Search the web and read pages

The agent can search the web and read a page with its web search and browsing tools. It decides when to use them, under the rule of each tool; you choose where it searches.

Choose the search source

1. Open Settings → Agent tools and permissions, then the source of web search.
2. Choose one:
   • DuckDuckGo, no key — the default, which works without setting anything up;
   • Tavily or Brave Search — with a key;
   • SearXNG — your own instance, by its address;
   • A custom endpoint — any API that answers with a list of results at its top level; the key is optional;
   • No web search — search switched off entirely. That is a choice, not a fault.
3. If the source needs a key, enter it: it is saved in the operating system’s keyring, not in the window. An address is saved in a configuration file next to the server.
4. Run a test search from the same panel.

While a source lacks its key or its address, the panel says which, and search stays off.

DuckDuckGo without a key is not an official service: TALOS reads its public results page, which may refuse under heavy use. When it does, the result says so instead of returning an empty list.

Follow what the agent read

The Browser of a session gathers the web pages of that session:

• The agent’s readings — each page the agent read, showing the text the model actually received, with its address, time and length;
• Pages you open — type an address and the page opens inside TALOS, when the site allows it.

There are back and forward, reload, an editable address (Enter confirms, Esc cancels), copy the address, and Annotate, which prepares a comment about the page in the composer without sending it. You annotate the page, not one element inside a live page.

If something goes wrong

• The search was refused — almost always DuckDuckGo’s traffic limit. Try later, or set up a source with a key.
• The agent never searches — check the rule of the search tool in Capability: it may be set to deny.
• A site will not open inside TALOS — that is the site’s choice. TALOS says why, and offers to have the agent read it instead.
• A reading is shorter than expected — the length shown is that of the text the model received: if it is short, the model saw little.

Doctor says whether search is configured; it never runs a search to check.