Tavily

Tavily is a search API designed for AI applications. OpenClaw exposes it in two ways:

• as the web_search provider for the generic search tool
• as explicit plugin tools: tavily_search and tavily_extract

Tavily returns structured results optimized for LLM consumption, with configurable search depth, topic filtering, domain filters, AI-generated answer summaries, and content extraction from URLs (including JavaScript-rendered pages).

Property	Value
Plugin id	tavily
Package	@openclaw/tavily-plugin
Auth	TAVILY_API_KEY env var or config apiKey
Base URL	https://api.tavily.com (default); TAVILY_BASE_URL env var or config baseUrl to override
Timeouts	30s search, 60s extract (default)
Tools	tavily_search, tavily_extract

Getting started

1. Install the plugin

   openclaw plugins install @openclaw/tavily-plugin
   
2. Get an API key

   Create a Tavily account at tavily.com, then generate an API key in the dashboard.

3. Configure the plugin and provider

   {
     plugins: {
       entries: {
         tavily: {
           enabled: true,
           config: {
             webSearch: {
               apiKey: "tvly-...", // optional if TAVILY_API_KEY is set
               baseUrl: "https://api.tavily.com",
             },
           },
         },
       },
     },
     tools: {
       web: {
         search: {
           provider: "tavily",
         },
       },
     },
   }
   
4. Verify search runs

   Trigger a web_search from any agent, or call tavily_search directly.

Choosing Tavily in onboarding or openclaw configure --section web installs and enables the official Tavily plugin when needed.

Tool reference

tavily_search

Use this when you want Tavily-specific search controls instead of generic web_search.

Parameter	Type	Constraints / default	Description
query	string	required	Search query string.
search_depth	enum	basic (default), advanced	advanced is slower but higher relevance.
topic	enum	general (default), news, finance	Filter by topic family.
max_results	integer	1-20, default 5	Number of results.
include_answer	boolean	default false	Include a Tavily AI-generated answer summary.
time_range	enum	day, week, month, year	Filter results by recency.
include_domains	string array	(none)	Only include results from these domains.
exclude_domains	string array	(none)	Exclude results from these domains.

For publication metadata, use topic: "news". When Tavily supplies a published_date, OpenClaw returns it as published; GMT news timestamps are converted to ISO 8601. Missing dates, relative ages, and arbitrary text stay absent. A time_range filter is not evidence of a publication date, and returned dates still need source verification for freshness-sensitive workflows.

Search depth tradeoff:

Depth	Speed	Relevance	Best for
basic	Faster	High	General-purpose queries (default).
advanced	Slower	Highest	Precision research and fact-finding.

tavily_extract

Use this to extract clean content from one or more URLs. Handles JavaScript-rendered pages and supports query-focused chunking for targeted extraction.

Parameter	Type	Constraints / default	Description
urls	string array	required, 1-20	URLs to extract content from.
query	string	(optional)	Rerank extracted chunks by relevance to this query.
extract_depth	enum	basic (default), advanced	Use advanced for JS-heavy pages, SPAs, or dynamic tables.
chunks_per_source	integer	1-5; requires query	Chunks returned per URL. Errors if set without query.
include_images	boolean	default false	Include image URLs in results.

Extract depth tradeoff:

Depth	When to use
basic	Simple pages. Try this first.
advanced	JS-rendered SPAs, dynamic content, tables.

Batch larger URL lists into multiple tavily_extract calls (max 20 per request). Use query plus chunks_per_source to get only relevant content instead of full pages.

Choosing the right tool

Need	Tool
Quick web search, no special options	web_search
Search with depth, topic, AI answers	tavily_search
Extract content from specific URLs	tavily_extract

The generic web_search tool with Tavily as provider supports query and count (up to 20 results). For Tavily-specific controls (search_depth, topic, include_answer, domain filters, time range), use tavily_search instead.

Advanced configuration

Tavily web_search and tavily_search use tools.web.search.cacheTtlMinutes for OpenClaw’s local result cache (default: 15 minutes). Set it to 0 to bypass cache reads and writes. A shorter TTL limits reuse of existing entries; a longer TTL does not extend their original expiry. This setting does not control the separate tavily_extract cache.

API key resolution order

The Tavily client looks up its API key in this order:

1. plugins.entries.tavily.config.webSearch.apiKey (resolved through SecretRefs).
2. TAVILY_API_KEY from the gateway environment.

tavily_search and tavily_extract both raise a setup error if neither is present.

Custom base URL

Override plugins.entries.tavily.config.webSearch.baseUrl, or set TAVILY_BASE_URL, if you front Tavily through a proxy. Config takes priority over the env var. The default is https://api.tavily.com.

chunks_per_source requires query

tavily_extract rejects calls that pass chunks_per_source without a query. Tavily ranks chunks by query relevance, so the parameter is meaningless without one.

Related

Web Search overview

All providers and auto-detection rules.

Firecrawl

Search plus scraping with content extraction.

Exa Search

Neural search with content extraction.

Configuration

Full config schema for plugin entries and tool routing.