Searcherator

Searcherator is a Python package that provides a convenient way to perform web searches using the Brave Search API with built-in caching, automatic rate limiting, and efficient batch processing capabilities.

Features

• Async/await support for modern Python applications
• Automatic caching with configurable TTL
• Optional DynamoDB backend for cross-machine cache sharing
• Built-in rate limiting to respect API quotas
• Efficient batch processing for multiple concurrent searches
• Progress callbacks for real-time search events
• Support for multiple languages and countries
• Comprehensive exception hierarchy for robust error handling
• Real-time rate limit tracking and monitoring

Installation

pip install searcherator

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• Brave Search API key (Get one here)

Quick Start

from searcherator import Searcherator
import asyncio

async def main():
    # Basic search
    search = Searcherator("Python programming")
    
    # Get URLs from search results
    urls = await search.urls()
    print(urls)
    
    # Get detailed results
    results = await search.detailed_search_result()
    for result in results:
        print(f"{result['title']}: {result['url']}")
    
    # Clean up
    await Searcherator.close_session()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())

Usage Examples

Basic Search

from searcherator import Searcherator
import asyncio

async def main():
    search = Searcherator("Python tutorials", num_results=10)
    results = await search.search_result()
    print(results)
    await Searcherator.close_session()

asyncio.run(main())

Localized Search

# German search
german_search = Searcherator(
    "Zusammenfassung Buch 'Demian' von 'Hermann Hesse'",
    language="de",
    country="de",
    num_results=10
)
results = await german_search.search_result()

Batch Processing

import asyncio
from searcherator import Searcherator

async def batch_search():
    queries = ["Python", "JavaScript", "Rust", "Go", "TypeScript"]
    
    try:
        # Create search instances
        searches = [Searcherator(q, num_results=5) for q in queries]
        
        # Run all searches concurrently (rate limiting handled automatically)
        results = await asyncio.gather(
            *[s.search_result() for s in searches],
            return_exceptions=True
        )
        
        # Process results
        for query, result in zip(queries, results):
            if isinstance(result, dict):
                print(f"{query}: {len(result.get('web', {}).get('results', []))} results")
    finally:
        await Searcherator.close_session()

asyncio.run(batch_search())

Error Handling

from searcherator import (
    Searcherator,
    SearcheratorAuthError,
    SearcheratorRateLimitError,
    SearcheratorTimeoutError,
    SearcheratorAPIError
)

async def safe_search():
    try:
        search = Searcherator("Python", timeout=10)
        results = await search.search_result()
    except SearcheratorAuthError:
        print("Invalid API key")
    except SearcheratorRateLimitError as e:
        print(f"Rate limited. Resets in {e.reset_per_second}s")
    except SearcheratorTimeoutError:
        print("Request timed out")
    except SearcheratorAPIError as e:
        print(f"API error: {e.status_code} - {e.message}")
    finally:
        await Searcherator.close_session()

Monitoring Rate Limits

search = Searcherator("Python")
results = await search.search_result()

print(f"Rate limit (per second): {search.rate_limit_per_second}")
print(f"Remaining (per second): {search.rate_remaining_per_second}")
print(f"Rate limit (per month): {search.rate_limit_per_month}")
print(f"Remaining (per month): {search.rate_remaining_per_month}")

Progress Callbacks

Track search progress with real-time event callbacks. Supports both sync and async callables:

import asyncio
from searcherator import Searcherator

async def main():
    # Sync callback
    search = Searcherator(
        "Python programming",
        on_progress=lambda e: print(f"{e['event']}: {e.get('cached', 'N/A')}")
    )
    await search.search_result()
    
    # Async callback
    async def on_progress(event):
        await log_to_database(event)
    
    search = Searcherator(
        "Python tutorials",
        on_progress=on_progress
    )
    await search.search_result()
    
    await Searcherator.close_session()

asyncio.run(main())

Event structure:

All events include event (str) and ts (float, Unix timestamp).

Event	Additional Fields	Description
search_started	query	Fired before search begins
search_done	query, num_results, cached, cache_source	Fired after search completes
error	query, message	Fired on exception

Cache source values:

• "miss" — API call was made
• "l1" — Returned from local JSON cache
• "l2" — Returned from DynamoDB cache

API Reference

Searcherator

Searcherator(
    search_term: str = "",
    num_results: int = 5,
    country: str | None = "us",
    language: str | None = "en",
    api_key: str | None = None,
    spellcheck: bool = False,
    timeout: int = 30,
    clear_cache: bool = False,
    ttl: int = 7,
    logging: bool = False,
    dynamodb_table: str | None = None,
    on_progress: Callable | None = None
)

Parameters

• search_term (str): The query string to search for
• num_results (int): Maximum number of results to return (default: 5)
• country (str): Country code for search results (default: "us")
• language (str): Language code for search results (default: "en")
• api_key (str): Brave Search API key (default: None, uses BRAVE_API_KEY environment variable)
• spellcheck (bool): Enable spell checking on queries (default: False)
• timeout (int): Request timeout in seconds (default: 30)
• clear_cache (bool): Clear existing cached results (default: False)
• ttl (int): Time-to-live for cached results in days (default: 7)
• logging (bool): Enable cache operation logging (default: False)
• dynamodb_table (str): DynamoDB table name for cross-machine cache sharing (default: None)
• on_progress (Callable): Callback for progress events. Accepts both sync and async callables (default: None)

Methods

async search_result() -> dict

Returns the full search results as a dictionary from the Brave Search API.

async urls() -> list[str]

Returns a list of URLs from the search results.

async detailed_search_result() -> list[dict]

Returns detailed information for each search result including title, URL, description, and metadata.

async print() -> None

Pretty prints the full search results.

@classmethod async close_session()

Closes the shared aiohttp session. Call this when done with all searches.

Authentication

Set your Brave Search API key as an environment variable:

# Linux/macOS
export BRAVE_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

# Windows
set BRAVE_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

Or provide it directly:

search = Searcherator("My search term", api_key="your-api-key-here")

Exception Hierarchy

SearcheratorError (base exception)
├── SearcheratorAuthError (authentication failures)
├── SearcheratorRateLimitError (rate limit exceeded)
├── SearcheratorTimeoutError (request timeout)
└── SearcheratorAPIError (other API errors)

Rate Limiting

Searcherator automatically handles rate limiting to respect Brave Search API quotas:

• Automatic throttling - Requests are automatically spaced to stay within limits
• Concurrent control - Built-in semaphore limits concurrent requests
• Rate limit tracking - Monitor your usage via instance attributes

The default configuration safely handles up to ~13 requests per second, well under typical API limits.

Caching

Results are automatically cached to disk:

• Location: data/search/ directory
• Format: JSON files
• TTL: Configurable (default: 7 days)
• Cache key: Based on search term, language, country, and num_results

DynamoDB Backend (Optional)

Enable cross-machine cache sharing via DynamoDB:

search = Searcherator(
    "Python tutorials",
    dynamodb_table="my-search-cache"
)
results = await search.search_result()

How it works:

• L1 (local JSON): Checked first for instant access
• L2 (DynamoDB): Checked on L1 miss, synced across machines
• No table specified: Works as local-only cache

Requirements:

• Install boto3: pip install boto3
• AWS credentials configured (environment variables, IAM role, or ~/.aws/credentials)
• DynamoDB table auto-created if missing (requires IAM permissions)

To disable caching for a specific search:

search = Searcherator("Python", clear_cache=True, ttl=0)

Best Practices

1. Always close the session when done:

   try:
       # Your searches
   finally:
       await Searcherator.close_session()
   

2. Use batch processing for multiple searches:

   results = await asyncio.gather(*[s.search_result() for s in searches])
   

3. Handle exceptions appropriately:

   try:
       results = await search.search_result()
   except SearcheratorRateLimitError:
       # Wait and retry
   

4. Monitor rate limits for high-volume applications:

   if search.rate_remaining_per_month < 1000:
       # Alert or throttle
   

Testing

Run the test suite:

# Install test dependencies
pip install pytest pytest-asyncio

# Run all tests
pytest test_searcherator.py -v

# Run with coverage
pip install pytest-cov
pytest test_searcherator.py --cov=searcherator --cov-report=html

License

MIT License

Links

• GitHub: https://github.com/Redundando/searcherator
• PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/searcherator/
• Issues: https://github.com/Redundando/searcherator/issues

Author

Arved Klöhn - GitHub