Tavily AI Search

Overview

Tavily is a search engine specifically optimized for Large Language Models and AI applications. Unlike traditional search APIs, Tavily provides AI-ready results with optional answer generation, clean content extraction, and domain filtering capabilities.

Key capabilities:

• AI-generated answer summaries from search results
• Clean, structured results optimized for LLM processing
• Fast (basic) and comprehensive (advanced) search modes
• Domain filtering (include/exclude specific sources)
• News-focused search for current events
• Image search with relevant visual content
• Raw content extraction for deeper analysis

Architecture

graph TB
    A[User Query] --> B{Search Mode}
    B -->|basic| C[Fast Search<br/>1-2s response]
    B -->|advanced| D[Comprehensive Search<br/>5-10s response]
    
    C --> E[Tavily API]
    D --> E
    
    E --> F{Topic Filter}
    F -->|general| G[Broad Web Search]
    F -->|news| H[News Sources<br/>Last 7 days]
    
    G --> I[Domain Filtering]
    H --> I
    
    I --> J{Include Domains?}
    J -->|yes| K[Filter to Specific Domains]
    J -->|no| L{Exclude Domains?}
    K --> M[Search Results]
    L -->|yes| N[Remove Unwanted Domains]
    L -->|no| M
    N --> M
    
    M --> O{Response Options}
    O --> P[AI Answer<br/>Summary]
    O --> Q[Structured Results<br/>Title, URL, Content, Score]
    O --> R[Images<br/>if requested]
    O --> S[Raw HTML Content<br/>if requested]
    
    P --> T[Return to Agent]
    Q --> T
    R --> T
    S --> T
    
    style E fill:#4A90E2
    style P fill:#7ED321
    style Q fill:#7ED321
    style R fill:#F5A623
    style S fill:#F5A623

Quick Start

Basic Search

# Simple query with AI answer
scripts/tavily_search.py "What is quantum computing?"

# Multiple results
scripts/tavily_search.py "Python best practices" --max-results 10

Advanced Search

# Comprehensive research mode
scripts/tavily_search.py "Climate change solutions" --depth advanced

# News-focused search
scripts/tavily_search.py "AI developments 2026" --topic news

Domain Filtering

# Search only trusted domains
scripts/tavily_search.py "Python tutorials" \
  --include-domains python.org docs.python.org realpython.com

# Exclude low-quality sources
scripts/tavily_search.py "How to code" \
  --exclude-domains w3schools.com geeksforgeeks.org

With Images

# Include relevant images
scripts/tavily_search.py "Eiffel Tower architecture" --images

Search Modes

Basic vs Advanced

Decision tree:

1. Need a quick fact or definition? → Use basic
2. Researching a complex topic? → Use advanced
3. Need multiple perspectives? → Use advanced
4. Time-sensitive query? → Use basic

General vs News

Decision tree:

1. Query contains "latest", "recent", "current", "today"? → Use news
2. Looking for historical or evergreen content? → Use general
3. Need up-to-date information? → Use news

API Key Setup

Option 1: Clawdbot Config (Recommended)

Add to your Clawdbot config:

{
  "skills": {
    "entries": {
      "tavily": {
        "enabled": true,
        "apiKey": "tvly-YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Access in scripts via Clawdbot's config system.

Option 2: Environment Variable

export TAVILY_API_KEY="tvly-YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"

Add to ~/.clawdbot/.env or your shell profile.

Getting an API Key

1. Visit https://tavily.com
2. Sign up for an account
3. Navigate to your dashboard
4. Generate an API key (starts with tvly-)
5. Note your plan's rate limits and credit allocation

Common Use Cases

1. Research & Fact-Finding

# Comprehensive research with answer
scripts/tavily_search.py "Explain quantum entanglement" --depth advanced

# Multiple authoritative sources
scripts/tavily_search.py "Best practices for REST API design" \
  --max-results 10 \
  --include-domains github.com microsoft.com google.com

2. Current Events

# Latest news
scripts/tavily_search.py "AI policy updates" --topic news

# Recent developments in a field
scripts/tavily_search.py "quantum computing breakthroughs" \
  --topic news \
  --depth advanced

3. Domain-Specific Research

# Academic sources only
scripts/tavily_search.py "machine learning algorithms" \
  --include-domains arxiv.org scholar.google.com ieee.org

# Technical documentation
scripts/tavily_search.py "React hooks guide" \
  --include-domains react.dev

4. Visual Research

# Gather visual references
scripts/tavily_search.py "modern web design trends" \
  --images \
  --max-results 10

5. Content Extraction

# Get raw HTML content for deeper analysis
scripts/tavily_search.py "Python async/await" \
  --raw-content \
  --max-results 5

Response Handling

AI Answer

The AI-generated answer provides a concise summary synthesized from search results:

{
  "answer": "Quantum computing is a type of computing that uses quantum-mechanical phenomena..."
}

Use when:

• Need a quick summary
• Want synthesized information from multiple sources
• Looking for a direct answer to a question

Skip when (--no-answer):

• Only need source URLs
• Want to form your own synthesis
• Conserving API credits

Structured Results

Each result includes:

• title: Page title
• url: Source URL
• content: Extracted text snippet
• score: Relevance score (0-1)
• raw_content: Full HTML (if --raw-content enabled)

Images

When --images is enabled, returns URLs of relevant images found during search.

Best Practices

1. Choose the Right Search Depth

• Start with basic for most queries (faster, cheaper)
• Escalate to advanced only when:
  • Initial results are insufficient
  • Topic is complex or nuanced
  • Need comprehensive coverage

2. Use Domain Filtering Strategically

Include domains for:

• Academic research (.edu domains)
• Official documentation (official project sites)
• Trusted news sources
• Known authoritative sources

Exclude domains for:

• Known low-quality content farms
• Irrelevant content types (Pinterest for non-visual queries)
• Sites with paywalls or access restrictions

3. Optimize for Cost

• Use basic depth as default
• Limit max_results to what you'll actually use
• Disable include_raw_content unless needed
• Cache results locally for repeated queries

4. Handle Errors Gracefully

The script provides helpful error messages:

# Missing API key
Error: Tavily API key required
Setup: Set TAVILY_API_KEY environment variable or pass --api-key

# Package not installed
Error: tavily-python package not installed
To install: pip install tavily-python

Integration Patterns

Programmatic Usage

from tavily_search import search

result = search(
    query="What is machine learning?",
    api_key="tvly-...",
    search_depth="advanced",
    max_results=10
)

if result.get("success"):
    print(result["answer"])
    for item in result["results"]:
        print(f"{item['title']}: {item['url']}")

JSON Output for Parsing

scripts/tavily_search.py "Python tutorials" --json > results.json

Chaining with Other Tools

# Search and extract content
scripts/tavily_search.py "React documentation" --json | \
  jq -r '.results[].url' | \
  xargs -I {} curl -s {}

Comparison with Other Search APIs

vs Brave Search:

• ✅ AI answer generation
• ✅ Raw content extraction
• ✅ Better domain filtering
• ❌ Slower than Brave
• ❌ Costs credits

vs Perplexity:

• ✅ More control over sources
• ✅ Raw content available
• ✅ Dedicated news mode
• ≈ Similar answer quality
• ≈ Similar speed

vs Google Custom Search:

• ✅ LLM-optimized results
• ✅ Answer generation
• ✅ Simpler API
• ❌ Smaller index
• ≈ Similar cost structure

Troubleshooting

Script Won't Run

# Make executable
chmod +x scripts/tavily_search.py

# Check Python version (requires 3.6+)
python3 --version

# Install dependencies
pip install tavily-python

API Key Issues

# Verify API key format (should start with tvly-)
echo $TAVILY_API_KEY

# Test with explicit key
scripts/tavily_search.py "test" --api-key "tvly-..."

Rate Limit Errors

• Check your plan's credit allocation at https://tavily.com
• Reduce max_results to conserve credits
• Use basic depth instead of advanced
• Implement local caching for repeated queries

Resources

See api-reference.md for:

• Complete API parameter documentation
• Response format specifications
• Error handling details
• Cost and rate limit information
• Advanced usage examples

Dependencies

• Python 3.6+
• tavily-python package (install: pip install tavily-python)
• Valid Tavily API key

Credits & Attribution

• Tavily API: https://tavily.com
• Python SDK: https://github.com/tavily-ai/tavily-python
• Documentation: https://docs.tavily.com