Web Search Instant

Web search using DuckDuckGo Instant Answer API (no API key required). Use when you need to search the web for information, definitions, calculations, conversions, or quick facts. Also use when user mentions "search", "look up", "find information", "what is", "how to", or "google something". The skill provides instant answers, definitions, abstracts, and related topics without requiring external API credentials.

Security Scan

The skill is internally consistent with its stated purpose: a small Bash client that queries DuckDuckGo's Instant Answer API, requires no credentials, and has no surprising installs or environment access.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description match the implementation: the main script calls https://api.duckduckgo.com, uses curl/wget (or wget), optionally jq for parsing, and returns instant answers, abstracts, definitions and related topics. Required binaries and optional tools (curl, wget, jq, python3) are appropriate for the task.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md instructs invoking the included shell script and documents options and limitations. Nothing in the instructions directs the agent to read unrelated files or credentials. Minor notes: examples include a hard-coded working-directory path (/home/hxx/clawd/tools) which is environment-specific and unnecessary; SKILL.md suggests installing jq and shows an incorrect npm install example (jq is not an npm package).

Install Mechanism

No install spec — instruction-only plus bundled shell scripts. No network download/install steps are executed by an installer. This is low-risk and proportionate to a CLI utility.

Credentials

The skill requests no environment variables, no credentials, and no config paths. It only requires standard client tools (curl/wget, optional jq, python3 fallback) — all proportional to making HTTP requests and parsing JSON.

Persistence & Privilege

Skill does not request always:true, does not modify other skills or global agent settings, and does not request permanent presence or elevated privileges.

Assessment

This skill appears coherent and limited to querying DuckDuckGo's Instant Answer API. Things to consider before installing: - Privacy: queries (including any sensitive text) are sent to api.duckduckgo.com — avoid sending secrets or private data through the skill. - Runtime tools: the script uses curl or wget to make requests and will use jq if present (or fall back to brittle grep/sed parsing). It also uses python3 as a URL-encoding fallback. Ensure those binaries are trusted on your system. - Minor issues: SKILL.md/test docs reference an absolute path (/home/hxx/clawd/tools) and suggest installing jq via 'npm install -g jq' (incorrect). These are documentation issues, not malicious behavior. - Audit before running: if you plan to install/run the bundled script on production systems, review web-search.sh yourself (it is small and readable) and run the test suite locally. If you need stricter privacy, do not use the skill or route requests through a trusted proxy.

Web Search

Free web search using DuckDuckGo's Instant Answer API. No API key required.

Quick Start

# Basic search
cd /home/hxx/clawd/tools && ./web-search.sh "your query"

# Examples
./web-search.sh "what is artificial intelligence"
./web-search.sh "python programming"
./web-search.sh "define recursion"
./web-search.sh "2+2"

Command-Line Options

Core Options

• -h, --help - Display help message with usage examples
• --format <format> - Output format: text, markdown, plain (default: text)
  • text: Colored terminal output (default)
  • markdown: Clean markdown format (no ANSI colors)
  • plain: Plain text without colors
• --no-color - Disable colored output (same as --format plain)
• --max-related <N> - Control number of related topics to show (default: 5)
• --quiet - Minimal output mode (just results, no headers/footer)

Output to File

Use shell redirection to save results to file:

# Save to file
./web-search.sh "query" > output.txt

# With markdown format
./web-search.sh --format markdown "query" > results.md

# With no colors for logs
./web-search.sh --no-color "query" > search.log

What It Returns

The tool provides several result types:

• Answers - Direct answers for calculations, conversions, weather, etc.
• Abstracts - Wikipedia-style summaries with source and URL
• Definitions - Word/term definitions
• Related Topics - Additional relevant results (configurable, 5 default)

Best Practices

1. Be specific - More specific queries get better instant answers
2. Try variations - If no results, rephrase your query
3. Use for facts - Definitions, calculations, quick lookups work best
4. Check URL - Always provides DuckDuckGo link for full search
5. Use appropriate format:
   • Terminal output: --format text (colored, default)
   • Documentation: --format markdown > file.md`
   • Logs/piping: --format plain or --no-color

Limitations

• No full web search results (only instant answers)
• Some queries return limited results depending on DuckDuckGo's data
• Character encoding issues in some abstracts (known limitation)
• Requires internet access to query DuckDuckGo API
• Not all query types return instant answers (e.g., complex math like sqrt(144))
• Definitions may not always be available for all terms
• Recent news may not appear (DuckDuckGo focuses on evergreen content)

Usage Examples

Basic Search

# Simple query
./web-search.sh "open source AI models"

# Wikipedia-style query
./web-search.sh "what is recursion"

Markdown Format

# Clean markdown output
./web-search.sh --format markdown "python programming"

# Save to markdown file
./web-search.sh --format markdown "AI research" > research.md

Plain/No Color

# For logs or piping
./web-search.sh --format plain "search query"

# Disable colors explicitly
./web-search.sh --no-color "search query"

Control Related Topics

# Show fewer related topics
./web-search.sh --max-related 3 "machine learning"

# Show more related topics
./web-search.sh --max-related 10 "open source"

Quiet Mode

# Minimal output (just results)
./web-search.sh --quiet "what is 42 + 7"

Combined Options

# Markdown, no color, saved to file
./web-search.sh --format markdown --no-color "topic" > results.md

# Quiet with custom related count
./web-search.sh --quiet --max-related 2 "definition"

Tested Scenarios

Tested and verified to work:

• ✅ Calculations: 2+2, 10% of 500
• ✅ Conversions: 100 miles to km
• ✅ Wikipedia queries: what is artificial intelligence
• ✅ Programming: what is python, how to install docker
• ✅ People: who is Elon Musk
• ✅ Scientific facts: speed of light
• ✅ Weather: weather in Tokyo
• ✅ Edge cases: empty queries, special characters, no results
• ✅ Output formats: text, markdown, plain
• ✅ Flags: --help, --format, --no-color, --max-related, --quiet

See test-outputs.md for detailed test results.

Troubleshooting

"No direct results found"

Try rephasing your query or using the provided DuckDuckGo URL for full search.

Network errors

Check internet connection. Tool requires network access.

Character encoding issues

Some abstracts display garbled characters. This is a known issue with basic parsing (install jq for better results).

"jq not found" warning

The tool works without jq using basic text extraction, but installing jq improves JSON parsing:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install jq

# macOS
brew install jq

# Via package managers
npm install -g jq

Output Format

Text Format (default)

• Blue - Headers and search info
• Green - Result markers and content
• Yellow - Sources, URLs, and warnings
• Red - Errors

Use --format plain or --no-color to disable colors.

Markdown Format

Clean markdown with:

• ## headers for sections
• **bold** for emphasis
• - bullet lists
• *italics* for metadata
• [links]() for URLs

Plain Format

No ANSI codes or markdown formatting - suitable for logs and piping.

Requirements

• curl or wget (for HTTP requests)
• Optional: jq (for better JSON parsing)