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Web Search Tool

The Web Search tool provides internet search capabilities using DuckDuckGo. It requires no API key and supports general web search, news search, and image search with configurable safe search levels.

Quick Reference

Property Value
Node name tools/web-search
Version 0.1.0
Library duck-duck-scrape
Actions search, searchNews, searchImages
Required config None
Tags search, web, duckduckgo, tools, agentic

Actions

Perform a general web search.

Parameter Type Required Description
query string Yes Search query (must not be empty)
maxResults integer No Number of results to return (1--30, default: 5)
region string No Locale/region code (e.g. en-us)
safeSearch enum No Safe search level: strict, moderate, off (default: moderate)
timeRange enum No Time filter: day, week, month, year

searchNews

Search news articles.

Parameter Type Required Description
query string Yes Search query
maxResults integer No Number of results (1--30, default: 5)
region string No Locale/region code
safeSearch enum No Safe search level (default: moderate)

searchImages

Search for images.

Parameter Type Required Description
query string Yes Search query
maxResults integer No Number of results (1--30, default: 5)
region string No Locale/region code
safeSearch enum No Safe search level (default: moderate)

Output Schema

All actions return the same structure:

Field Type Description
results array Array of { title, url, description } objects
query string The original query
resultCount number Number of results returned
success boolean Always true on success

For searchNews, the description field contains the article excerpt. For searchImages, it contains the image source.

Configuration Reference

Property Type Default Description
maxResultsLimit integer 20 Maximum number of results allowed per query. The effective result count is Math.min(input.maxResults, config.maxResultsLimit).

Safe Search Levels

Level Behavior
strict Filter explicit content aggressively
moderate Standard filtering (default)
off No content filtering

Safety

The Web Search tool has a relatively small attack surface:

  • Result count cap: The maxResultsLimit config prevents excessive result fetching regardless of what the input requests.
  • No API key required: There are no credentials to leak or manage.
  • No outbound writes: The tool only reads search results; it does not submit forms, post data, or modify anything.

Usage Example

import { webSearchNode } from '@flowforgejs/nodes';

const workflow = {
  nodes: [
    {
      id: 'research',
      node: webSearchNode,
      config: {
        maxResultsLimit: 10,
      },
      input: {
        action: 'search',
        query: 'FlowForge workflow automation',
        maxResults: 5,
        safeSearch: 'moderate',
      },
    },
  ],
};

Tip

Combine Web Search with Web Scrape for a full research pipeline: search for URLs, then scrape the top results for detailed content.