Tavily Search API - AI Web Search, No API Key Needed

Tavily Search API on Apify.

No API key. No Tavily account. Just a search query.

Get relevance-ranked web search results, AI-generated answers, images, and full page content in 2-5 seconds. Supports 4 search depths, date filtering, domain restrictions, country boosting, and news search.

 

How Tavily Search Works

1. Enter a search query
2. The Actor calls Tavily's Search API with your parameters
3. Results are pushed to Apify's default dataset

That's it. No setup, no configuration, no authentication.

 

Quick Start — Tavily Search Examples

Basic search

{
    "query": "latest AI news"
}

News search with date filter

{
    "query": "tech layoffs",
    "topic": "news",
    "timeRange": "week"
}

Advanced search with AI answer

{
    "query": "best programming languages for data science",
    "searchDepth": "advanced",
    "includeAnswer": "advanced",
    "maxResults": 10
}

Domain-filtered search with full content

{
    "query": "machine learning tutorials",
    "includeDomains": ["arxiv.org", "github.com"],
    "includeRawContent": "markdown",
    "maxResults": 5
}

 

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Tavily Search Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
query	string	The search query to execute.	required
searchDepth	string	Latency vs. relevance trade-off: ultra-fast, fast, basic, advanced.	basic
maxResults	integer	Number of search results (1-20).	5
topic	string	general or news (for real-time updates).	general
includeAnswer	string	AI-generated answer: false, basic, or advanced.	false
timeRange	string	Filter by recency: day, week, month, year.	—
startDate	string	Results after this date (YYYY-MM-DD).	—
endDate	string	Results before this date (YYYY-MM-DD).	—
exactMatch	boolean	Only return results containing the exact query phrase.	false
includeDomains	array	Restrict results to these domains (max 300).	—
excludeDomains	array	Exclude results from these domains (max 150).	—
country	string	Boost results from a country (e.g. united states, germany). General topic only.	—
includeRawContent	string	Full page content: false, markdown, or text.	false
includeImages	boolean	Include image search results.	false
includeImageDescriptions	boolean	Add AI descriptions to images (requires includeImages).	false
chunksPerSource	integer	Content chunks per source (1-3). Advanced depth only.	3

 

Search depth explained

Depth	Latency	Relevance
Ultra-fast	Lowest	Lower
Fast	Low	Moderate
Basic	Balanced	Good
Advanced	Higher	Highest

 

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Tavily Search Output — Structured JSON

Each run produces a single dataset item with the full Tavily search response.

Always returned:

• query — the executed search query
• results — array of ranked search results

Per result:

• url — page URL
• title — page title
• content — relevant content snippet
• score — relevance score (0-1)
• favicon — site favicon URL
• raw_content — full page content (if requested)
• published_date — publish date (news results)

Optional (based on input):

• answer — AI-generated answer
• images — image results with URL, title, and description
• follow_up_questions — suggested related queries

 

Output example

{
    "query": "latest AI news",
    "answer": "Recent AI developments highlight significant advancements...",
    "follow_up_questions": null,
    "images": [],
    "results": [
        {
            "url": "https://www.newsweek.com/nw-ai/ai-impact-...",
            "title": "AI Impact: Are Your Teams Quietly Replacing SaaS?",
            "content": "Meta Platforms is launching a new Applied AI...",
            "score": 0.7339,
            "published_date": "Wed, 04 Mar 2026 16:32:00 GMT",
            "raw_content": null,
            "favicon": "https://www.newsweek.com/apple-touch-icon.png"
        }
    ]
}

 

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Pricing — Pay Per Event (PPE)

Search type	Cost per search
Ultra-fast / Fast / Basic	~$0.02
Advanced	~$0.035

$14.99 per 1,000 basic searches. Volume discounts available for Starter, Scale, and Business plans.

 

Pricing examples

Searches	Depth	Total Cost
10	Basic	~$0.20
100	Basic	~$2.00
100	Advanced	~$3.50

Free tier: 10 basic searches for non-paying users to try the Actor.

 

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Tavily API Integration

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("your_token")
run = client.actor("clearpath/tavily-search-api").call(run_input={
    "query": "best python frameworks 2026",
    "searchDepth": "basic",
    "maxResults": 10,
    "includeAnswer": "basic",
})

dataset = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items
result = dataset[0]

print(f"Answer: {result['answer']}")
for r in result["results"]:
    print(f"  {r['score']:.2f}  {r['title']}")
    print(f"       {r['url']}")

 

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from "apify-client";

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: "your_token" });
const run = await client.actor("clearpath/tavily-search-api").call({
    query: "best python frameworks 2026",
    searchDepth: "basic",
    maxResults: 10,
    includeAnswer: "basic",
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
const { answer, results } = items[0];

console.log("Answer:", answer);
results.forEach((r) => console.log(`  ${r.score.toFixed(2)}  ${r.title}`));

 

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Advanced Tavily Search Examples

Exact phrase search on specific domains

{
    "query": "\"neural architecture search\"",
    "exactMatch": true,
    "includeDomains": ["arxiv.org", "openreview.net"],
    "maxResults": 20
}

 

News monitoring with date range

{
    "query": "startup funding",
    "topic": "news",
    "startDate": "2026-03-01",
    "endDate": "2026-03-08",
    "maxResults": 20
}

 

Full content extraction with images

{
    "query": "sustainable architecture",
    "includeRawContent": "markdown",
    "includeImages": true,
    "includeImageDescriptions": true,
    "searchDepth": "advanced",
    "chunksPerSource": 3
}

 

Country-boosted search

{
    "query": "electric car incentives",
    "country": "germany",
    "topic": "general",
    "maxResults": 10
}

 

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Export Tavily Search Results

• JSON — Programmatic analysis and pipeline integration
• CSV — Spreadsheet reporting
• Excel — Data visualization and dashboards

Export directly from the Apify Console or via API.

 

Automation

• Scheduled runs — Daily, weekly, or custom schedules
• Webhooks — Trigger workflows when search completes
• API — Integrate into existing data pipelines

 

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Use with AI Assistants (OpenClaw, Claude, etc.)

Connect this actor to AI assistants via Apify's MCP server.

Ask your assistant to search the web in natural language.

Setup

1. Go to mcp.apify.com and add clearpath/tavily-search-api to your MCP server
2. Connect the MCP server to your AI assistant (OpenClaw, Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.)

 

OpenClaw example

Add Apify's MCP server to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

{
  "provider": {
    "mcpServers": {
      "apify": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "@apify/actors-mcp-server"],
        "env": {
          "APIFY_TOKEN": "your-apify-token"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Then message your OpenClaw bot on Telegram, WhatsApp, or Discord:

"Search for the latest AI research papers from this week"

"Find news about startup funding in Germany from the last month"

"What are the best React frameworks in 2026? Give me an AI answer too"

The assistant calls the Tavily Search Actor, gets structured results, and responds with ranked links, snippets, and AI-generated answers.

 

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FAQ

Q: Do I need a Tavily account or API key? A: No. The Actor handles authentication. You only need an Apify account.

Q: What's the difference between search depths? A: Ultra-fast and Fast prioritize speed. Basic balances speed and relevance. Advanced returns the most relevant results but costs roughly twice as much.

Q: How is the AI answer generated? A: Tavily uses an LLM to synthesize an answer from the search results. Basic gives a quick summary, Advanced gives a detailed response.

Q: Can I search for news specifically? A: Yes. Set topic to news for real-time coverage of politics, sports, and major events from mainstream media.

Q: What does "exact match" do? A: It ensures results contain the exact quoted phrases in your query, bypassing synonyms and semantic variations.

Q: How does the country filter work? A: It boosts results from the specified country. Only works with the General topic.

Q: What formats does full page content support? A: Markdown (preserves formatting, headings, links) or plain text (stripped formatting). Content appears in each result's raw_content field.

Q: Is there a free tier? A: Yes. Non-paying Apify users get 10 free basic searches to try the Actor. Advanced depth requires a paid plan.

 

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Support

• Email: max@mapa.slmail.me
• Bugs: Issues tab
• Features: Email or issues

 

Legal Compliance

This Actor uses Tavily's official API to retrieve publicly available web search results. Users must comply with applicable data protection regulations (GDPR, CCPA) when processing search results.

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Tavily web search on Apify — no API key, no account, just a query.