ seconds and uses more API credits.

Can I use Tavily alongside OpenClaw's built-in web_fetch?

Yes. tavily_extract and the built-in web_fetch serve similar purposes (extracting content from URLs), but they coexist without conflict. Tavily extract offers reranking by query relevance, while web_fetch is simpler and doesn't require an API key.

How do I crawl an entire website?

Use tavily_crawl with a root URL. Set max_depth (1-5) and max_breadth (1-500) to control scope. For efficiency, use tavily_map first to discover URLs, then tavily_extract on specific pages you need — this saves API credits compared to crawling everything.

Configuration Examples

Basic setup with free tier

{
  "plugins": {
    "entries": {
      "openclaw-tavily": {
        "enabled": true,
        "config": {
          "apiKey": "tvly-YOUR_API_KEY"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Advanced configuration

{
  "plugins": {
    "entries": {
      "openclaw-tavily": {
        "enabled": true,
        "config": {
          "apiKey": "tvly-YOUR_API_KEY",
          "searchDepth": "advanced",
          "maxResults": 10,
          "includeAnswer": true,
          "includeRawContent": false,
          "timeoutSeconds": 30,
          "cacheTtlMinutes": 15
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Environment variable setup

# Set in shell profile:
export TAVILY_API_KEY=tvly-YOUR_API_KEY

# Config only needs:
{
  "plugins": {
    "entries": {
      "openclaw-tavily": {
        "enabled": true
      }
    }
  }
}

Installation

openclaw plugins install openclaw-tavily