---

name: multi-tier-search

description: Cost-optimized search chain. Cache → Brave (free) → Perplexity Sonar → Sonar Pro. Smart escalation for research.

---

Multi-Tier Search

Optimized search that starts cheap and escalates only when needed.

When to Use ✅

• Research tasks requiring multiple searches
• Monitoring keywords (competitors, brand mentions)
• Background research where cost matters
• Any search task where "good enough" is fine initially

When NOT to Use ❌

• Quick one-off search → just use web_search directly
• Urgent/critical research → go straight to best source
• Conversational/current events → use Perplexity directly
• Already know exactly what you need

Search Tiers

| Tier | Source | Cost | Latency | Use When |

|------|--------|------|---------|----------|

| 0 | Cache | $0 | ~10ms | Recent duplicate query |

| 1 | Brave Search | $0 | ~500ms | Most queries start here |

| 2 | Perplexity Sonar | $1/$1M | ~2s | Brave results insufficient |

| 3 | Perplexity Sonar Pro | $3/$15M | ~5s | Complex/research queries |

Escalation Logic

Query
  ↓
[Check Cache] → Hit? → Return cached
  ↓ Miss
[Brave Search]
  ↓
[Evaluate Results]
  - Good enough? → Return + cache
  - Insufficient? → Escalate
  ↓
[Perplexity Sonar]
  ↓
[Evaluate]
  - Good enough? → Return + cache
  - Need synthesis? → Escalate
  ↓
[Perplexity Sonar Pro]
  ↓
Return + cache

Quality Signals

Good enough indicators:

• Multiple relevant results with snippets
• Direct answer available
• Factual/simple query

Escalation triggers:

• No relevant results
• Query requires synthesis
• Need citations/sources
• Complex multi-part question
• Current events/recent data

Cache Strategy

• **Location:** `~/.openclaw/search-cache/`
• **TTL:** 24 hours default (configurable by query type)
• **Key:** Hash of normalized query
• **Bypass:** Add `--fresh` flag

Commands

# Standard tiered search
./skills/multi-tier-search/scripts/search.sh "AI agent frameworks comparison"

# Force specific tier
./skills/multi-tier-search/scripts/search.sh "query" --tier brave
./skills/multi-tier-search/scripts/search.sh "query" --tier sonar

# Skip cache
./skills/multi-tier-search/scripts/search.sh "query" --fresh

# Monitor keywords (stores and diffs)
./skills/multi-tier-search/scripts/monitor.sh "competitor name"

Keyword Monitoring

For ongoing monitoring (brand mentions, competitors):

{
  "keywords": [
    {
      "term": "OpenClaw",
      "tier": "brave",
      "frequency": "daily",
      "alert_on": "new_result"
    },
    {
      "term": "AI agent consulting",
      "tier": "sonar",
      "frequency": "weekly",
      "alert_on": "significant_change"
    }
  ]
}

Cost Tracking

Log each search with:

• Tier used
• Estimated cost
• Cache hit/miss
• Result quality score

Aggregate in daily usage report.