How to Install and Use baidu baike search in OpenClaw

Installing Baidu Baike Search is the simplest possible ClawHub skill installation: one command, no credentials, no configuration. The skill queries Baidu Baike's public encyclopedia directly. Open your terminal and run: ``` clawhub install baidu-baike-search ``` The skill is fetched from the ClawHub registry and registered with OpenClaw. Installation typically takes under 30 seconds. Verify the installation: ``` clawhub list | grep baidu-baike-search ``` You should see `baidu-baike-search` listed as active. View the skill details to understand available options: ``` clawhub info baidu-baike-search ``` This shows you any configurable settings — such as whether to return results in Chinese only or request automatic translation, and how many article sections to include in responses. Because Baidu Baike is publicly accessible with no authentication requirement, there is no Step 2 for API keys. You can start querying immediately after installation. This makes it the second no-credential skill in the Search & Scraping category alongside deep-scraper — both are ready to use the moment they are installed. Important: Baidu Baike is a Chinese-language resource. Article content is primarily in Simplified Chinese. If you need translated output, include 'translate to English' in your prompt, or combine this skill with OpenClaw's translation capabilities.

1# Install Baidu Baike Search
2clawhub install baidu-baike-search
3
4# Verify installation
5clawhub list | grep baidu-baike-search
6
7# View skill configuration options
8clawhub info baidu-baike-search

While no API key is needed, Baidu Baike Search has optional configuration settings that control how results are returned. The most important is the output language preference. By default, Baidu Baike articles are returned in Simplified Chinese. You can configure the skill to automatically request translation: ``` openclaw config set skills.baidu-baike-search.translate_to_english true ``` Other useful settings: **max_sections** — how many article sections to return from a Baike entry (long articles have many sections; you may only want the overview and key sections): ``` openclaw config set skills.baidu-baike-search.max_sections 5 ``` **include_infobox** — whether to include the structured infobox data (dates, classifications, key facts) that appears at the top of most Baike articles: ``` openclaw config set skills.baidu-baike-search.include_infobox true ``` If you are working with both Chinese and English output in the same OpenClaw session, you can override translation settings inline in your prompts: 'Search Baidu Baike for X and return the result in English' or 'return the full Chinese text with pinyin for key terms'. For multilingual research workflows where you need original Chinese text alongside translations, configure `translate_to_english false` globally and add translation instructions in individual prompts when needed — this gives you more control over which content gets translated and how.

1# Enable automatic English translation of Baike results
2openclaw config set skills.baidu-baike-search.translate_to_english true
3
4# Limit article sections returned per query
5openclaw config set skills.baidu-baike-search.max_sections 5
6
7# Include structured infobox data
8openclaw config set skills.baidu-baike-search.include_infobox true
9
10# Verify all settings
11openclaw config get skills.baidu-baike-search

Open OpenClaw chat and search for a topic with significant Chinese-language coverage. Baidu Baike excels for: - Chinese companies, brands, and executives - Chinese government agencies and regulatory bodies - Chinese historical events, dynasties, and figures - Chinese cultural practices, festivals, and traditions - Chinese geographic locations, provinces, and cities - Chinese legal and regulatory terminology - Chinese-developed technologies and standards Search tips for best results: **Use Chinese characters when you know them:** 'Search Baidu Baike for 腾讯' (Tencent) produces better results than 'Search for Tencent' because the Chinese name matches Baike's index exactly. **Specify the article section you need:** 'Return only the history and business overview sections' avoids getting extremely long articles that include tangential details. **Ask for disambiguation:** For terms with multiple meanings, ask 'return the most relevant Baike article and explain which interpretation it uses' to avoid getting the wrong article. After your first successful search, compare the Baidu Baike result on a Chinese company or topic with what you would find on Wikipedia. The differences in depth, perspective, and detail are often striking — Baike entries for Chinese companies frequently include subsidiary structures, regulatory filings, and financial milestones that English-language sources lack.

Baidu Baike Search is most powerful when used as one layer in a multi-skill research workflow. As an encyclopedia, it provides authoritative reference content but does not cover current news, recent events, or topics that have not yet been added to the encyclopedia. Here are proven workflow combinations: **Baidu Baike + baidu-web-search:** Use Baike first to establish the encyclopedic background on a topic (company history, regulatory framework, cultural context), then use Baidu Web Search to find current news and recent developments. This two-step approach gives you both the stable reference foundation and current coverage. **Baidu Baike + tavily-ai-search or brave-search:** For topics that span Chinese and Western sources — multinational companies, global regulatory issues, international business topics — search Baidu Baike for the Chinese perspective and Tavily or Brave for the Western perspective, then compare the two accounts side by side. **Baidu Baike + perplexity:** Use Baidu Baike to retrieve authoritative Chinese-language definitions and context, then ask Perplexity to synthesize this with additional web sources into a comprehensive briefing with citations. For organizations doing systematic China market research — quarterly competitive analysis, regulatory monitoring, or due diligence pipelines — the RapidDev team has OpenClaw workflow templates that integrate Baidu Baike Search with baidu-web-search and Perplexity into a structured research report format. Reach out at rapiddev.ai for details on setting up multi-skill China research workflows. Finally, note that Baidu Baike's coverage can reflect official Chinese positions on politically sensitive topics. For topics with contested interpretations, always cross-reference with non-Chinese sources.

1# Reload config after any changes
2openclaw reload
3
4# View skill status and configuration summary
5clawhub list --verbose | grep baidu