Web search (in-chat)

Web search is a built-in tool on claude.ai that lets Claude retrieve live information from the internet during a conversation, going beyond its static training data cutoff. When enabled, Claude decides when to invoke a search — either a broad query via a search engine or a direct URL fetch — and injects the results, including source citations, into its response to ground its answers in real-time data. This feature works as a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) layer: Claude sends a query to a server-side search tool, receives relevant web content, filters what matters, and weaves that content into its answer with linked citations. Responses are more accurate for time-sensitive topics such as current events, stock prices, recent product launches, and regulatory updates. Web search is separate from Claude's 'Research' mode, which is designed for deep multi-step investigations. In-chat web search is optimized for quick to moderate lookups — typically one to five tool calls — where you need a current, cited answer without leaving the conversation.