Web search

Web search lets the agent search the live web. Use it when you need current facts, official docs, release notes, bug reports, pricing pages, or recent announcements.

Example prompts:

Research the current Rails release notes and summarize migration risks.
Find the official OpenRouter docs for model configuration.
Check whether this dependency has a recent security advisory.

The web_search tool is advertised by default so the agent can use current sources when needed. In auto mode the provider fallback order is:

  1. Exa API when EXA_API_KEY is configured, otherwise keyless Exa MCP (https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp)
  2. Perplexity API when configured and allow_model_providers is true
  3. Gemini API with Google Search grounding when configured and allow_model_providers is true
  4. Legacy DuckDuckGo HTML search, then bundled public SearXNG instances

Queries are sent over the network to the selected provider. API keys are never bundled with Kward; configure your own keys only if you want higher limits or alternate providers. Set web_search.enabled to false to hide the tool. Direct provider: perplexity or provider: gemini requests still use those providers when keys are configured.

Supported arguments:

  • queries: one to four search strings
  • max_results: results per query, default 5, capped at 20
  • provider: optional auto, exa, perplexity, gemini, legacy, or duckduckgo
  • recency_filter: optional day, week, month, or year
  • domain_filter: optional list of included domains, or excluded domains prefixed with -