Search Commands

The search command allows you to integrate web search capabilities into your LLM prompts, providing real-time information and context from 6 different search providers.

Overview

lc search [SUBCOMMAND]

The search functionality supports 6 search providers with automatic type detection and can be used both as a standalone search tool and integrated into your LLM prompts.

Supported Search Providers

Provider	URL Pattern	API Key Required	Special Features
Brave	api.search.brave.com	✅ Yes	Fast, independent search
Exa	api.exa.ai	✅ Yes	AI-powered neural search
Serper	google.serper.dev	✅ Yes	Google search results
SerpApi	serpapi.com	✅ Yes	Rich metadata, comprehensive results
DuckDuckGo	api.duckduckgo.com	❌ Free	No API key needed
Jina AI	s.jina.ai	✅ Yes	AI search + full content reading

Subcommands

Provider Management

Add a Search Provider

lc search provider add <NAME> <URL>
# or
lc search p a <NAME> <URL>

Add a new search provider with automatic type detection from the URL pattern.

Examples:

# Add Brave Search (auto-detected as 'brave')
lc search provider add brave https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search

# Add Exa Search (auto-detected as 'exa')
lc search provider add exa https://api.exa.ai/search

# Add Serper (auto-detected as 'serper')
lc search provider add serper https://google.serper.dev/search

# Add SerpApi (auto-detected as 'serpapi')
lc search provider add serpapi https://serpapi.com/search

# Add DuckDuckGo (auto-detected as 'duckduckgo')
lc search provider add ddg https://api.duckduckgo.com/

# Add Jina AI (auto-detected as 'jina')
lc search provider add jina https://s.jina.ai/

List Search Providers

lc search provider list
# or
lc search p l

Display all configured search providers and their status.

Delete a Search Provider

lc search provider delete <NAME>
# or
lc search p d <NAME>

Remove a search provider from your configuration.

Set Provider Headers

lc search provider set <PROVIDER> <HEADER_NAME> <HEADER_VALUE>
# or
lc search p s <PROVIDER> <HEADER_NAME> <HEADER_VALUE>

Configure authentication headers and options for a search provider.

Direct Search

lc search query <PROVIDER> <QUERY> [OPTIONS]

Perform a direct search using the specified provider.

Options:

• -f, --format <FORMAT>: Output format (json or md/markdown, default: md)
• -n, --count <COUNT>: Number of results to return (default: 5)

Examples:

# Markdown output (default)
lc search query brave "rust programming language"

# JSON output
lc search query jina "quantum computing" -f json

# Get 10 results
lc search query ddg "AI research papers" -n 10

Integration with LLM Prompts

Using --use-search Flag

The --use-search flag allows you to automatically include search results as context in your LLM prompts:

lc --use-search <PROVIDER> "Your prompt here"

Examples:

# Use default search query (your prompt)
lc --use-search brave "What are the latest developments in quantum computing?"

# Specify custom search query
lc --use-search "jina:quantum computing 2024" "Summarize the recent breakthroughs"

Search Query Formats

When using --use-search, you can specify the search in two ways:

1. Provider only: Uses your prompt as the search query

   lc --use-search brave "What is happening with AI regulation?"

2. Provider:query: Uses a specific search query

   lc --use-search "brave:AI regulation EU 2024" "Analyze the implications"

Configuration

Set Default Search Provider

lc config set search <PROVIDER>

Set a default search provider for use with --use-search:

lc config set search brave

Get Default Search Provider

lc config get search

Delete Default Search Provider

lc config delete search

Complete Setup Examples

Brave Search Setup

# 1. Add Brave as a search provider (auto-detected)
lc search provider add brave https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search

# 2. Set your API key
lc search provider set brave X-Subscription-Token YOUR_BRAVE_API_KEY

# 3. Set as default provider (optional)
lc config set search brave

# 4. Test direct search
lc search query brave "OpenAI GPT-4" -f json

# 5. Use in LLM prompts
lc --use-search brave "What are the latest AI safety developments?"

Exa Setup

# 1. Add Exa as a search provider (auto-detected)
lc search provider add exa https://api.exa.ai/search

# 2. Set your API key
lc search provider set exa x-api-key YOUR_EXA_API_KEY

# 3. Test direct search
lc search query exa "machine learning best practices" -f json

# 4. Use in LLM prompts
lc --use-search exa "What are the latest developments in neural networks?"

Serper Setup

# 1. Add Serper as a search provider (auto-detected)
lc search provider add serper https://google.serper.dev/search

# 2. Set your API key
lc search provider set serper X-API-KEY YOUR_SERPER_API_KEY

# 3. Test direct search
lc search query serper "latest AI developments" -f json

# 4. Use in LLM prompts
lc --use-search serper "What are the current trends in artificial intelligence?"

SerpApi Setup

# 1. Add SerpApi as a search provider (auto-detected)
lc search provider add serpapi https://serpapi.com/search

# 2. Set your API key
lc search provider set serpapi api_key YOUR_SERPAPI_KEY

# 3. Test direct search
lc search query serpapi "machine learning research 2024" -f json

# 4. Use in LLM prompts
lc --use-search serpapi "Summarize recent ML breakthroughs"

DuckDuckGo Setup (Free!)

# 1. Add DuckDuckGo as a search provider (auto-detected)
lc search provider add ddg https://api.duckduckgo.com/

# 2. No API key required! ✅

# 3. Test direct search
lc search query ddg "rust programming tutorials" -f json

# 4. Use in LLM prompts
lc --use-search ddg "What are good resources for learning Rust?"

Jina AI Setup (Advanced Features)

# 1. Add Jina AI as a search provider (auto-detected)
lc search provider add jina https://s.jina.ai/

# 2. Set your API key
lc search provider set jina Authorization YOUR_JINA_API_KEY

# 3. Test basic search
lc search query jina "rust async programming" -f json

# 4. Enable full content reading (X-Engine: direct)
lc search provider set jina X-Engine direct

# 5. Test with full content (much richer results!)
lc search query jina "rust async programming" -f json

# 6. Enable JSON format for structured responses
lc search provider set jina Accept application/json

# 7. Use in LLM prompts with rich content
lc --use-search jina "Explain Rust async programming concepts"

Provider-Specific Features

Jina AI Advanced Features

Jina AI offers unique capabilities beyond standard search:

Full Content Reading

Enable X-Engine: direct to get complete page content instead of just snippets:

# Enable full content reading
lc search provider set jina X-Engine direct

# Now searches return full page content (much richer!)
lc search query jina "topic" -f json

Benefits:

• ✅ Complete article content (thousands of characters)
• ✅ No need to visit individual URLs
• ✅ Perfect for research and AI analysis
• ⚠️ Slower response times
• ⚠️ Higher API costs

Response Formats

# Text format (default)
lc search query jina "topic"

# JSON format
lc search provider set jina Accept application/json
lc search query jina "topic" -f json

DuckDuckGo (Free Option)

DuckDuckGo is the only provider that requires no API key:

# Just add and use - no authentication needed!
lc search provider add ddg https://api.duckduckgo.com/
lc search query ddg "your search query"

Perfect for:

• ✅ Testing search functionality
• ✅ Users without API budgets
• ✅ Privacy-focused searches
• ⚠️ Limited to basic instant answers

Provider Comparison

Feature	Brave	Exa	Serper	SerpApi	DuckDuckGo	Jina AI
Cost	Paid	Paid	Paid	Paid	Free	Paid
Search Quality	High	AI-Enhanced	Google Results	Google Results	Basic	AI-Enhanced
Speed	Fast	Fast	Fast	Fast	Fast	Fast/Slow*
Rich Snippets	✅	✅	✅	✅	Limited	✅
Full Content	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅*
Metadata	✅	✅	✅	✅	Limited	✅

*With X-Engine: direct enabled

Authentication Headers

Each provider uses different authentication methods:

Provider	Header Name	Format	Example
Brave	X-Subscription-Token	Direct	YOUR_API_KEY
Exa	x-api-key	Direct	YOUR_API_KEY
Serper	X-API-KEY	Direct	YOUR_API_KEY
SerpApi	api_key	Query Param	YOUR_API_KEY
DuckDuckGo	None	N/A	No auth required
Jina AI	Authorization	Bearer	Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

Tips and Best Practices

1. Start with DuckDuckGo: Test search functionality for free before getting API keys
2. API Keys: Store your API keys securely and never commit them to version control
3. Result Count: For general queries, 3-5 results are sufficient. For research, consider 10+
4. Query Optimization: Be specific with your search queries for better results
5. Provider Selection:
   • Use DuckDuckGo for free basic searches
   • Use Brave/Serper for general web search
   • Use Exa for AI-enhanced content discovery
   • Use Jina AI for research requiring full content
6. Rate Limits: Be aware of your search provider's rate limits and pricing
7. Jina Full Content: Only enable X-Engine: direct when you need comprehensive content

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. 401 Unauthorized: Check your API key and header format

   # Check current providers
   lc search provider list
   
   # Set correct API key for each provider
   lc search provider set brave X-Subscription-Token YOUR_KEY
   lc search provider set jina Authorization YOUR_KEY

2. Auto-detection failed: Ensure you're using the correct URL pattern

   # These URLs will auto-detect correctly:
   lc search provider add brave https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search
   lc search provider add jina https://s.jina.ai/
   lc search provider add ddg https://api.duckduckgo.com/

3. No results found: Try a different provider or check your query

   # Test with free DuckDuckGo first
   lc search query ddg "test query"

4. Jina parsing errors: Check if you need both headers for JSON + full content

   lc search provider set jina Accept application/json
   lc search provider set jina X-Engine direct

Examples

Research Assistant with Full Content

# Use Jina with full content reading for comprehensive research
lc search provider set jina X-Engine direct
lc --use-search "jina:latest machine learning papers arxiv 2024" \
  "Summarize the most important recent developments in machine learning"

Free News Analysis

# Use free DuckDuckGo for basic news queries
lc --use-search ddg "What happened in tech news today?"

Fact Checking with Google Results

# Use Serper for Google-quality fact checking
lc --use-search "serper:climate change statistics 2024" \
  "Verify and explain the latest climate data"

AI-Enhanced Content Discovery

# Use Exa for AI-powered content discovery
lc --use-search "exa:best practices machine learning 2024" \
  "What are the current ML best practices?"

Competitive Analysis

# Use SerpApi for comprehensive competitive research
lc --use-search "serpapi:OpenAI competitors 2024" \
  "Analyze the current competitive landscape in AI"

Getting API Keys

Free Option

• DuckDuckGo: No API key required! ✅

Paid Options

• Brave Search: Get API Key
• Exa: Get API Key
• Serper: Get API Key
• SerpApi: Get API Key
• Jina AI: Get API Key

Start with DuckDuckGo to test the functionality, then choose paid providers based on your specific needs!