CrewAI ships with SerperDevTool and a few other built-in search options, but adding a custom search provider gives you control over cost, platform coverage, and response format. Here is how to implement Scavio as a CrewAI BaseTool, with a side-by-side comparison to SerperDevTool and TavilySearchTool.
Custom search tool implementation
Python
import os, requests
from crewai.tools import BaseTool
from pydantic import Field
class ScavioSearchTool(BaseTool):
name: str = "web_search"
description: str = (
"Search the web across Google, Amazon, YouTube, Reddit, "
"Walmart, or TikTok. Returns structured JSON results."
)
api_key: str = Field(default_factory=lambda: os.environ["SCAVIO_API_KEY"])
def _run(self, query: str, platform: str = "google") -> str:
resp = requests.post(
"https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/search",
headers={"x-api-key": self.api_key},
json={"query": query, "platform": platform},
timeout=15,
)
results = resp.json().get("organic_results", [])[:5]
formatted = []
for r in results:
formatted.append(
f"Title: {r.get('title', '')}\\n"
f"URL: {r.get('link', '')}\\n"
f"Snippet: {r.get('snippet', '')}"
)
return "\\n---\\n".join(formatted) if formatted else "No results found."
# Use in a CrewAI agent
search_tool = ScavioSearchTool()Using the tool in a crew
Python
from crewai import Agent, Task, Crew
researcher = Agent(
role="Market Researcher",
goal="Find current pricing and features for CRM tools",
backstory="You research software tools by searching multiple platforms.",
tools=[ScavioSearchTool()],
verbose=True,
)
task = Task(
description="Research the top 5 CRM tools for startups in 2026. "
"Include current pricing and key differentiators.",
expected_output="A structured comparison of 5 CRM tools with pricing.",
agent=researcher,
)
crew = Crew(agents=[researcher], tasks=[task], verbose=True)
result = crew.kickoff()
print(result)Comparison: SerperDevTool vs Tavily vs Scavio
- SerperDevTool: built into CrewAI, Google-only, $0.001/search (Serper pricing), simple setup
- TavilySearchTool: built into CrewAI, AI-summarized, 1K free/mo then $0.008/search, single-platform
- ScavioSearchTool (custom): multi-platform (6 platforms), $0.005/search, structured JSON, requires BaseTool implementation
Multi-platform CrewAI agent
Python
class MultiPlatformSearchTool(BaseTool):
name: str = "multi_platform_search"
description: str = (
"Search across multiple platforms simultaneously. "
"Supports: google, amazon, youtube, reddit, walmart, tiktok."
)
api_key: str = Field(default_factory=lambda: os.environ["SCAVIO_API_KEY"])
def _run(self, query: str, platforms: str = "google,reddit") -> str:
all_results = []
for platform in platforms.split(","):
resp = requests.post(
"https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/search",
headers={"x-api-key": self.api_key},
json={"query": query, "platform": platform.strip()},
timeout=15,
)
results = resp.json().get("organic_results", [])[:3]
for r in results:
all_results.append(
f"[{platform.strip().upper()}] {r.get('title', '')}: {r.get('link', '')}"
)
return "\\n".join(all_results) if all_results else "No results found."When to swap search providers
Use SerperDevTool when your agent only needs Google results and cost is the priority. Use TavilySearchTool when your agent needs pre-summarized context for reasoning tasks. Use a custom Scavio tool when your agent needs multi-platform data (comparing Amazon products, checking Reddit sentiment, and searching Google in the same task). The swap takes 5 minutes -- change the tool class and update the environment variable.