DuckDuckGo search

OpenClaw supports DuckDuckGo as a key-free web_search provider. No API key or account is required.

Setup

DuckDuckGo is never auto-selected, since auto-detection only considers providers with usable credentials. Set it explicitly:

openclaw configure --section web# Select "duckduckgo" as the provider

Config

Set the provider directly in config:

{  tools: {    web: {      search: {        provider: "duckduckgo",      },    },  },}

Optional plugin-level settings for region and SafeSearch:

{  plugins: {    entries: {      duckduckgo: {        config: {          webSearch: {            region: "us-en", // DuckDuckGo region code            safeSearch: "moderate", // "strict", "moderate", or "off"          },        },      },    },  },}

Tool parameters

region and safeSearch tool parameters override the plugin config values above on a per-query basis.

Notes

• No API key -- works once DuckDuckGo is selected as the web_search provider.
• Experimental -- scrapes DuckDuckGo's non-JavaScript HTML search pages, not an official API or SDK. Results depend on page structure, which can change without notice.
• Bot-challenge risk -- DuckDuckGo may serve CAPTCHAs or block requests under heavy or automated use.
• Explicit selection only -- OpenClaw's auto-detect only considers providers with usable credentials, so a key-free provider like DuckDuckGo is never chosen automatically; you must set provider: "duckduckgo".
• SafeSearch defaults to moderate when not configured.

Related

• Web Search overview -- all providers and auto-detection
• Brave Search -- structured results with free tier
• Exa Search -- neural search with content extraction