What It Does

Zero-API-Key Web Search is a local-first, MCP-native search and evidence-verification toolkit for AI agents. It gives your agent live web search, LLM-optimized context extraction, claim verification with weighted evidence scoring, and citation-ready evidence reports — all without requiring an API key by default.

The verification model (evidence-aware-heuristic-v3) classifies sources as supporting, conflicting, or neutral using keyword overlap, domain-quality heuristics, freshness, and optional page-aware rescoring. This project does not perform fact-level proof or logical entailment; it is a signal amplifier for agent grounding decisions.

30-Second Setup

pip install zero-api-key-web-search

# Search the web — no API key needed
zero-search "Python 3.13 release" --json

# Build citation-ready LLM context
zero-context "Python 3.13 stable release" --goggles docs-first

# Read a page
zero-browse "https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/" --json

# Verify a claim
zero-verify "Python 3.13 is the latest stable release" --deep --json

# Full evidence report
zero-report "Python 3.13 stable release" \
  --claim "Python 3.13 is the latest stable release" --deep --json

Legacy CLI aliases (search-web, browse-page, verify-claim, evidence-report) also work.

Your Agent Gets

Provider Paths: Free to Production

Start free, scale when you're ready. Every path works out of the box — no configuration required for the default.

Path 1: Free (Zero Configuration)

Works immediately after pip install. Uses DuckDuckGo — no API key, no account.

zero-search "Python 3.13 release" --json

Path 2: Free Cross-Validated

Add a self-hosted SearXNG instance for dual-provider cross-validation — still free, no API key.

# Start SearXNG locally
./scripts/start-searxng.sh
export ZERO_SEARCH_SEARXNG_URL="http://127.0.0.1:8080"

zero-search "AI regulation" --profile free-verified --json

Or with Docker Compose:

cp .env.searxng.example .env
docker compose -f docker-compose.searxng.yml up -d

Full guide: docs/searxng-self-hosted.md.

Path 3: Production SERP

Bright Data provides professional-grade search across 7 engines with structured results, LLM-friendly markdown output, AI Overviews, mobile device emulation, and geo-targeting for 195 countries. New users get 5,000 free credits.

# Interactive setup wizard — tests your key and zone
zero-setup

# Or set environment variables directly
export ZERO_SEARCH_BRIGHTDATA_API_KEY="your-key"
export ZERO_SEARCH_BRIGHTDATA_ZONE="serp_api1"

# Search across different engines
zero-search "news" --provider brightdata --engine google --type news --region us-en --json
zero-search "news" --provider brightdata --engine bing --type news --region gb-en --json
zero-search "news" --provider brightdata --engine yandex --region ru-ru --json

Supported engines: google, bing, duckduckgo, yandex, baidu, yahoo, naver.

Path 4: Production + Web Unlocker

Access blocked, CAPTCHA-protected, or geo-restricted pages. Uses the same Bright Data API key — just create a Web Unlocker zone.

# Setup wizard handles zone creation guidance
zero-setup

# Or set the zone manually
export ZERO_SEARCH_BRIGHTDATA_API_KEY="your-key"
export ZERO_SEARCH_BRIGHTDATA_ZONE="serp_api1"
export ZERO_SEARCH_BRIGHTDATA_UNLOCKER_ZONE="web_unlocker1"

# Browse automatically falls back to Web Unlocker on 403/429
zero-browse "https://protected-site.com/article" --json

# Or force Web Unlocker
zero-browse "https://protected-site.com/article" --use-unlocker always --json

Path 5: Maximum Evidence

All providers active — DDGS, SearXNG, Bright Data, and Web Unlocker — for the strongest cross-validated evidence.

export ZERO_SEARCH_BRIGHTDATA_API_KEY="your-key"
export ZERO_SEARCH_SEARXNG_URL="http://127.0.0.1:8080"

zero-report "AI regulation news" --profile max-evidence --deep --json

Provider Profiles

zero-search "FastAPI lifespan docs" --profile free-verified --goggles docs-first
zero-context "FastAPI lifespan docs" --profile free --goggles docs-first
zero-report "AI regulation news" --profile production-unlock --json

MCP Server

Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, and any MCP-compatible agent:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zero-api-key-web-search": {
      "command": "zero-mcp"
    }
  }
}

For npm/npx-based MCP launchers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zero-api-key-web-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["zero-api-key-web-search", "zero-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Eight tools exposed:

MCP Tool Parameters

search_web key parameters:

• query (required) — search query
• type — text, news, images, videos, books (default: text)
• engine — google, bing, duckduckgo, yandex, baidu, yahoo, naver (Bright Data only)
• region — region code, e.g. us-en, zh-cn, wt-wt (default: wt-wt)
• profile — provider profile name
• goggles — built-in reranking preset

browse_page key parameters:

• url (required) — page URL
• format — markdown or text (default: markdown)
• use_unlocker — auto (default), always, or never
• max_chars — max content length (default: 50000)

setup_providers key parameters:

• test_brightdata_key — test a Bright Data API key
• test_brightdata_zone — SERP zone name (default: serp_api1)
• test_brightdata_unlocker_zone — Web Unlocker zone name
• test_searxng_url — test a SearXNG instance URL

Interactive Setup Wizard

The zero-setup command guides you through provider configuration, validates API keys and zones, and writes .env files:

# Interactive wizard
zero-setup

# Quick status check
zero-setup --status

# Test a Bright Data API key
zero-setup --test-brightdata YOUR_API_KEY

# Test a Bright Data Web Unlocker zone
zero-setup --test-brightdata-unlocker YOUR_API_KEY --unlocker-zone web_unlocker1

# Test a SearXNG instance
zero-setup --test-searxng http://localhost:8080

Bright Data Integration

Bright Data powers two production-grade capabilities:

SERP API — Multi-Engine Search

Professional-grade search across 7 engines with structured results, LLM-friendly markdown output, AI Overviews, mobile device results, and geo-targeting for 195 countries.

from zero_api_key_web_search.providers import BrightDataProvider

provider = BrightDataProvider(api_key="your-key", zone="serp_api1")

# Google (default)
results = provider.search("Python 3.13", search_type="text", region="us-en")

# Bing, Yandex, Baidu, Yahoo, Naver, DuckDuckGo
results = provider.search("AI regulation", search_type="news", engine="bing")

# Markdown output for LLM consumption
results = provider.search("climate change", data_format="markdown")

Web Unlocker — Access Blocked Pages

Automatically handles CAPTCHAs, anti-bot protection, IP rotation, and JavaScript rendering. Access pages that return 403, require login, or are geo-restricted.