Skip to content
OpenBuddiesOpenBuddies Docs

Let buddies look things up

Buddies can look things up when a question needs facts from outside, like “how cold is it on Mars?”. They never search for the answer to the homework.

  1. Set up a search provider:

    Terminal window
    openbuddies web setup

    Pick Brave, Tavily or your own SearXNG. It runs a test search and saves the key in .env. Brave gives $5 of free credit a month, about 1,000 searches.

  2. Choose each child’s setting:

    Terminal window
    openbuddies children web <child> trusted
    • off: no looking things up.
    • trusted: only trusted sites, such as BBC, Britannica, Wikipedia, NASA, Nat Geo Kids, Oak National Academy, Khan Academy and the Met Office, plus any you add.
    • open: any site, with SafeSearch strict and a blocklist.

Social media, video and homework-answer sites are always blocked. You can add or block sites, and each child has a limit of 30 lookups a day, under Children on your parent page.

Try a search yourself with openbuddies web test "how cold is it on mars".