Tavily Research

Comprehensive research grounded in web data with explicit citations. Use when you need multi-source synthesis—comparisons, current events, market analysis, detailed reports.

Conduct comprehensive research on any topic with automatic source gathering, analysis, and response generation with citations.

Authentication

Get your API key at https://tavily.com and add to your OpenClaw config:

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

Or set the environment variable:

export TAVILY_API_KEY="tvly-YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"

Quick Start

Using the Script

node {baseDir}/scripts/research.mjs "query"
node {baseDir}/scripts/research.mjs "query" --pro
node {baseDir}/scripts/research.mjs "query" --output report.md

Examples

# Quick overview
node {baseDir}/scripts/research.mjs "What is retrieval augmented generation?"

# Comprehensive analysis
node {baseDir}/scripts/research.mjs "LangGraph vs CrewAI for multi-agent systems" --pro

# Market research with output file
node {baseDir}/scripts/research.mjs "Fintech startup landscape 2025" --pro --output fintech-report.md

# Technical comparison
node {baseDir}/scripts/research.mjs "React vs Vue vs Svelte" --pro

Options

Option	Description	Default
--model <model>	Model: mini, pro, auto	mini
--output <file>	Save report to file	-
--json	Output raw JSON	false

Model Selection

Rule of thumb: "what does X do?" → mini. "X vs Y vs Z" or "best way to..." → pro.

Model	Use Case	Speed
mini	Single topic, targeted research	~30s
pro	Comprehensive multi-angle analysis	~60-120s
auto	API chooses based on complexity	Varies

Output Format

The research includes:

• AI-generated answer: Comprehensive synthesis
• Sources: Citations with titles, URLs, and relevance scores
• Metadata: Query, response time, and statistics

Tips

• Research can take 30-120 seconds depending on complexity
• Use --pro for comparisons, market analysis, or detailed reports
• Use --output to save reports for later reference
• The auto model lets Tavily choose based on query complexity