Web Search

BrainyFlow does NOT provide built-in utilities

Instead, we offer examples that you can implement yourself. This approach gives you more flexibility and control over your project's dependencies and functionality.

We recommend some implementations of commonly used web search tools.

API	Free Tier	Pricing Model	Docs
Google Custom Search JSON API	100 queries/day free	$5 per 1000 queries.	Link
Bing Web Search API	1,000 queries/month	$15–$25 per 1,000 queries.	Link
DuckDuckGo Instant Answer	Completely free (Instant Answers only, no URLs)	No paid plans; usage unlimited, but data is limited	Link
Brave Search API	2,000 queries/month free	$3 per 1k queries for Base, $5 per 1k for Pro	Link
SerpApi	100 searches/month free	Start at $75/month for 5,000 searches	Link
RapidAPI	Many options	Many options	Link

Example Code

1. Google Custom Search JSON API

Python

import requests
import os

API_KEY = os.environ.get("GOOGLE_API_KEY") # Use environment variables
CX_ID = os.environ.get("GOOGLE_CX_ID")     # Use environment variables
query = "example"

url = "https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1"
params = {
    "key": API_KEY,
    "cx": CX_ID,
    "q": query
}

if not API_KEY or not CX_ID:
    print("Error: Please set GOOGLE_API_KEY and GOOGLE_CX_ID environment variables.")
else:
    try:
        response = requests.get(url, params=params)
        response.raise_for_status() # Raise an exception for bad status codes
        results = response.json()
        print(results)
    except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
        print(f"Error fetching Google search results: {e}")

TypeScript

async function searchGoogle(query: string): Promise<any> {
  const apiKey = process.env.GOOGLE_API_KEY // Use environment variables
  const cxId = process.env.GOOGLE_CX_ID // Use environment variables

  if (!apiKey || !cxId) {
    console.error('Error: Please set GOOGLE_API_KEY and GOOGLE_CX_ID environment variables.')
    return null
  }

  const url = new URL('https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1')
  url.searchParams.append('key', apiKey)
  url.searchParams.append('cx', cxId)
  url.searchParams.append('q', query)

  try {
    const response = await fetch(url.toString())
    if (!response.ok) {
      throw new Error(`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`)
    }
    const results = await response.json()
    console.log(results)
    return results
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error fetching Google search results:', error)
    return null
  }
}

// Example usage:
// searchGoogle("example");

2. Bing Web Search API

Python

import requests
import os

SUBSCRIPTION_KEY = os.environ.get("BING_API_KEY") # Use environment variables
query = "example"

url = "https://api.bing.microsoft.com/v7.0/search"
headers = {"Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key": SUBSCRIPTION_KEY}
params = {"q": query}

if not SUBSCRIPTION_KEY:
    print("Error: Please set BING_API_KEY environment variable.")
else:
    try:
        response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, params=params)
        response.raise_for_status()
        results = response.json()
        print(results)
    except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
        print(f"Error fetching Bing search results: {e}")

TypeScript

async function searchBing(query: string): Promise<any> {
  const subscriptionKey = process.env.BING_API_KEY // Use environment variables

  if (!subscriptionKey) {
    console.error('Error: Please set BING_API_KEY environment variable.')
    return null
  }

  const url = new URL('https://api.bing.microsoft.com/v7.0/search')
  url.searchParams.append('q', query)

  const headers = {
    'Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key': subscriptionKey,
  }

  try {
    const response = await fetch(url.toString(), { headers })
    if (!response.ok) {
      throw new Error(`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`)
    }
    const results = await response.json()
    console.log(results)
    return results
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error fetching Bing search results:', error)
    return null
  }
}

// Example usage:
// searchBing("example");

3. DuckDuckGo Instant Answer

Python

import requests

query = "example"
url = "https://api.duckduckgo.com/"
params = {
    "q": query,
    "format": "json",
    "no_html": 1 # Often useful to remove HTML tags
}

try:
    response = requests.get(url, params=params)
    response.raise_for_status()
    results = response.json()
    print(results)
except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
    print(f"Error fetching DuckDuckGo results: {e}")

TypeScript

async function searchDuckDuckGo(query: string): Promise<any> {
  const url = new URL('https://api.duckduckgo.com/')
  url.searchParams.append('q', query)
  url.searchParams.append('format', 'json')
  url.searchParams.append('no_html', '1') // Often useful

  try {
    const response = await fetch(url.toString())
    if (!response.ok) {
      throw new Error(`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`)
    }
    const results = await response.json()
    console.log(results)
    return results
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error fetching DuckDuckGo results:', error)
    return null
  }
}

// Example usage:
// searchDuckDuckGo("example");

4. Brave Search API

Python

import requests
import os

SUBSCRIPTION_TOKEN = os.environ.get("BRAVE_API_TOKEN") # Use environment variables
query = "example"

url = "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search"
headers = {
    "X-Subscription-Token": SUBSCRIPTION_TOKEN,
    "Accept": "application/json" # Good practice
}
params = {
    "q": query
}

if not SUBSCRIPTION_TOKEN:
    print("Error: Please set BRAVE_API_TOKEN environment variable.")
else:
    try:
        response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, params=params)
        response.raise_for_status()
        results = response.json()
        print(results)
    except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
        print(f"Error fetching Brave search results: {e}")

TypeScript

async function searchBrave(query: string): Promise<any> {
  const subscriptionToken = process.env.BRAVE_API_TOKEN // Use environment variables

  if (!subscriptionToken) {
    console.error('Error: Please set BRAVE_API_TOKEN environment variable.')
    return null
  }

  const url = new URL('https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search')
  url.searchParams.append('q', query)

  const headers = {
    'X-Subscription-Token': subscriptionToken,
    Accept: 'application/json', // Good practice
  }

  try {
    const response = await fetch(url.toString(), { headers })
    if (!response.ok) {
      throw new Error(`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`)
    }
    const results = await response.json()
    console.log(results)
    return results
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error fetching Brave search results:', error)
    return null
  }
}

// Example usage:
// searchBrave("example");

5. SerpApi

Python

import requests
import os

API_KEY = os.environ.get("SERPAPI_KEY") # Use environment variables
query = "example"

url = "https://serpapi.com/search"
params = {
    "engine": "google", # Or other engines like 'bing', 'duckduckgo'
    "q": query,
    "api_key": API_KEY
}

if not API_KEY:
    print("Error: Please set SERPAPI_KEY environment variable.")
else:
    try:
        response = requests.get(url, params=params)
        response.raise_for_status()
        results = response.json()
        print(results)
    except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
        print(f"Error fetching SerpApi results: {e}")

TypeScript

async function searchSerpApi(query: string, engine: string = 'google'): Promise<any> {
  const apiKey = process.env.SERPAPI_KEY // Use environment variables

  if (!apiKey) {
    console.error('Error: Please set SERPAPI_KEY environment variable.')
    return null
  }

  const url = new URL('https://serpapi.com/search')
  url.searchParams.append('engine', engine)
  url.searchParams.append('q', query)
  url.searchParams.append('api_key', apiKey)

  try {
    const response = await fetch(url.toString())
    if (!response.ok) {
      throw new Error(`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`)
    }
    const results = await response.json()
    console.log(results)
    return results
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error fetching SerpApi results:', error)
    return null
  }
}

// Example usage:
// searchSerpApi("example");
// searchSerpApi("example", "bing");