tavily search

Web search returning LLM-optimized results with content snippets and relevance scores.

Before running

Run search directly when tvly is available. Search supports capped keyless access, so do not look for an API key or authenticate before the first request.

If tvly is missing, follow the tavily-cli setup before retrying. If the keyless cap is reached in an interactive session, run tvly login to open browser OAuth, then retry the original search once. In an unattended environment, report the cap and authentication options instead of starting an interactive flow. Do not start a second login immediately after guided setup has completed.

When to use

You need to find information on any topic
You don't have a specific URL yet
First step in the workflow: search → extract → map → crawl → research

Quick start

# Basic search
tvly search "your query" --json

# Advanced search with more results
tvly search "quantum computing" --depth advanced --max-results 10 --json

# Recent news
tvly search "AI news" --time-range week --topic news --json

# Domain-filtered
tvly search "SEC filings" --include-domains sec.gov,reuters.com --json

# Include full page content in results
tvly search "react hooks tutorial" --include-raw-content --max-results 3 --json

Options

Option	Description
`--depth`	`ultra-fast`, `fast`, `basic` (default), `advanced`
`--max-results`	Max results, 0-20 (default: 5)
`--topic`	`general` (default), `news`, `finance`
`--time-range`	`day`, `week`, `month`, `year`
`--start-date`	Results after date (YYYY-MM-DD)
`--end-date`	Results before date (YYYY-MM-DD)
`--include-domains`	Comma-separated domains to include
`--exclude-domains`	Comma-separated domains to exclude
`--country`	Boost results from country
`--include-answer`	Include AI answer (`basic` or `advanced`)
`--include-raw-content`	Include full page content (`markdown` or `text`)
`--include-images`	Include image results
`--include-image-descriptions`	Include AI image descriptions
`--chunks-per-source`	Chunks per source (advanced/fast depth only)
`-o, --output`	Save the JSON response to a file
`--json`	Structured JSON output

Search depth

Depth	Speed	Relevance	Best for
`ultra-fast`	Fastest	Lower	Real-time chat, autocomplete
`fast`	Fast	Good	Need chunks, latency matters
`basic`	Medium	High	General-purpose (default)
`advanced`	Slower	Highest	Precision, specific facts

Tips

Keep queries under 400 characters — think search query, not prompt.
Break complex queries into sub-queries for better results.
Use --include-raw-content when you need full page text (saves a separate extract call).
Use --include-domains to focus on trusted sources.
Use --time-range for recent information.
Verify identity-sensitive facts at the exact primary source. For releases, versions, ownership, or similarly named projects, confirm the official repository or domain instead of trusting a generated answer or package-name match alone.
Read from stdin: echo "query" | tvly search - --json

tavily-search