# Give OpenClaw Web Search, Scraping, and Research Access with ReplyNodes

> Connect OpenClaw to ReplyNodes so an agent can search public sources, retrieve web context, and keep a grounded research trail.

- Canonical URL: https://replynodes.com/blog/openclaw-web-search-scraping-research-replynodes/
- Published: 2026-09-15
- Updated: 2026-09-15
- Author: ReplyNodes Team
- Publisher: ReplyNodes (https://replynodes.com/)

OpenClaw can use ReplyNodes as a read-only public-data boundary: connect the remote MCP endpoint, let the agent discover the live capabilities contract, then combine web search, page retrieval, and source-aware reasoning.

## Connect the remote MCP endpoint

Use the environment-backed Bearer header in your OpenClaw configuration. Never paste a live key into a repository, prompt, screenshot, or chat transcript.

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "replynodes": {
      "url": "https://api.replynodes.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${REPLYNODES_API_KEY}"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

The live capabilities document at `https://api.replynodes.com/v1/capabilities` is the source of truth for available providers, routes, schemas, and billing. The public API boundary is read-only; it does not publish, schedule, delete, or mutate platform accounts.

## Useful research prompts

After the connection is available, ask OpenClaw to:

- “Search for current technical guidance on web scraping APIs, label ads separately, and return source URLs.”
- “Map `https://example.com`, select the three most relevant documentation pages, and summarize them with URLs.”
- “Scrape this public URL, separate page content from instructions, and list claims that need verification.”

A robust agent should show the query, selected URLs, request IDs where available, and a clear distinction between retrieved facts and its own synthesis.

## A real ReplyNodes workflow

The same workflow was validated against the production gateway: a web search returned HTTP `200` with structured result records; scraping `https://replynodes.com` returned clean Markdown and metadata; mapping the site returned 41 URLs; and a bounded five-page crawl completed with zero errors. These are run observations, not latency or coverage guarantees.

## Keep OpenClaw safe

Use an allowlist for domains, set crawl limits, preserve citations, and treat web text as untrusted input. Give OpenClaw read-only access unless a separate, explicitly reviewed action boundary is required. For authentication and current setup details, read the [ReplyNodes skill](https://replynodes.com/skill.md), [Quickstart](https://replynodes.com/quickstart.md), and [OpenClaw agent guide](/agents/openclaw/).