adolf/docs/tools/duckduckgo-search.md

summary, read_when, title

summary	read_when	title
DuckDuckGo web search -- key-free provider (experimental, HTML-based)	You want a web search provider that requires no API key You want to use DuckDuckGo for web_search You want an explicitly selected key-free search provider	DuckDuckGo search

OpenClaw supports DuckDuckGo as a key-free web_search provider. No API key or account is required.

DuckDuckGo is an **experimental, unofficial** integration that scrapes DuckDuckGo's non-JavaScript HTML search pages -- not an official API. Expect occasional breakage from bot-challenge pages or HTML changes.

Setup

DuckDuckGo is never auto-selected, since auto-detection only considers providers with usable credentials. Set it explicitly:

```bash openclaw configure --section web # Select "duckduckgo" as the provider ```

Config

Set the provider directly in config:

{
  tools: {
    web: {
      search: {
        provider: "duckduckgo",
      },
    },
  },
}

Optional plugin-level settings for region and SafeSearch:

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      duckduckgo: {
        config: {
          webSearch: {
            region: "us-en", // DuckDuckGo region code
            safeSearch: "moderate", // "strict", "moderate", or "off"
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Tool parameters

Search query. Results to return (1-10). DuckDuckGo region code (e.g. `us-en`, `uk-en`, `de-de`). SafeSearch level.

region and safeSearch tool parameters override the plugin config values above on a per-query basis.

Notes

• No API key -- works once DuckDuckGo is selected as the web_search provider.
• Experimental -- scrapes DuckDuckGo's non-JavaScript HTML search pages, not an official API or SDK. Results depend on page structure, which can change without notice.
• Bot-challenge risk -- DuckDuckGo may serve CAPTCHAs or block requests under heavy or automated use.
• Explicit selection only -- OpenClaw's auto-detect only considers providers with usable credentials, so a key-free provider like DuckDuckGo is never chosen automatically; you must set provider: "duckduckgo".
• SafeSearch defaults to moderate when not configured.

For production use, consider [Brave Search](/tools/brave-search) (free tier available) or another API-backed provider.

Related

• Web Search overview -- all providers and auto-detection
• Brave Search -- structured results with free tier
• Exa Search -- neural search with content extraction