free_search
Search the web with configurable search engines and automatic fallback. Provides deduplicated results with confidence and relevance signals for quick fact-finding.
Instructions
Search the web with an explicit adapter set and bounded fallback.
Best for: Quick fact-finding, general search, when date/domain filters are not needed. Not recommended for: Filtered or verified-only results — use free_search_advanced. For full page content — use free_extract.
Twelve adapters are selectable; the default request uses DuckDuckGo + Sogou only. Adapters that share one upstream family are tried sequentially on failure and never double-count as corroboration. Explicitly requested optional API adapters run only when credentials are present and the free basket is short or below the quality gate. Results are deduplicated and include separate confidence, relevance, and source-count signals.
@readOnly true @idempotent true — makes outbound HTTP requests to configured search engines. Injection detection and SSRF protection active.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| limit | No | Number of results to return (1-50). Default 10. Higher values increase token usage. | |
| query | Yes | Search query string. Use natural language (e.g., "latest AI news 2026"). For Chinese coverage, include Sogou or Baidu in engines. | |
| engines | No | Search engines to use (default: duckduckgo + sogou). Free engines work without API keys. Optional API engines require their corresponding environment-variable credentials. For Chinese results, include sogou or baidu. |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| meta | Yes | ||
| query | Yes | ||
| engines | Yes | ||
| results | Yes | ||
| cache_hit | No | ||
| rate_limits | No | ||
| security_note | Yes | ||
| partialFailures | No | ||
| detected_language | No |