Implementation:CrewAIInc CrewAI Parallel Search Tool

Knowledge Sources	CrewAI
Domains	Tools, Web_Search
Last Updated	2026-02-11 00:00 GMT

Overview

ParallelSearchTool performs web searches using Parallel's Search API (v1beta) and returns ranked results with compressed excerpts optimized for LLM consumption.

Description

ParallelSearchTool extends BaseTool and provides a streamlined single-API-call alternative to the traditional search-scrape-extract pipeline. It accepts either a natural-language objective or a list of keyword queries (or both), sends them to the Parallel Search API, and returns LLM-optimized compressed excerpts as a compact JSON string. The tool validates that at least one of objective or search_queries is provided, constructs a JSON payload, and sends a POST request with an API key header. Timeout is processor-dependent: 90 seconds for "pro" and 30 seconds for "base". Error handling covers missing API keys, HTTP errors, timeouts, and unexpected exceptions.

Usage

Use this tool when agents need to perform web research and retrieve ranked search results with compressed content excerpts, reducing token usage compared to raw web scraping. Supports both exploratory natural-language objectives and specific keyword queries, with optional source policy controls for domain allow/deny filtering.

Code Reference

Source Location

• Repository: CrewAI
• File: lib/crewai-tools/src/crewai_tools/tools/parallel_tools/parallel_search_tool.py
• Lines: 1-125

Signature

class ParallelSearchInput(BaseModel):
    objective: str | None = Field(None, description="Natural-language goal for the web research (<=5000 chars)", max_length=5000)
    search_queries: list[Annotated[str, Field(max_length=200)]] | None = Field(default=None, min_length=1, max_length=5)
    processor: str = Field(default="base", pattern=r"^(base|pro)$")
    max_results: int = Field(default=10, ge=1, le=40)
    max_chars_per_result: int = Field(default=6000, ge=100)
    source_policy: dict[str, Any] | None = Field(default=None)

class ParallelSearchTool(BaseTool):
    name: str = "Parallel Web Search Tool"
    description: str = "Search the web using Parallel's Search API (v1beta)..."
    args_schema: type[BaseModel] = ParallelSearchInput
    env_vars: list[EnvVar]  # PARALLEL_API_KEY required
    search_url: str = "https://api.parallel.ai/v1beta/search"

    def _run(self, objective=None, search_queries=None, processor="base",
             max_results=10, max_chars_per_result=6000, source_policy=None, **_) -> str

Import

from crewai_tools import ParallelSearchTool

I/O Contract

Inputs

Name	Type	Required	Description
objective	str or None	No	Natural-language goal for the web research (max 5000 chars)
search_queries	list[str] or None	No	List of keyword queries (max 5 items, each max 200 chars)
processor	str	No	Search processor: "base" (fast/low cost) or "pro" (higher quality). Default "base"
max_results	int	No	Maximum number of search results to return (1-40). Default 10
max_chars_per_result	int	No	Maximum characters per result excerpt (min 100). Default 6000
source_policy	dict or None	No	Optional source policy configuration for domain filtering

Outputs

Name	Type	Description
_run() returns	str	Compact JSON string containing search_id and ranked results, or an error message string

Usage Examples

Basic Usage

from crewai_tools import ParallelSearchTool

# Search with a natural-language objective
tool = ParallelSearchTool()
result = tool._run(objective="Find recent developments in quantum computing")

# Search with keyword queries and pro processor
result = tool._run(
    search_queries=["quantum computing 2025", "quantum error correction"],
    processor="pro",
    max_results=20
)

Related Pages

• Principle:CrewAIInc_CrewAI_Built_In_Tool_Selection