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openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Feature]: Fallback to general web search when category search returns no results [1 participants]

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openclaw/openclaw#73552•Fetched 2026-04-29 06:18:20
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When OpenClaw performs web searches with a category such as weather, it returns no results if the provider's category-specific engines are unavailable, even when the same query would return valid results through general search. OpenClaw should automatically retry with the general category when a category search returns empty results.

Root Cause

When OpenClaw performs web searches with a category such as weather, it returns no results if the provider's category-specific engines are unavailable, even when the same query would return valid results through general search. OpenClaw should automatically retry with the general category when a category search returns empty results.

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Summary

When OpenClaw performs web searches with a category such as weather, it returns no results if the provider's category-specific engines are unavailable, even when the same query would return valid results through general search. OpenClaw should automatically retry with the general category when a category search returns empty results.

Problem to solve

Currently, OpenClaw sends category-specific search requests to the configured web search provider, for example:

{ "query": "北京每小时天气预报", "categories": "weather" }

With providers such as SearXNG, category-specific engines may be unavailable or fail, causing the search to return zero results.

However, the same query often succeeds when sent as a general search.

Proposed solution

When a category-specific search returns no results, OpenClaw should automatically retry the same query using the general category before returning an empty result.

Suggested logic:

Perform the requested category search If no results are returned, retry using general search Return the general search results if available

This preserves category-specific routing while improving compatibility with providers that do not always support all categories.

Alternatives considered

Disable category-specific search entirely

This would avoid the problem but would remove the benefits of category-based routing.

Require users to configure supported categories manually

This adds configuration complexity and still does not handle runtime failures.

Keep the current behavior

This causes valid searches to fail when category engines are unavailable, reducing search reliability.

The fallback-to-general approach provides the best balance between preserving category support and improving reliability.

Impact

Affected users/systems/channels:

users of OpenClaw with custom web search providers providers such as SearXNG with partial category support any agent workflow relying on web search tools

Severity:

medium to high category searches can completely fail even when the provider has valid general search results

Frequency:

intermittent occurs whenever the requested category is unsupported or temporarily unavailable

Practical consequences:

empty search results returned to the model broken tool-assisted responses manual intervention required to diagnose provider category issues degraded user experience and reduced confidence in web search functionality

Evidence/examples

No response

Additional information

No response

extent analysis

TL;DR

Implement a fallback mechanism to retry category-specific searches using the general category when no results are returned, to improve search reliability with providers that have partial category support.

Guidance

  • Modify the search logic to perform a category-specific search first and then retry with a general search if no results are returned.
  • Consider adding a configuration option to enable or disable this fallback behavior, to accommodate different use cases and provider requirements.
  • When implementing the fallback, ensure that the general search query is constructed correctly, using the same query parameters as the original category-specific search.
  • Test the fallback mechanism with various providers, including SearXNG, to ensure it works as expected and improves search reliability.

Example

def perform_search(query, category):
    # Perform category-specific search
    category_results = search_category(query, category)
    if not category_results:
        # Fallback to general search if no results are returned
        general_results = search_general(query)
        return general_results
    return category_results

Notes

The proposed solution assumes that the general search functionality is already implemented and working correctly. Additional error handling and logging may be necessary to ensure the fallback mechanism works reliably in all scenarios.

Recommendation

Apply the workaround by implementing the fallback mechanism, as it provides a good balance between preserving category support and improving search reliability, without requiring significant changes to the existing search logic.

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openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Feature]: Fallback to general web search when category search returns no results [1 participants]