Zero-API-Key Web Search

Use this skill when Gemini needs live information, citation-ready sources, or an explicit support/conflict read on a factual claim. The default path is free; optional providers are discoverable for stronger coverage.

Install

Install the CLI tools first:

pip install zero-api-key-web-search

Core commands

zero-search "latest Python release" --type news --timelimit w
zero-search providers
zero-browse "https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/"
zero-verify "Python 3.13 is the latest stable release" --deep --max-pages 2 --json
zero-report "Python 3.13 stable release" --claim "Python 3.13 is the latest stable release" --deep --json

When to use

• current facts, releases, versions, and statistics
• questions that need sources before answering
• claims that may be supported, contested, or under-evidenced
• cases where a compact evidence report is more useful than raw search results

Preferred workflow

1. Start with zero-search for current or factual questions.
2. Use zero-browse when snippets are too thin.
3. Use zero-verify for support/conflict classification.
4. Use zero-report when you want one citation-ready artifact.
5. Prefer the free ddgs + self-hosted searxng path for stronger provider diversity.
6. Use optional brightdata only when configured or explicitly requested for production reliability, geo-targeting, or stronger provider diversity.

Optional Bright Data provider

export ZERO_SEARCH_BRIGHTDATA_API_KEY="..."
export ZERO_SEARCH_BRIGHTDATA_ZONE="web_search"  # optional
zero-search "AI regulation news" --provider brightdata --type news --region us-en

New Bright Data users can sign up at https://get.brightdata.com/h21j9xz4uxgd.

Limits

• zero-verify is heuristic and evidence-aware, not a proof engine.
• The default provider path is ddgs.
• Bright Data is optional and should not receive queries unless configured or requested.
• Deep verification is stronger than snippets alone, but still not full-document reasoning.