SerpApi Search Provider for OpenClaw

An OpenClaw plugin that adds SerpApi as a web search provider with vertical search routing — the LLM automatically picks the best search vertical (News, Scholar, Images, Shopping, Maps, etc.) as part of its normal web_search tool call.

Features

• 20+ search verticals via a single engine parameter
• Zero extra LLM calls — the model picks the vertical naturally
• Google + alternative engines (Bing, Baidu, Yandex, Naver, DuckDuckGo)
• Structured results with titles, URLs, descriptions, ratings, prices, citations
• Freshness filtering for Google engines (past day/week/month/year)

Supported Engines

| Engine | Alias | What it searches | | ----------------- | ------------ | ------------------ | | google | (default) | Regular web search | | google_news | news | News articles | | google_scholar | scholar | Academic papers | | google_images | images | Image search | | google_shopping | shopping | Products & prices | | google_maps | maps | Local places & POI | | google_jobs | jobs | Job listings | | google_finance | finance | Financial data | | google_patents | patents | Patent search | | youtube | youtube | YouTube videos | | bing | bing | Bing web search | | baidu | baidu | Baidu (Chinese) | | yandex | yandex | Yandex (Russian) | | naver | naver | Naver (Korean) | | duckduckgo | duckduckgo | DuckDuckGo |

Installation

Via npm (recommended)

openclaw plugins install openclaw-serpapi-search

Manual (local path)

Clone this repo and add to your OpenClaw config:

{
  "plugins": {
    "load": {
      "paths": ["./path/to/openclaw-serpapi-search"]
    }
  }
}

Configuration

Add to your openclaw.json:

{
  "plugins": {
    "entries": {
      "serpapi-search": {
        "enabled": true,
        "config": {
          "apiKey": "your-serpapi-api-key"
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "tools": {
    "web": {
      "search": {
        "provider": "serpapi"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or set the environment variable:

export SERPAPI_API_KEY="your-serpapi-api-key"

Config Options

| Option | Env Var | Default | Description | | --------------- | ----------------- | ---------- | ---------------------------------------------- | | apiKey | SERPAPI_API_KEY | — | Your SerpApi API key (get one) | | defaultEngine | — | google | Default engine when LLM doesn't specify one |

Usage

Once installed, web_search calls are routed through SerpApi. The LLM selects verticals naturally:

• "Search for recent AI news" → LLM picks engine: "news"
• "Find papers on transformer architecture" → LLM picks engine: "scholar"
• "How much does iPhone 16 cost" → LLM picks engine: "shopping"
• "Coffee shops near Times Square" → LLM picks engine: "maps"
• General questions → default engine: "google"

Pricing

SerpApi offers a free tier with 100 searches/month. Paid plans start at $50/month for 5,000 searches. See serpapi.com/pricing.

License

MIT