Web Search Skill — Development skill for Claude Code

web-search-skill

A web search and page-reading skill for coding agents. It drives a real Chrome over the DevTools protocol instead of a search API: there are no keys, and nothing to self-host.

node web.mjs search "vitest fake timers"
node web.mjs read https://vitest.dev/guide/mocking

Searches go through Brave, which links results directly where Google and Bing route every link through a tracking redirect. The browser runs minimized on a profile of its own, which is what keeps bot checks rare. When a check does appear, the window comes up for you to solve it once, and the same search then finishes. `read` loads the page in that browser and turns it into markdown with [defuddle](https://github.com/kepano/defuddle).

macOS first. Linux should work, but it's untested, and the Chrome window is visible there. Windows isn't supported yet.

Install

Clone it into a folder named `web-search` in a directory your agent loads skills from:

# pi and OpenCode both load ~/.agents/skills/
git clone https://github.com/alexwkleung/web-search-skill ~/.agents/skills/web-search

# Claude Code (OpenCode reads this one too)
git clone https://github.com/alexwkleung/web-search-skill ~/.claude/skills/web-search

Then run `npm install` in it once, which `read` needs. `search` has no dependencies. Requires Node 22 or newer.

It's most useful in agents with no web search of their own, which is most local-model setups. Where the agent has a built-in search tool (Claude Code does), the agent will usually use that instead, and this skill is still there for pages that block plain fetching, or when you ask for it.

See [`SKILL.md`](SKILL.md) for what the agent reads.

Status and bugs

This is new, and so far it's been tested on one machine: macOS with Chrome. It drives a real browser and reads a live search page, so it can break when Chrome, macOS or Brave change. If something doesn't work, [open an issue](https://github.com/alexwkleung/web-search-skill/issues) and