DuckDuckGo Search

Free web search using DuckDuckGo. No API key required.

Preferred when web_search tool is unavailable or unsuitable (no FIRECRAWL_API_KEY set). Can also be used as a standalone search tool.

Setup

# Install the ddgs package (one-time)
pip install ddgs

Python API (Primary)

Use the DDGS class in execute_code for structured results with typed fields.

Important: max_results must always be passed as a keyword argument — positional usage raises an error on all methods.

Text Search

Best for: general research, companies, documentation.

from ddgs import DDGS

with DDGS() as ddgs:
    for r in ddgs.text("python async programming", max_results=5):
        print(r["title"])
        print(r["href"])
        print(r.get("body", "")[:200])
        print()

Returns: title, href, body

News Search

Best for: current events, breaking news, latest updates.

from ddgs import DDGS

with DDGS() as ddgs:
    for r in ddgs.news("AI regulation 2026", max_results=5):
        print(r["date"], "-", r["title"])
        print(r.get("source", ""), "|", r["url"])
        print(r.get("body", "")[:200])
        print()

Returns: date, title, body, url, image, source

Image Search

Best for: visual references, product images, diagrams.

from ddgs import DDGS

with DDGS() as ddgs:
    for r in ddgs.images("semiconductor chip", max_results=5):
        print(r["title"])
        print(r["image"])       # direct image URL
        print(r.get("thumbnail", ""))
        print(r.get("source", ""))
        print()

Returns: title, image, thumbnail, url, height, width, source

Video Search

Best for: tutorials, demos, explainers.

from ddgs import DDGS

with DDGS() as ddgs:
    for r in ddgs.videos("FastAPI tutorial", max_results=5):
        print(r["title"])
        print(r.get("content", ""))       # video URL
        print(r.get("duration", ""))       # e.g. "26:03"
        print(r.get("provider", ""))       # YouTube, etc.
        print(r.get("published", ""))
        print()

Returns: title, content, description, duration, provider, published, statistics, uploader

Quick Reference

CLI (Alternative)

Use the ddgs command via terminal when you don't need structured field access.

# Text search
ddgs text -k "python async programming" -m 5

# News search
ddgs news -k "artificial intelligence" -m 5

# Image search
ddgs images -k "landscape photography" -m 10

# Video search
ddgs videos -k "python tutorial" -m 5

# With region filter
ddgs text -k "best restaurants" -m 5 -r us-en

# Recent results only (d=day, w=week, m=month, y=year)
ddgs text -k "latest AI news" -m 5 -t w

# JSON output for parsing
ddgs text -k "fastapi tutorial" -m 5 -o json

CLI Flags

Workflow: Search then Extract

DuckDuckGo returns titles, URLs, and snippets — not full page content. To get full content, follow up with web_extract:

1. Search with ddgs to find relevant URLs
2. Extract content using the web_extract tool (if available) or curl

from ddgs import DDGS

with DDGS() as ddgs:
    results = list(ddgs.text("fastapi deployment guide", max_results=3))
    for r in results:
        print(r["title"], "->", r["href"])

# Then use web_extract tool on the best URL

Limitations

• Rate limiting: DuckDuckGo may throttle after many rapid requests. Add a short delay between searches if needed.
• No content extraction: ddgs returns snippets, not full page content. Use web_extract or curl for that.
• Results quality: Generally good but less configurable than Firecrawl's search.
• Availability: DuckDuckGo may block requests from some cloud IPs. If searches return empty, try different keywords or wait a few seconds.
• Field variability: Return fields may vary between results or ddgs versions. Use .get() for optional fields to avoid KeyError.

Pitfalls

• max_results is keyword-only: ddgs.text("query", 5) raises an error. Use ddgs.text("query", max_results=5).
• Don't confuse -k and -m (CLI): -k is for keywords, -m is for max results count.
• Package name: The package is ddgs (was previously duckduckgo-search). Install with pip install ddgs.
• Empty results: If ddgs returns nothing, it may be rate-limited. Wait a few seconds and retry.

Validated With

Smoke-tested with ddgs==9.11.2 on Python 3.13. All four methods (text, news, images, videos) confirmed working with keyword max_results.