Search Mode Configuration
3 min read
The Web Search tool supports two execution modes, controlled by the Search Mode setting (web_search_active_mode).
Setting | Values | Default |
|---|---|---|
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The platform-level default can be overridden via the WEB_SEARCH_MODE environment variable.
V1 -- Basic Search Mode
In V1 mode, the orchestrator LLM sends a simple search query (plus an optional date filter) to the tool. The tool can optionally refine the query before executing.
Language Model
Setting | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Language model identifier |
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The language model is used for query refinement (Basic/Advanced modes) and other LLM-driven steps in the pipeline.
Query Refinement
Controls how the user's question is optimized before being sent to the search engine.
Setting | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
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| Refinement strategy. |
| string (textarea) | Built-in prompt | Instructions for the LLM on how to optimize search queries. |
Refinement modes explained:
Deactivated -- The query is passed through to the search engine exactly as the orchestrator LLM provided it. No LLM call is made.
Basic -- The query is sent to the language model with the refinement prompt. The LLM returns a single optimized query (max ~6 keywords, with optional advanced syntax like quotes,
site:,-word).Advanced (Beta) -- The query is sent to the language model, which returns multiple targeted queries. Each query focuses on a different facet of the original question. The number of queries is capped by
max_queries.
Note: If the selected language model does not support structured output, query refinement is automatically disabled regardless of this setting.
Maximum Search Queries
Setting | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| integer |
| Maximum number of queries generated in Advanced refinement mode. Only applies when refinement mode is set to Advanced. |
Tool Parameter Descriptions
These control the descriptions shown to the orchestrator LLM for the tool's input parameters.
Setting | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| string (textarea) |
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| string (textarea) | Format description for date restriction ( |
Tool Description and System Prompt
Setting | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| string (textarea) | Short description that helps the orchestrator LLM decide when to use web search. |
| string (textarea) | Detailed instructions for the orchestrator LLM on how and when to use web search, including query splitting guidance and examples. |
V2 -- AI-Planned Research Mode
In V2 mode, the orchestrator LLM creates a structured research plan (WebSearchPlan) containing an objective, analysis, a list of steps, and expected outcomes. Steps execute in parallel.
Plan Structure
The orchestrator LLM generates a plan with the following structure:
Field | Description |
|---|---|
| What the research aims to accomplish. |
| Analysis of what information is needed and why. |
| List of research steps, each with a |
| What the research is expected to find. |
Each step is one of:
search-- Run a search engine query.read_url-- Directly read a specific URL using the crawler.
Maximum Research Steps
Setting | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| integer |
| Maximum number of steps the AI can include in a single research plan. Plans exceeding this limit are truncated. |
Tool Description and System Prompt
Setting | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| string (textarea) | Short description that helps the orchestrator LLM decide when to use web search. |
| string (textarea) | Detailed instructions for the orchestrator LLM on how to plan and execute web research, including plan structure examples and query optimization techniques. |
Shared Settings
These settings apply regardless of the active search mode.
Source Content Budget
Setting | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| float (0.0 -- 1.0) |
| Percentage of the AI model's input capacity reserved for web search results. Higher values include more search content but leave less room for conversation history. |
| integer |
| Hard upper bound on the number of tokens from web sources included in the final prompt. |
Debug Mode
Setting | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| boolean |
| When enabled, logs additional technical details (step timings, intermediate data) for troubleshooting. |