clawdbot/docs/tools/web.md

summary, read_when

summary	read_when
Web search + fetch tools (Brave Search API)	You want to enable web_search or web_fetch You need Brave Search API key setup

Web tools

Clawdbot ships two lightweight web tools:

• web_search — Brave Search API queries (fast, structured results).
• web_fetch — HTTP fetch + readable extraction (HTML → markdown/text).

These are not browser automation. For JS-heavy sites or logins, use the Browser tool.

How it works

• web_search calls Brave’s Search API and returns structured results (title, URL, snippet). No browser is involved.
• Results are cached by query for 15 minutes (configurable).
• web_fetch does a plain HTTP GET and extracts readable content (HTML → markdown/text). It does not execute JavaScript.
• web_fetch is enabled by default (unless explicitly disabled).

Getting a Brave API key

1. Create a Brave Search API account at https://brave.com/search/api/
2. In the dashboard, choose the Data for Search plan (not “Data for AI”) and generate an API key.
3. Run clawdbot configure --section web to store the key in config (recommended), or set BRAVE_API_KEY in your environment.

Brave provides a free tier plus paid plans; check the Brave API portal for the current limits and pricing.

Where to set the key (recommended)

Recommended: run clawdbot configure --section web. It stores the key in ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json under tools.web.search.apiKey.

Environment alternative: set BRAVE_API_KEY in the Gateway process environment. For a daemon install, put it in ~/.clawdbot/.env (or your service environment). See Env vars.

web_search

Search the web with Brave’s API.

Requirements

• tools.web.search.enabled must not be false (default: enabled)
• Brave API key (recommended: clawdbot configure --section web, or set BRAVE_API_KEY)

Config

{
  tools: {
    web: {
      search: {
        enabled: true,
        apiKey: "BRAVE_API_KEY_HERE", // optional if BRAVE_API_KEY is set
        maxResults: 5,
        timeoutSeconds: 30,
        cacheTtlMinutes: 15
      }
    }
  }
}

Tool parameters

• query (required)
• count (1–10; default from config)
• country (optional): 2-letter country code for region-specific results (e.g., "DE", "US", "ALL"). If omitted, Brave chooses its default region.
• search_lang (optional): ISO language code for search results (e.g., "de", "en", "fr")
• ui_lang (optional): ISO language code for UI elements

Examples:

// German-specific search
await web_search({
  query: "TV online schauen",
  count: 10,
  country: "DE",
  search_lang: "de"
});

// French search with French UI
await web_search({
  query: "actualités",
  country: "FR",
  search_lang: "fr",
  ui_lang: "fr"
});

web_fetch

Fetch a URL and extract readable content.

Requirements

• tools.web.fetch.enabled must not be false (default: enabled)

Config

{
  tools: {
    web: {
      fetch: {
        enabled: true,
        maxChars: 50000,
        timeoutSeconds: 30,
        cacheTtlMinutes: 15,
        userAgent: "clawdbot/2026.1.15",
        readability: true
      }
    }
  }
}

Tool parameters

• url (required, http/https only)
• extractMode (markdown | text)
• maxChars (truncate long pages)

Notes:

• web_fetch uses Readability (main-content extraction) by default and falls back to basic HTML cleanup if it fails.
• web_fetch is best-effort extraction; some sites will need the browser tool.
• Responses are cached (default 15 minutes) to reduce repeated fetches.
• If you use tool profiles/allowlists, add web_search/web_fetch or group:web.
• If the Brave key is missing, web_search returns a short setup hint with a docs link.