---
description: Use this skill for web search using SerpAPI. Covers general search, image/artwork identification via Google Lens, and other specialized search engines.
---

# Web Search with SerpAPI

You have access to SerpAPI via the `mcp__serpapi__search` tool. It supports many engines — use the right one for the task.

## General Web Search

```json
{"params": {"q": "your query", "engine": "google_light"}, "mode": "compact"}
```

Use `google_light` for most searches (faster, cheaper). Use `google` when you need full results including knowledge graph, AI overview, etc.

## Image / Artwork Identification (Google Lens)

To identify what's in an image (artwork, object, landmark, product, etc.), use a **two-step** Google Lens flow. This is much more effective than `google_reverse_image`, which only returns visually similar images without identifying the subject.

### Step 1: Google Lens lookup

```json
{"params": {"engine": "google_lens", "url": "<public_image_url>"}, "mode": "compact"}
```

- The image URL **must be publicly accessible**. If you only have a local file, upload it first (e.g. to catbox.moe via `curl -F "reqtype=fileupload" -F "fileToUpload=@/path/to/image.jpg" https://catbox.moe/user/api.php`).
- The response includes `visual_matches` and an `ai_overview` object.
- Extract `ai_overview.page_token` from the response.

### Step 2: Get full AI Overview

```json
{"params": {"engine": "google_ai_overview", "page_token": "<token_from_step_1>"}, "mode": "compact"}
```

This returns the full AI Overview text with detailed identification — artist, title, date, medium, provenance, and context for artworks; species, model, landmark name, etc. for other subjects.

### Example: Identifying a painting

```
# Step 1
search(params={"engine": "google_lens", "url": "https://example.com/mystery-painting.jpg"}, mode="compact")
# Response includes: ai_overview.page_token = "abc123..."

# Step 2
search(params={"engine": "google_ai_overview", "page_token": "abc123..."}, mode="compact")
# Response: Full identification with artist, title, year, etc.
```

## Other Useful Engines

| Engine | Use case |
|--------|----------|
| `google_light` | General web search (default) |
| `google` | Full Google search with knowledge graph |
| `google_lens` | Image identification (step 1) |
| `google_ai_overview` | AI overview details (step 2) |
| `google_news` | News search |
| `google_images` | Image search by text query |
| `google_shopping` | Product search and price comparison |
| `google_flights` | Flight search |
| `google_hotels` | Hotel search |
| `youtube_search` | YouTube video search |
| `google_local` | Local business search |
| `google_jobs` | Job search |
