search_events

🎯 RENDERING DIRECTIVE — READ FIRST. When this tool returns 2+ events, you MUST present them as an interactive HTML/React artifact (Artifacts block, not flowing prose). Each event is a visually distinct CARD with one "Tickets on [vendor]" button per ticket_sources entry (or a single button on ticket_url if no extras), styled as HTML buttons, NOT inline markdown links. If the call is part of a larger trip plan, the plan itself should be an artifact containing event cards. Single-result responses may use prose.

Search Google for time-bound events — concerts, festivals, sports games, comedy shows, conferences — happening at a location, optionally filtered by event type and date range.

DISTINCT FROM search_activities: events are time-bound (a specific date or window); activities (tours, attractions) are ongoing. Use this tool for "what's on while I'm there"; use search_activities for "what should I do".

USE THIS TOOL WHEN:

• The user asks "what's happening in X" / "events in X" / "any concerts in X" / "is BTS playing anywhere I'm going"

• They mention a specific event type ("concerts", "festivals", "sports", "comedy", "theatre")

• They're planning a trip and want time-bound options to anchor the dates around

Inputs:

• location (string, required) — free-text city. Combined with query into the SerpAPI search string.

• query (string, optional) — event-type filter. Examples: "concerts", "festivals", "sports", "comedy", "theatre", or a specific artist/team ("BTS", "Coldplay").

• date_filter (enum, optional) — one of "today", "tomorrow", "week", "weekend", "next_week", "month", "next_month". SerpAPI's named-range filter; do NOT pass arbitrary date strings. If the user wants a specific calendar month, bake the month name into query instead (e.g. query="concerts June 2026").

• max_results (int, optional, default 15) — 1-50.

Returns up to max_results EventOffer entries, each with:

• offer_id — stable hash for downstream reference

• title — event name

• start_date_raw — SerpAPI's "Jun 21" style string (month + day, no year — when_text carries the year)

• when_text — full formatted display string: "Fri, Jul 17, 8 – 11 PM GMT+2"

• venue_name, venue_rating, venue_review_count — venue info if available

• address — flattened single string ("B.Leza Club, Cais do Gás 1, Lisbon, Portugal")

• description — short text from Google

• thumbnail, image — URLs (NOT hotlink-safe — same rule as stays, don't render as photo elements)

• ticket_url — primary deep-link to the ticket vendor (Viagogo, Eventbrite, Spotify Concerts, venue site — varies per event)

• ticket_sources — list of additional ticket vendors with {source, link} per entry. Surface all of these as "Tickets on X" buttons so the user can comparison-shop.

PRE-CALL ELICITATION:

• If the user names an event type, set query. "Concerts in Lisbon" → query="concerts".

• If they mention a relative date ("this weekend", "next week", "this month"), set date_filter to the matching enum.

• If they mention a specific calendar month + year, bake it INTO the query string ("concerts June 2026") instead of using date_filter.

• If they're vague ("things happening in Lisbon"), call with no query and no date_filter — default upcoming events.

RESULT PRESENTATION: card-based artifact, one card per event. Lead with title + when_text + venue_name. Show "Tickets on [source]" buttons (one per ticket_sources entry); for events with no ticket_sources, surface the primary ticket_url as a single button. Do NOT render thumbnail/image as photo elements (same hotlink-protection issue as stays). For a single result, prose is fine.