Web search

Turn it on

1. 1

   Register a search tool

   Add a model of type Web search (SearXNG) (search) whose API base is a SearXNG instance with JSON output on. See Register a search tool.

2. 2

   Turn Web search on

   Open Settings › Boons, switch Web search on and Open its row. Pick the Search tool, then set Results per search, Searches per request and Search timeout under Limits. Save with the save bar. Until a search tool is picked, Settings › Needs you says so.

3. 3

   Grant it to a chat model

   On the chat model's page, turn on Function calling under Native, then switch Web search on under Boons and save. The model calls the tool itself, so the switch can't be turned on while Function calling is off, and turning Function calling off turns it off.

Or through the Management API:

curl -X PUT http://localhost:9180/api/v1/settings/boons \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "web_search_enabled": true,
    "web_search_tool": "web",
    "web_search_max_results": 5,
    "web_search_max_searches_per_request": 3,
    "web_search_timeout_ms": 15000
  }'

Then add web_search to the model's boons, with supports_function_calling: true. The Tool loop switch doesn't need to be on; web search works without it.

Ask something current

curl http://localhost/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OBLETH_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "my-chat-model",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "What changed in the latest PostgreSQL minor release?"}]
  }'

The model calls web_search, the gateway runs the search and hands back the results, and the model answers citing the URLs it used. The response carries x-obleth-boons: web_search and holds the final answer only, never the tool call.

On a streaming request, each search shows as a one-line marker on the reasoning channel (reasoning_content) naming the tool and the query, so a client sees the work while the stream waits for the results.

What the model sees

• A web_search tool with query, a short search-engine query, and optional domains, a list of sites to keep results to (at most 10). It is described by the Tool description, which says when to search and when to answer directly.
• For a client that sent no tools and has no tool-loop nudge, a short system note: the tool exists, call it for current or external facts and cite the URLs, and don't offer searching otherwise.
• After each search, a numbered list of results: title, URL, publication date when known, and a snippet cut to 400 characters, ending with a request to cite the URLs it relies on.
• When nothing was found, or the search could not run, a sentence saying so and telling the model to answer from what it knows. The request never fails because of the boon.

Settings

A 0 for any number keeps the stored value.