# hottubtech

**Search hottub.tech from a terminal.** A small program for AI agents and people: short, numbered results that cost few tokens, local businesses with address and phone, news, pictures and videos, a list of searches at once, and a local MCP server.

```sh
curl -fsSL https://hottub.tech/cli/install.sh | sh
```

It picks the build for the machine (Linux or macOS on x86-64 or ARM64, or Windows under Git Bash), checks it against the published checksums and puts it in `~/.local/bin`, or wherever `--dir` says. It never uses sudo and never edits a shell profile.

## Using it

- `hottubtech search best rust http client`: Search the web and Hottub
- `hottubtech places plumber --near "Spokane, WA"`: Find local businesses, with address and phone
- `hottubtech batch queries.txt`: Run a list of searches, one a line (up to 100)
- `hottubtech mcp`: Serve Hottub Search to an agent as a local MCP server
- `hottubtech help --agent`: Read the guide written for agents

Results print as plain text; `--format md`, `json` or `jsonl` change that, and `--max-tokens N` caps what is printed. `hottubtech mcp` forwards each message to `https://hottub.tech/mcp`.

## Keys and limits

Without a key, the API allows 60 searches a minute and 50 a day (UTC) per address, and results may not be kept. A free key gives 2,500 searches a month. Get a key at https://hottub.tech/account/keys, then:

```sh
hottubtech auth login
printf '%s\n' "$KEY" | hottubtech auth set
```

The key is saved in `~/.config/hottubtech/config.toml`, readable only by you, or read from `HOTTUB_TECH_KEY`. The tool keeps nothing else on disk and sends no telemetry.

## Downloads

Version 0.1.0. Each archive holds one program, `hottubtech` (`hottubtech.exe` on Windows). Check a download against [SHA256SUMS](<https://hottub.tech/cli/0.1.0/SHA256SUMS>):

| System | Archive | Bytes | SHA-256 |
|---|---|---:|---|
| Linux, x86-64 | [x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz](<https://hottub.tech/cli/0.1.0/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz>) | 1,034,551 | `dde6682284b7c63eaffe83a570003e4c96968449610c946ff455a171d9ab902e` |
| Linux, ARM64 | [aarch64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz](<https://hottub.tech/cli/0.1.0/aarch64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz>) | 985,973 | `dc3c3619c0b5e79c9161111c010eb82e9a509c5c6ba702a22e95f9adf80e8d78` |
| macOS, Apple silicon | [aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz](<https://hottub.tech/cli/0.1.0/aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz>) | 873,449 | `954da4b2f7760c6010905f416e62ca2e4e1e0e57c60d990caf004ed95b484b7c` |
| macOS, Intel | [x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz](<https://hottub.tech/cli/0.1.0/x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz>) | 922,322 | `40b72478db020015086eace34e8a5d3de1bf9e3216857c5e54f39da00b0d7015` |
| Windows, x86-64 | [x86_64-pc-windows-gnu.tar.gz](<https://hottub.tech/cli/0.1.0/x86_64-pc-windows-gnu.tar.gz>) | 940,273 | `00ad61d2e901475e2afe88fa16e98ca74d5a85f1ce20489224c53ee0c0c09ff8` |

```sh
curl -fsSLO https://hottub.tech/cli/0.1.0/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz
curl -fsSL https://hottub.tech/cli/0.1.0/SHA256SUMS | sha256sum -c --ignore-missing
```

The macOS builds are not notarized yet: use the one-line install, because macOS stops a copy downloaded in a browser. The newest version is named at https://hottub.tech/cli/latest.

More: [Search API](https://hottub.tech/developers) · [For agents](https://hottub.tech/agents) · [llms.txt](https://hottub.tech/llms.txt)