Youcom Search

you.com web search, deep research, and content extraction for OpenClaw. Free tier for basic search; research and extract require paid API key. Sends queries and URLs to you.com — do not use for internal/private URLs or sensitive data.

you.com Web Search

Free web search, deep research, and content extraction — no mandatory API key for basic search.

⚠️ Data transmission: This skill sends all search queries and submitted URLs to you.com (and ydc-index.io for extraction). Do not use it for internal-only URLs, secrets in query strings, private repositories, regulated data, or paywall/access-control circumvention. Confirm with the user before any paid (youcom_research / youcom_extract) call.

Tools

Need	Tool	Cost	API Key
General web search	youcom_search	Free	❌
Deep research with citations	youcom_research	Paid	✅
Extract content from URLs	youcom_extract	Paid	✅

Quick Start

Free Search (no setup)

python3 scripts/youcom_search.py "search query" --num 5

Research / Extract (requires API key)

export YOUCOM_API_KEY="your_key"
python3 scripts/youcom_research.py "topic" --depth deep
python3 scripts/youcom_extract.py https://example.com/article

Setup

Free Search

No setup required — youcom_search works immediately.

Research & Extract (Paid)

1. Get an API key at you.com/platform/api-keys
2. Add to ~/.openclaw/.env:

   YOUCOM_API_KEY=your_key_here
   

3. Restart the gateway: systemctl --user restart openclaw-gateway

youcom_search — Free Web Search

Use for all general web searches. No API key needed.

python3 scripts/youcom_search.py "query" [--num N]

Option	Description
query	Search term (required)
--num, -n	Results to return, 1–10 (default: 5)
--out, -o	Write JSON to file instead of stdout

Output: JSON with query, count, and results[] (title, url, description, snippets).

Tips:

• Supports search operators: site:reddit.com, filetype:pdf, time:week
• Results include social snippets when available
• Uses python3 urllib — no external dependencies

youcom_research — Deep Research (Paid)

Synthesized answer with citations. Requires YOUCOM_API_KEY.

python3 scripts/youcom_research.py "topic" [--depth lite|standard|deep|exhaustive]

Option	Description
query	Research topic (required)
--depth, -d	lite, standard (default), deep, exhaustive

⚠️ Always confirm cost with user before using paid endpoints.

youcom_extract — Content Extraction (Paid)

Extract clean text from specific URLs. Requires YOUCOM_API_KEY.

python3 scripts/youcom_extract.py <url> [<url>...] [--formats markdown html metadata] [--timeout 10]

Option	Description
urls	One or more URLs (space-separated)
--formats, -f	Output formats: markdown, html, metadata (default: markdown metadata)
--timeout, -t	Crawl timeout per URL in seconds 1–60 (default: 10)

Max 20 URLs per call. Batch larger lists into multiple calls.

When to Use What

Need	Tool
Quick lookup	youcom_search
Comprehensive analysis	youcom_research
Specific page content	youcom_extract
Cloudflare/GitHub blocks	youcom_search — uses browser-fetched results when direct HTTP is blocked

Escalation Order

youcom_search (free) → youcom_research (paid, confirm first) → youcom_extract (paid, confirm first)

When free search is insufficient, escalate to paid research.

Troubleshooting

"YOUCOM_API_KEY environment variable is not set"

The API key is not loaded. Source your .env or restart the gateway:

source ~/.openclaw/.env
systemctl --user restart openclaw-gateway

"HTTP Error 401 / 403"

Invalid or expired API key. Check or regenerate at you.com/platform/api-keys.

"HTTP Error 429"

Rate limit hit. Wait 30 seconds and retry.

"name or service not known"

DNS failure. Check internet connection.

Python Dependencies

No third-party dependencies. Uses Python standard library only:

• urllib.request — HTTP GET/POST
• urllib.parse — URL encoding
• json — JSON parsing
• argparse — CLI argument parsing

API Endpoints Used

Tool	Method	Endpoint
youcom_search	GET	https://api.you.com/v1/agents/search
youcom_research	POST	https://api.you.com/v1/research
youcom_extract	POST	https://ydc-index.io/v1/contents