News search with news_search

news_search searches Google News in keyword-query mode. It gives an agent a clear way to ask for recent reporting without mixing news intent into a general web tool.

When to use it

Use it for news monitoring, recent announcements, current events, product launches, and finding reporting from several publishers. Pair it with web_search when the agent also needs durable background sources.

Do not use it for Google News topic, publication, section, or story-token workflows. Those have a different parameter shape from keyword query mode.

Quick example

from serpapi_search_tools import news_search

tool = news_search()
agent_tools = [tool]

The default provider="auto" creates the right tool when one supported SDK is installed in the environment.

Inputs the agent can provide

Field Type Required Meaning
query string yes The event, organization, person, or topic to find in current news

The engine is fixed to google_news, so the model does not see an engine field or SerpApi’s native q name.

Configure the tool

Constructor option Default Use it for
provider "auto" Auto-detect one installed SDK or select one explicitly
default_params None Fix locale, country, or bounded result settings
mode compact Return up to five news results; use SearchResultMode.FULL for the untouched response
api_key None Override SERPAPI_API_KEY / SERPAPI_KEY
timeout None Set the built-in client timeout
client None Provide a custom search client
include_examples True Add a short query example to the tool description
name "news_search" Rename a configured news capability

Useful SerpApi parameters

Keep locale and country decisions in the application:

from serpapi_search_tools import news_search

us_news = news_search(
    default_params={"hl": "en", "gl": "us", "num": 5},
    name="us_news",
)

Use the official reference for more Google News query parameters. Advanced token fields such as topic_token, publication_token, section_token, and story_token do not belong in this keyword-query tool.

What comes back

Compact mode returns up to five news_results. Items commonly include a title, source, date, snippet, thumbnail, and link. Metadata and parameters are omitted; use mode=SearchResultMode.FULL when application code needs them.

Common mistakes

  • Using news_search for general websites rather than news reporting.
  • Passing advanced Google News token modes through default_params; the package rejects combinations that cannot coexist with query.
  • Assuming every article has a thumbnail or snippet. Treat optional fields as optional when normalizing results.
  • Asking for “latest” without giving the agent permission to call live search.

Official SerpApi documentation

Try the current reporting recipe or the multi-vertical research example.