Do I need my own Tavily account?

Yes. Web search uses Tavily; supply a Tavily API key in the action config or as the TAVILY_API_KEY environment variable.

Can I limit which sites it searches?

Yes. Set include_domains to one or more domains to constrain results — useful for keeping the agent on trusted sources.

What if no key is set?

The action returns a "not configured" message telling you to add a key, rather than erroring or returning nothing.

Web search

Give your agent real-time access to the web. The web search action pulls fresh results — with an optional generated answer and source links — for questions your indexed data can't cover.

View as Markdown

Your indexed data is the agent's primary source of truth, but some questions need fresh, live information. The Web search action lets the agent look something up on the web in real time and ground its reply in the results.

Web search runs through the Tavily search API. You provide a Tavily API key — either in the action config or via the TAVILY_API_KEY environment variable. Without a key, the action returns a clear "not configured" message instead of failing silently.

Add the action

1
Open Actions → Web search
Add the web search action from your agent's Actions tab.
2
Add your Tavily API key
Paste a Tavily key into the action config, or set TAVILY_API_KEY for the workspace.
3
Scope it (optional)
Restrict results to specific domains, and choose whether to include images.
4
Describe when to search
Tell the agent to search only for things outside your knowledge — current events, live availability, third-party info.

Configuration

Web search is a built-in of kind web_search. The action takes a query parameter from the model and supports these config options:

Setting	Description	Default
`api_key`	Your Tavily API key. Falls back to the `TAVILY_API_KEY` env var.	(env var)
`include_domains`	Limit results to these domains. Accepts an array or a comma-separated string.	(all domains)
`include_images`	Whether to return image results alongside text.	false

Each search returns a short generated answer, up to five results (title, URL, and an excerpt), and optionally images. The agent uses these to compose a grounded reply with sources.

web_search config

{
  "kind": "web_search",
  "include_domains": ["yourbrand.com", "shippingcarrier.com"],
  "include_images": false
}

When to use it

Don't replace your knowledge base with search

Web search is a supplement, not a substitute. Your policies, products, and FAQs should live in your data sources so answers stay accurate and on-brand. Reserve web search for genuinely live or external questions.

Good fit — current events, live third-party availability, public reference info not worth indexing.
Poor fit — your return policy, your product catalog, your shipping times. Index those instead.

FAQ

What's next

Data sources

Index your own content as the agent's primary knowledge.

Response quality

How grounding and citations keep answers trustworthy.

Custom action

Call your own API when web search isn't enough.

Custom action

Shopify actions