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The platform Search The Web tool (search_the_web) retrieves search results during a conversation. A custom search service is optional. The tool is not tied to a customer-configured Bing workflow.
  1. Open the assistant’s Tool Kit → Tools & APIs.
  2. Find Search The Web, add it, and confirm it is assigned to the assistant.
  3. Explain when search is appropriate. For example:
    Use our supplied knowledge for our own products and policies. Search the web when the customer asks for current public information outside that material. Base your answer on the returned sources. If search fails or no useful result is returned, say you could not verify the answer.
  4. Save and publish the assistant.
  5. Ask a specific question about public information with a source you can independently inspect.

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Verify it works

Review the tool result for the query and returned titles, links, and snippets. Open the relevant source and compare the answer with it. A search result is evidence to evaluate; it does not guarantee that a price, policy, or availability claim is current. For detailed content from a known page, use Read a web page. Search snippets are not a full copy of every result page.

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Input and result reference

The search input is one nonblank question or query. The handler accepts q, query, or question; use the parameter name shown by the assigned tool. It does not expose a search-provider, region, language, date-range, or result-count selector. On success, ok is true and data contains formatted result text. Results can contain a title, source URL, date, and snippet; missing dates or snippets are not fabricated. A successful search with no matches returns No web results found. Read the source page when the answer depends on details beyond the snippet.

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Troubleshooting

  • No results: narrow the question, include a business name or domain, and avoid promising an answer if no relevant source appears.
  • Search fails: inspect the tool’s returned error. A search-provider or rate-limit failure is not a reason to invent a result.
  • Answer ignores the tool: verify assignment and the published assistant instructions.
API users can attach this tool by its catalog name; see Platform tools.