Setup & Installation
Or with the ClawHub CLI, for registry-managed skill folders outside a full OpenClaw workspace:
What This Skill Does
Controls a YaCy search engine instance running locally via Docker. Provides tools to start, stop, check status, and run search queries through YaCy's RSS API. Can replace external search APIs like Brave with a fully local alternative.
Unlike API-based search tools, YaCy requires no API key, has no rate limits, and keeps all queries on your local machine.
When to use it
- Running web searches without sending queries to external services
- Replacing Brave Search in OpenClaw workflows with a self-hosted engine
- Checking whether the local YaCy container is currently running
- Starting or stopping the search service from an agent workflow
- Integrating private search results into automated research tasks
Example Workflow
Here's how your AI assistant might use this skill in practice.
User asks: search for 'open source vector databases'
- 1Call yacy_status to confirm YaCy is running
- 2Call yacy_start if the service is not active
- 3Call yacy_search with query 'open source vector databases'
- 4Parse results from the RSS API response
- 5Return titles and URLs to the user
A list of web results for 'open source vector databases' sourced from the local YaCy instance
Requirements
Accounts, API keys, or tools you or your AI assistant may need to set up while using this skill.