Web Search & Fetch

Overview

ArgentOS includes two web tools: web_search for searching the internet and web_fetch for retrieving content from specific URLs. Both are available to your agent automatically once configured.

Setup

Web search requires an API key from one of two supported providers.

Brave Search (Recommended)

Get a free API key at brave.com/search/api
Configure it in one of three ways:

Option A: Config file (recommended) Add to ~/.argentos/argent.json:

{
  "tools": {
    "web": {
      "search": {
        "apiKey": "YOUR_BRAVE_API_KEY",
        "provider": "brave"
      }
    }
  }
}

Option B: Environment variable Set BRAVE_API_KEY in the Gateway environment. Option C: Interactive setup

argent configure --section web

Perplexity Sonar (AI-Synthesized Answers)

Perplexity returns AI-generated answers with citations instead of a list of links.

{
  "tools": {
    "web": {
      "search": {
        "apiKey": "pplx-YOUR_KEY",
        "provider": "perplexity"
      }
    }
  }
}

Perplexity keys starting with pplx- connect directly. Keys starting with sk-or- route through OpenRouter.

web_search

The agent uses this tool to search the internet for current information.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`query`	string	Yes	Search query
`count`	number	No	Number of results (1-20, default 5)
`country`	string	No	2-letter country code (e.g., “US”, “DE”)
`search_lang`	string	No	Language code (e.g., “en”, “fr”)
`freshness`	string	No	Time filter: “pd” (day), “pw” (week), “pm” (month), “py” (year)

Output (Brave)

{
  "query": "argentos personal ai",
  "provider": "brave",
  "count": 3,
  "tookMs": 234,
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "ArgentOS - The Operating System for Personal AI",
      "url": "https://argentos.ai",
      "description": "Run your own AI agent on your hardware...",
      "published": "2 days ago",
      "siteName": "argentos.ai"
    }
  ]
}

Output (Perplexity)

{
  "query": "argentos personal ai",
  "provider": "perplexity",
  "content": "ArgentOS is a personal AI operating system that runs on your hardware...",
  "citations": ["https://argentos.ai", "https://github.com/ArgentAIOS"]
}

web_fetch

Retrieves and extracts readable content from a URL. Useful when the agent needs to read a specific page.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`url`	string	Yes	URL to fetch
`extractMode`	string	No	”markdown” (default) or “text”
`maxChars`	number	No	Maximum content length

Security

Private IPs, localhost, and cloud metadata endpoints are blocked (SSRF protection)
Readability mode extracts article content, stripping navigation and ads
Optional Firecrawl integration for JavaScript-heavy pages

Configuration Options

All options in ~/.argentos/argent.json under tools.web.search:

Option	Default	Description
`provider`	”brave”	Search provider: “brave” or “perplexity”
`apiKey`	-	Provider API key
`maxResults`	5	Default number of results
`timeoutSeconds`	30	Request timeout
`cacheTtlMinutes`	15	How long to cache results

Rate Limits

Brave free tier: 1 request per 1.1 seconds (enforced automatically)
Perplexity: No client-side rate limit
Results are cached for 15 minutes by default to reduce API calls

Without an API Key

If no API key is configured, web_search returns a helpful error with setup instructions. The agent will tell you it can’t search the web and suggest how to enable it.

Getting Started

Installation

Channels

Agents

Connectors

Tools

Concepts

Memory

Model Router

Overview

Setup

Brave Search (Recommended)

Perplexity Sonar (AI-Synthesized Answers)

web_search

Parameters

Output (Brave)

Output (Perplexity)

web_fetch

Parameters

Security

Configuration Options

Rate Limits

Without an API Key

​Overview

​Setup

​Brave Search (Recommended)

​Perplexity Sonar (AI-Synthesized Answers)

​web_search

​Parameters

​Output (Brave)

​Output (Perplexity)

​web_fetch

​Parameters

​Security

​Configuration Options

​Rate Limits

​Without an API Key

Overview

Setup

Brave Search (Recommended)

Perplexity Sonar (AI-Synthesized Answers)

web_search

Parameters

Output (Brave)

Output (Perplexity)

web_fetch

Parameters

Security

Configuration Options

Rate Limits

Without an API Key