Volcengine Ark Web Search

Overview

Use this skill when the task needs up-to-date public web information and the runtime should go through Volcengine ARK Responses API instead of the model's built-in browsing. The bundled script wraps ARK responses with the web_search tool, defaults to Chinese-friendly output, and is suitable for repeatable automation or local agent workflows.

Default markdown output is stabilized into three sections:

• title
• summary
• sources

When to Use

• The user asks for today's news, recent updates, current public coverage, or live fact checks.
• You want fresh web results but must route them through Volcengine ARK with ARK_API_KEY.
• You need a reusable local command that can be shared in scripts, cron jobs, or other skills.
• The answer should prefer Chinese output, explicit dates, and source links.
• You need to compare or verify public web information before answering.

When Not to Use

• ARK_API_KEY is missing.
• The task is static and does not need current web information.
• You need browser automation, authenticated sessions, or site-specific interaction rather than search.
• A different provider is mandatory.

Quick Start

1. Confirm ARK_API_KEY is set.
2. Run the bundled script.
3. Summarize the returned answer with explicit dates and source links.

Basic usage:

python3 scripts/ark_web_search.py "What are today's AI news headlines?"

Chinese query:

python3 scripts/ark_web_search.py "今天有什么热点新闻"

Custom model:

python3 scripts/ark_web_search.py "OpenAI latest announcements" \
  --model doubao-seed-1-6-250615

Structured JSON output:

python3 scripts/ark_web_search.py "latest semiconductor policy news" \
  --format json

Longer timeout with quick retries:

python3 scripts/ark_web_search.py "OpenAI latest news" \
  --timeout 90 \
  --retries 2

Dry run without network:

python3 scripts/ark_web_search.py "today's EV market news" \
  --dry-run

Core Workflow

1. Rewrite the user request into a direct search question when needed. Prefer explicit entities, topics, and time windows.
2. Use the default system prompt unless the task requires raw passthrough behavior.
3. Run scripts/ark_web_search.py.
4. If the script returns enough signal, summarize in Chinese unless the user asked for another language.
5. For relative-time prompts such as "today" or "recently", write absolute dates in the final answer.

Output Requirements

• Prefer concise summaries with links.
• Default markdown output should be stable and easy to scan: title, summary, then sources.
• Preserve uncertainty when the search result is thin or conflicting.
• If sources are present, include them.
• Convert relative date language into explicit dates whenever possible.
• If the API result is insufficient, say so instead of inventing facts.

Files

• scripts/ark_web_search.py: ARK Responses API runner with web_search, dry-run support, streaming support, and source extraction.
• references/ark-responses-api.md: Notes on request shape, model drift, tool naming drift, and maintenance references.

Maintenance Notes

• Prefer overriding the model with --model or ARK_MODEL. ARK model availability changes over time.
• --timeout is per attempt. Use --retries for quick retry behavior on transient failures.
• Some ARK environments reject search_context_size with HTTP 400. This script now retries automatically without that field if the server reports it as unsupported.
• The default system prompt asks the model to return summary body only. Title and source sections are added by the script to keep output stable.
• The Volcengine docs have shown both web_search and web_search_preview historically. This skill defaults to web_search and should only change if official docs for the target environment require it.
• If response parsing breaks after an upstream API change, update the normalization logic in scripts/ark_web_search.py and keep references/ark-responses-api.md in sync.