test-repo/skills/tavily-web-research/SKILL.md

Tavily Web Research

Download and extract web articles using Tavily via mcporter.

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

• Download articles from URLs for research
• Extract content from websites
• Get full text from paywalled or restricted sites
• Archive web content for later reference
• Research topics from multiple sources

Prerequisites

• mcporter must be installed: npm install -g mcporter
• Tavily must be configured in mcporter:

  mcporter config add tavily "https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=YOUR_API_KEY"
  

Commands

Search the Web

Search for recent articles on a topic:

mcporter call tavily.tavily_search "query=YOUR_SEARCH_QUERY" max_results=5 time_range=week

Parameters:

• query: Search terms (required)
• max_results: Number of results (default: 5)
• time_range: Filter by time - day, week, month, year
• search_depth: basic, advanced, fast, ultra-fast

Extract Article Content

Get full text from a specific URL:

mcporter call tavily.tavily_extract 'urls=["https://example.com/article"]' extract_depth=advanced format=markdown

Parameters:

• urls: Array of URLs to extract (required)
• extract_depth: basic or advanced (use advanced for paywalled sites)
• format: markdown or text

Research a Topic

Deep research across multiple sources:

mcporter call tavily.tavily_research "input=DETAILED_RESEARCH_QUESTION" model=pro

Parameters:

• input: Comprehensive research question (required)
• model: mini, pro, or auto (pro for broad topics)

Examples

Example 1: Search for Recent AI News

mcporter call tavily.tavily_search "query=OpenAI GPT-5 release" max_results=5 time_range=week

Example 2: Extract Article from URL

mcporter call tavily.tavily_extract 'urls=["https://x.com/Voxyz_ai/status/2019914775061270747"]' extract_depth=advanced

Example 3: Research a Topic

mcporter call tavily.tavily_research "input=What are the latest trends in AI agent architectures for 2026?" model=pro

Output Format

Search results include:

• title: Article headline
• url: Source URL
• content: Article summary/snippet
• score: Relevance score

Extract results include:

• raw_content: Full article text
• title: Page title
• url: Source URL

Use in OpenClaw

When asked to research a URL:

1. Use tavily.tavily_extract to get full content
2. Save to a file or process the content
3. Summarize key points for the user

Example workflow:

User: "Research this article: https://example.com"
→ mcporter call tavily.tavily_extract 'urls=["https://example.com"]' extract_depth=advanced
→ Parse results
→ Present summary with key takeaways

Tips

• Use extract_depth=advanced for paywalled sites (better success rate)
• Use format=markdown for cleaner text extraction
• Set time_range=week for recent news
• Tavily has a generous free tier (1000 searches/month)
• Rate limits: ~1 request per second to avoid throttling

Troubleshooting

"Skill not found" error:

• Ensure mcporter is installed: npm install -g mcporter
• Check Tavily is configured: mcporter list

"Rate limit exceeded" error:

• Wait 10-15 seconds between requests
• Tavily limits requests to prevent abuse

Empty results:

• Try extract_depth=advanced instead of basic
• Some sites block crawlers (LinkedIn, etc.)
• Check the URL is accessible publicly

API Key

Get your Tavily API key at: https://tavily.com

Free tier includes:

• 1,000 API calls/month
• Full search capabilities
• Content extraction
• No credit card required