SerpApi .NET : A modern tool for querying and web scraping

A minimalist, modern command-line based tool for querying SerpApi designed for advanced users who love to use SerpApi for data analyzing and web scraping.

Getting Started

To get started with this awesome project, you can follow these simple steps:

Prerequisites

Prerequisites	Requirement	Purpose
.NET SDK	.NET 8.0 SDK or later	Compiles and executes the project (dotnet --version >= 8.0)
Operating System	Windows, macOS or Linux	Cross-platform support
Terminal	Any modern terminal with ANSI / UTF-8 support	Renders ANSI colors, spinners, tables...
IDE / Editor (Optional)	VS Code, Visual Studio or JetBrains Rider	For development and debugging

Installation

1. Clone the repository

2. Install dependencies:

dotnet restore

Simple Usage

To run a query using this program:

1. Navigate to the SerpApi.Cli project

cd src/SerpApi.Cli

2. Create a .env file in the project

SERPAPI_API_KEY="Your SerpApi key here"

3. Run the command

dotnet run -- -q "Coffee" -p hl=en -p gl=us

And there you have it! Your first seach query with this CLI tool!

More Usage & Examples

• Basic Search: dotnet run -- -q "best coffee"
• Localized Search: Passing language and country codes (-p hl=km-kh -p gl=kh)
• Engine Tuning: Passing result limits and device views (-p num=50 -p device=mobile)
• Flag Reference Table:
  • -q, --query <QUERY>: Primary search string.
  • -k, --api-key <KEY>: Override and set API Key.
  • -p, --param <PARAM>: Arbitrary SerpApi key-value parameters.

Running Test Suite

Tests run completely in-memory using mocked HTTP handlers—no internet connection or SerpApi credits required. To conduct tests for this project, you can use dotnet test to test out the functionalities and see if the program is working properly.

Conducted Tests

See what's already been covered:

1. URL query serialization and deserialization.
2. JSON response mapping to strongly-typed records.
3. Parameter alias normalization (host_language -> h1).

Key Concepts

Quickly grasp the idea behind the software architecture in this project:

• Dependency Injection: Instead of tightly coupling classes with new HttpClient(), services are registered via Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection. This allows commands to depend on abstractions (ISerpApiClient), simplifies unit testing with mocks, and manages HttpClient lifecycles properly.
• Typed-Dictionary Parameters: Instead of manually writing a parameter name like hl=en with no type-safety, Parameters are pre-defined as properties in SearchParameters class. This simplifies typing by taking the advantage of the C# features, and significantly improving developer experience overall.