Web search
With web search, models can answer questions with current information from the web and name their sources. This page explains the four search levels, what goes to the search service and when nothing is searched.
Last checked on 28 September 2026
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How web search works
If web search is allowed in your workspace, the model decides for itself whether a question needs a search, for example for prices, news or details about companies. The model writes the search query. While it searches, the chat shows Searching the web….
Without a search, the model answers from its training knowledge. It still knows today's date.
Choosing the search level
You choose the level per chat with the globe icon Web search in the message field.
| Level | What happens | Suited to |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic | Default. The model searches when the question calls for it, several times per reply if needed. | everyday work and mixed questions |
| Always search | The model is instructed to search at least once before every reply, even when it believes it knows the answer. | topics that change quickly |
| Deep Search | Several rounds of searching. The model reads selected result pages, not just the excerpt in the result list. Slower and uses considerably more credits. | research and comparisons |
| Off | No search in this chat, model knowledge only. | writing, questions that do not depend on current events |
Checking sources
The model backs statements from the web with numbered references in the text. Below the reply you see how many sources were searched, for example Searched 6 sources. A click opens the list, whose numbers match those in the text.
With Deep Search, the model opens selected pages and reads them in full. These pages are marked read in the list. The list is then open from the start and shows the number of searches.
What goes to the search service
Web search uses Staan (European Perspective SAS, France), whose search index is in France. The search service receives the query composed by the model, not the entire chat history or your attached files. A query can still contain information from the chat; the next section explains the limits of the checks.
- While the personal data check is on, Custodos does not send a query containing a hard identifier such as an AHV number, IBAN, card number or UID. The same applies to values caught by one of your workspace's own rules.
- The model cannot search for pseudonymised details: it only knows the placeholder, not the real value.
- With Deep Search, the model only opens pages that came back as search results in the same reply.
When this does not apply
Checking search queries has its limits. Know them before you let the model search with confidential details.
- The check on search queries only covers hard identifiers and your workspace's own rules. Other personal data, such as a name that was not replaced in the chat, goes into the query as the model writes it. Search queries are not pseudonymised.
- If the personal data check is switched off in your workspace, search queries are not checked either.
- Search results are public text. Custodos does not check them for personal data before the model reads them.
When nothing is searched
- In security mode. The globe icon is hidden then.
- When an admin has switched web search off for the workspace.
- When the agent you are chatting with is set up without web search.
- With models that cannot use tools. The model picker marks them with No web or brain search, and it creates no files.
- When the workspace's monthly credits or your personal monthly budget are used up and you carry on with the lowest-cost model.
- Depending on the processing region. Whether web search is available depends on the region your admin has chosen, see Processing region.
For admins: allowing web search
Under Settings, in the Web search section, admins switch Allow web search on or off. New workspaces start with web search switched on. Members then choose the search level per chat.
Every search uses credits on top of the reply. The web search menu in the chat states the approximate amount per search under Automatic. Every change to the setting is recorded in the activity log.
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