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The Parallel plugin provides two Parallel web_search providers, both returning ranked, LLM-optimized excerpts from a web index built for AI agents: Set tools.web.search.provider to parallel-free or parallel to select one explicitly; neither is auto-detected.
Direct OpenAI Responses models (api: "openai-responses", provider openai, official API base URL) use OpenAI’s hosted native web search automatically when tools.web.search.provider is unset, empty, "auto", or "openai" — so they bypass Parallel by default. Set tools.web.search.provider to parallel-free or parallel to route them through Parallel instead. See Web Search overview.

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Install plugin

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API key (paid provider)

parallel-free needs no key but still must be selected explicitly. The paid parallel provider needs an API key:
1

Create an account

Sign up at platform.parallel.ai and generate an API key from your dashboard.
2

Store the key

Set PARALLEL_API_KEY in the Gateway environment, or configure via:

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Config

Environment alternative: set PARALLEL_API_KEY in the Gateway environment. For a gateway install, put it in ~/.openclaw/.env.

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Base URL override

Applies to the paid parallel provider only; parallel-free always uses https://search.parallel.ai/mcp and ignores this setting. Set plugins.entries.parallel.config.webSearch.baseUrl to route paid requests through a compatible proxy or alternate endpoint (for example, the Cloudflare AI Gateway). OpenClaw normalizes bare hosts by prepending https:// and appends /v1/search unless the path already ends there. The resolved endpoint is part of the search cache key, so results from different endpoints are never shared.

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Tool parameters

Both providers expose Parallel’s native search shape so the model fills in a natural-language goal plus a few short keyword queries — the pairing Parallel recommends for best results.
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objective
string
required
Natural-language description of the underlying question or goal (max 5000 chars). Should be self-contained.
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search_queries
string[]
required
Concise keyword search queries, 3-6 words each (1-5 entries, max 200 chars each). Provide 2-3 diverse queries for best results.
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count
number
Results to return (1-40).
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session_id
string
Optional Parallel session id from a previous result’s sessionId. Pass it on follow-up searches in the same task so Parallel groups related calls and improves subsequent results. Max 1000 chars on parallel; the free parallel-free Search MCP caps it at 100. An id past the limit is dropped (paid) or a fresh one is minted (free).
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client_model
string
Optional identifier of the model making the call (e.g. claude-opus-4-7, gpt-5.6-sol), max 100 chars. Lets Parallel tailor default settings for your model’s capabilities. Pass the exact active model slug; do not shorten to a family alias.

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Notes

  • Parallel ranks and compresses results for LLM reasoning utility, not human click-through; expect dense excerpts per result rather than full-page content.
  • Result excerpts come back as the excerpts array and are also joined into description for compatibility with the generic web_search contract.
  • Both providers return a session_id; OpenClaw surfaces it as sessionId in the tool payload so callers can group follow-up searches. A Parallel-generated session id (one the caller did not supply) is excluded from the cache entry, since unrelated tasks with identical queries should not inherit it.
  • searchId, warnings, and usage from Parallel are passed through when present.
  • OpenClaw always forwards a resolved result count to Parallel as advanced_settings.max_results (parallel) or applies count client-side after Parallel’s fixed-size response (parallel-free). The caller’s count arg wins, then tools.web.search.maxResults, otherwise OpenClaw’s generic web_search default (5) — Parallel’s own API defaults to 10.
  • Results are cached for 15 minutes by default (cacheTtlMinutes).
  • parallel-free mints a fresh session_id per call via its MCP handshake when the caller does not supply one; parallel leaves it unset in that case.