How to Fix OpenWebUI Web Search with Reliable API

# Common OpenWebUI search errors:
# 1. 'Search failed: timeout' - provider rate-limited
# 2. 'No results returned' - CAPTCHA blocked request
# 3. 'Connection refused' - provider endpoint changed

# Check OpenWebUI logs:
# docker logs open-webui 2>&1 | grep -i 'search'

# Test if the issue is the search provider:
import requests, os

API_KEY = os.environ['SCAVIO_API_KEY']
SH = {'x-api-key': API_KEY, 'Content-Type': 'application/json'}

# Quick test: does a structured API return results?
resp = requests.post('https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/search',
    headers=SH, json={'query': 'python web framework', 'country_code': 'us'})
data = resp.json()
print(f'Status: {resp.status_code}')
print(f'Results: {len(data.get("organic_results", []))}')
print(f'Latency: {resp.elapsed.total_seconds():.2f}s')
if data.get('organic_results'):
    print(f'First result: {data["organic_results"][0].get("title", "")}')
    print('API is working. Issue is in OpenWebUI search config.')

import os, requests, json

API_KEY = os.environ['SCAVIO_API_KEY']
SH = {'x-api-key': API_KEY, 'Content-Type': 'application/json'}

def web_search(query, num_results=5):
    """Drop-in replacement for OpenWebUI web search."""
    try:
        resp = requests.post('https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/search',
            headers=SH, json={'query': query, 'country_code': 'us', 'num_results': num_results},
            timeout=10)
        resp.raise_for_status()
        data = resp.json()
        results = []
        for r in data.get('organic_results', [])[:num_results]:
            results.append({
                'title': r.get('title', ''),
                'link': r.get('link', ''),
                'snippet': r.get('snippet', ''),
            })
        return results
    except Exception as e:
        print(f'Search error: {e}')
        return []

# Test the wrapper
results = web_search('latest python release 2026')
for r in results:
    print(f'{r["title"]}')
    print(f'  {r["link"]}')
    print(f'  {r["snippet"][:80]}')
print(f'Cost: $0.005 per search')

# Option 1: Set via environment variables in docker-compose.yml
# services:
#   open-webui:
#     environment:
#       - ENABLE_RAG_WEB_SEARCH=true
#       - RAG_WEB_SEARCH_ENGINE=custom
#       - SCAVIO_API_KEY=your_key_here

# Option 2: Create a custom search tool in OpenWebUI
# Navigate to: Settings > Tools > Add Tool
# Paste this as a tool function:

def openwebui_search_tool(query: str) -> str:
    """Search the web for current information."""
    import requests, os
    SH = {'x-api-key': os.environ.get('SCAVIO_API_KEY', ''),
           'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
    resp = requests.post('https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/search',
        headers=SH, json={'query': query, 'country_code': 'us', 'num_results': 5},
        timeout=10)
    data = resp.json()
    results = data.get('organic_results', [])
    formatted = []
    for r in results[:5]:
        formatted.append(f"Title: {r.get('title', '')}\nURL: {r.get('link', '')}\nSnippet: {r.get('snippet', '')}")
    return '\n\n'.join(formatted) if formatted else 'No results found.'

# Test the tool function
result = openwebui_search_tool('best search api 2026')
print(result)

import time

def verify_search(queries):
    print('=== OpenWebUI Search Verification ===')
    successes = 0
    total_time = 0
    for q in queries:
        start = time.time()
        results = web_search(q)
        elapsed = time.time() - start
        total_time += elapsed
        status = 'OK' if results else 'FAIL'
        if results:
            successes += 1
        print(f'  [{status}] "{q}" -> {len(results)} results in {elapsed:.2f}s')
    print(f'\nSuccess rate: {successes}/{len(queries)} ({successes/len(queries)*100:.0f}%)')
    print(f'Avg latency: {total_time/len(queries):.2f}s')
    print(f'Total cost: ${len(queries) * 0.005:.3f}')

verify_search([
    'python asyncio tutorial',
    'react server components 2026',
    'kubernetes best practices',
    'machine learning framework comparison',
    'latest docker release notes',
])