FastSkills duckduckgo-websearch

Search the web using DuckDuckGo. Use when the user wants to search the internet, find current information, look up facts, search for news, or find websites about specific topics. Triggers include requests like "search for X", "look up Y", "find information about Z", "what is X" (when X may be recent, niche, or unknown), "tell me about Y", "what's the latest on", "news about", or any query requiring up-to-date web information. Also use when the user asks about a specific named entity (product, company, tool, person, event) that might not be in the training data.

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/nj19257/FastSkills

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/nj19257/FastSkills "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/duckduckgo-websearch" ~/.claude/skills/nj19257-fastskills-duckduckgo-websearch && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: skills/duckduckgo-websearch/SKILL.md

source content

DuckDuckGo Web Search

Search the web using DuckDuckGo's search engine. Returns results in JSON format for easy parsing.

Quick Start

This skill uses uv to manage dependencies. The

ddgs

package is automatically installed when you run the script.

# Basic web search
uv run --directory /path/to/duckduckgo-websearch python scripts/search.py "your query here"

# Search with options
uv run --directory /path/to/duckduckgo-websearch python scripts/search.py "query" --num 5 --time w

# Search for news
uv run --directory /path/to/duckduckgo-websearch python scripts/search.py "query" --type news --num 5

Tip: When calling from the skills directory,

{baseDir}

refers to

/Users/leekayiu/Documents/workspace/fastskills/skills/duckduckgo-websearch

When to Use This Skill

Use web search when the user asks:

"What is X?" or "Tell me about Y" (especially if X/Y might be recent or niche)
"Search for..." or "Look up..."
"What's the latest on..." or "News about..."
About a specific named entity you're unsure about (new tools, recent events, obscure topics)
For current information that may have changed since training data

Search Script Usage

The

search.py

script provides web and news search capabilities.

Basic Search

uv run --directory {baseDir} python scripts/search.py "python programming tips"

Search Options

Option	Description	Default
`--num N`	Number of results	10
`--type {web,news}`	Search type	web
`--region CODE`	Region (e.g., us-en, uk-en)	wt-wt (worldwide)
`--safesearch {on,moderate,off}`	SafeSearch level	moderate
`--time {d,w,m,y}`	Time filter	none

Examples

Search recent news:

uv run --directory {baseDir} python scripts/search.py "AI breakthroughs" --type news --time d --num 5

Search for past week:

uv run --directory {baseDir} python scripts/search.py "climate summit" --time w --num 8

Region-specific search:

uv run --directory {baseDir} python scripts/search.py "local restaurants" --region us-en --num 5

Result Format

Results are returned as JSON:

{
  "query": "python programming",
  "total_results": 10,
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "Python Programming Language",
      "href": "https://www.python.org/",
      "body": "The official home of the Python Programming Language..."
    },
    ...
  ]
}

Python API

Use the search functions directly in Python code:

import sys
sys.path.insert(0, "{baseDir}/scripts")
from search import search_web, search_news

# Web search
results = search_web("machine learning", max_results=5)
for r in results["results"]:
    print(f"{r['title']}: {r['href']}")

# News search
news = search_news("technology", max_results=5, time_range="d")

Requirements

This skill requires uv to be installed. The

ddgs

dependency is automatically managed via the

pyproject.toml

file.

Troubleshooting

No Results Returned

Check your internet connection
DuckDuckGo may rate-limit excessive queries
Try a different query or wait a moment before retrying

Notes

DuckDuckGo does not require an API key
Rate limits apply; avoid excessive queries
Results may vary slightly between calls
Some regions may have different result availability