Easy Search Skill

A powerful web search skill that doesn't require API keys. It uses direct HTTP requests and the duckduckgo_search library for reliable results.

Features

• No API key required - Uses public search interfaces
• 9 search engines - Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Baidu, Sogou, 360, Brave, Yandex, Startpage
• Auto engine selection - Automatically picks the best available engine
• Snippet extraction - Get result previews, not just titles
• Time filtering - Filter by day/week/month/year
• Interactive mode - Continuous searching with live engine switching
• Network diagnostics - Built-in connectivity checking and proxy hints
• Proxy support - Respects ALL_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY environment variables
• Result caching - Faster repeated searches
• Smart failover - Auto-switches to backup engines on failure

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• Optional: pip install duckduckgo-search requests for better results

Commands

Basic Search

# Simple search (positional argument)
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py Python tutorial

# With flag
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py --query "your search terms"

# Specify engine
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "AI news" --engine bing

# More results
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "React hooks" --results 10

# JSON output (default)
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "Vue.js" --format json

# Markdown output
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "machine learning" --format md

# Simple output (quick reading)
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "Docker" --format simple

# CSV output
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "Kubernetes" --format csv

Time Filtering

# News from last 24 hours
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "AI news" --time day

# Results from last week
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "React 19" --time week

# Results from last month
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "Python 3.13" --time month

# Results from last year
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "best laptops 2024" --time year

Interactive Mode

# Start interactive mode
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py --interactive

# In interactive mode:
# [auto]> Python tutorial          # Search with auto engine
# [auto]> :engine duckduckgo       # Change engine
# [duckduckgo]> React hooks        # Search with new engine
# [duckduckgo]> :format simple     # Change output format
# [duckduckgo]> :check             # Check engine health
# [duckduckgo]> :quit              # Exit

Network Diagnostics

# Run network diagnostics
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py --diagnose

# Check which engines are available
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py --check-engines

Engine Management

# Clear cache
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py --clear-cache

# Disable auto-fallback (stay on specified engine)
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "query" --engine google --no-fallback

Search Engines

Output Formats

JSON

{
  "query": "search terms",
  "engine": "bing",
  "method": "HTML scraping",
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "Result Title",
      "url": "https://example.com",
      "snippet": "Brief description..."
    }
  ],
  "total": 5
}

Markdown

## Search Results: your terms

Engine: **BING**
Method: _HTML scraping_

1. [Result Title](https://example.com)
   > Brief description...

2. [Another Title](https://another.com)
   > More info...

Simple

1. Result Title
   https://example.com
   Brief description...

2. Another Title
   https://another.com
   More info...

Examples

# Quick search for documentation
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "Python requests library docs"

# Search Chinese content with Sogou
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "人工智能最新进展" --engine sogou

# Get recent news in markdown format
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "OpenAI news" --time day --format md

# Use interactive mode for multiple searches
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py -i

# Search with time filter
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "React 19 features" --time month --results 10

Proxy Configuration

Set environment variables for proxy support:

# Set proxy
export ALL_PROXY="http://127.0.0.1:7890"
export HTTPS_PROXY="http://127.0.0.1:7890"

# Then run search
python3 {baseDir}/scripts/search.py "your query"

Troubleshooting

Tips for Best Results

1. Use auto engine - Let the tool pick the best available engine
2. Install dependencies - pip install duckduckgo-search requests for better reliability
3. Use time filters - For news and recent topics, use --time day or --time week
4. Try Chinese engines - Use sogou or so360 for Chinese content
5. Interactive mode - Great for multiple related searches
6. Cache is your friend - Repeated searches are instant (1 hour cache)
7. Run diagnostics - Use --diagnose to troubleshoot network issues

Version History

• v1.1.0 - Added Startpage engine with proper parsing, fixed HTML entity decoding in URLs
• v1.0.1 - Added network diagnostics, better proxy hints, improved error messages
• v1.0.0 - Added 4 new engines (Sogou, 360, Brave, Yandex), time filtering, interactive mode, snippet extraction, engine health caching
• v4.0.0 - Integrated duckduckgo_search library, auto engine selection
• v1.0.0 - Initial release with basic search