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Research the web with sources

What it does

The assistant can search the web while it writes its reply, read the pages it finds, and answer from them. A reply that used web search ends with a numbered list of sources, headed in the language of the conversation (Sources in English, Quellen in German). With the default instructions, the assistant gives a link only when that exact address appeared in a search or page result, when you wrote it, or when its instructions give it.

How to ask

Web search is on by default for every new chat. Check the Web search chip above the message input; if it is missing, open the + menu in the composer and turn on the Web search switch. Ask for one fact at a time, say that the assistant should search the web, and ask for the sources. Below are two prompts you can copy and adapt. Each prompt was run on the three Myra-hosted models, ten runs each. A run counts as passed when the gateway's own record shows that a web search ran and the answer contains the facts asked for (the sources and the wording are not part of the check); the table shows how many of the ten runs passed.

Adoption and start of the GDPR

Search the web: when was the GDPR adopted, and since when does it apply? Please give your sources.

Tested on: qwen3.8-27b, mistral-small-4

Not recommended for: gemma-4-31b-it

Returns the year the regulation was adopted and the year it has applied since, with a list of sources.

Height of the Zugspitze

Look up on the web how high the Zugspitze is and cite your sources.

Tested on: qwen3.8-27b, gemma-4-31b-it, mistral-small-4

Returns the height of the mountain in metres, with a list of sources.

Prompt Test case qwen3.8-27b gemma-4-31b-it mistral-small-4
Adoption and start of the GDPR Years of adoption and of application of the GDPR, found by a web search 10/10 7/10 8/10
Height of the Zugspitze Height of the Zugspitze in metres, found by a web search 10/10 10/10 10/10

Tips

  • Say in the prompt that the assistant should search the web and give its sources.
  • Click the Searched the web line under the reply to see each search with its query, the number of results and the sources. It is collapsed by default and is shown again when you reopen the conversation.
  • Numbers in the text such as [1] are links to the matching entry in the Sources list.
  • If you need a source for a claim, ask the assistant to search for it.
  • To restrict results by age, open the + menu, click Recency and select a window (Past 24 hours, Past week, Past month, Past year or Any time).

Limits

  • On Myra-hosted models, a single reply runs only a limited number of different searches (8 by default). An identical or near-identical search in the same reply is not sent again. When the limit is reached, the assistant answers from what it has gathered. Ask for one fact at a time, so a reply needs fewer searches.
  • The assistant decides itself whether to search. It is not forced to, so say in the prompt that it should.
  • Besides web pages, the assistant can read linked PDF, DOCX and XLSX documents. A document taken from the search results is read as text only: by default up to 50 pages or 20 seconds, with a limit on the amount of text, and a scanned page is skipped. A document the assistant opens directly is read up to 200 pages, with a limit on the amount of text, and scanned pages are read through text recognition. The assistant is told when content was left out.
  • The Recency window is applied only when the search provider of your gateway is Brave. The provider Linkup does not apply it, and new gateways use Linkup by default. Ask your administrator which provider is used.
  • The switch is greyed out while a conversation is loading (or could not be loaded), while a new chat is being created, and in a conversation shared with you through a project, where only the owner can change it. While a reply is being written, the switch is disabled; the × on the Web search chip still turns web search off.
  • When you ask for a file "with sources" and the assistant has no search result, no address you gave it and no file of yours to base it on, it is instructed to say in the file that it has no external sources rather than list web addresses from memory. This is an instruction, not a guarantee, so check any address in a file before you use it.
  • The prompts above were checked on Myra-hosted models with one question each. A reworded prompt or another model can behave differently, so check facts that matter against the sources.
  • Unverified links in files. When the assistant writes a file (for example a Markdown or HTML document), every web address in it is checked against what the conversation actually contains: your messages and files, the search and page results of the conversation, and the sources of earlier replies. An address that cannot be found there is marked in the file with unverified link. The address text stays, so you can still read and copy it, but it is not clickable: in Markdown it is shown as code, in HTML the link is switched off.
  • What it means: the assistant wrote the address itself, from memory or by guessing, and nothing in the conversation confirms that the page exists or says what the assistant claims. Check such an address yourself before you rely on it. Addresses you wrote in your prompt, addresses from the search results and placeholder addresses such as example.com or localhost are not marked. In code and data files (for example .py, .json, .csv) nothing is changed; the assistant is only told that some addresses are unverified.
  • Unverified links in the reply. The same check applies to web addresses in the assistant's chat reply. The reply appears as it is written; when it is finished, any address the conversation does not contain is shown as code with (unverified link) after it and is no longer clickable, for a bare address and for a Markdown link [text](address). Until then such an address can briefly appear as a normal link. The marked reply is what is saved, so it looks the same after you reload the conversation. Addresses inside a code block or inline code are not changed. A reply written in German carries the label (nicht verifizierter Link). Check such an address yourself before you rely on it.

When something goes wrong

  • No Searched the web line appears. The assistant answered without searching. Ask again and say explicitly that it should search the web.
  • The Web search chip is missing. Web search is off for this conversation. Turn on the Web search switch in the + menu.
  • The Web search switch cannot be changed. See the list of cases in the limits above; wait until the conversation has loaded or ask the owner of the project conversation.
  • A reply names a source but gives no link. See the link rule under What it does above. Ask it to search for the source.
  • A search finds nothing or fails. The status line Searching the web… stays until the assistant responds. The reply can then show the notice Web search returned no results or Web search failed. Ask again with other words.
  • A notice says Web search isn't set up for this workspace yet. Web search is enabled for your gateway but not yet available. Ask your administrator.