Anthropic has announced the addition of web search capabilities to its Claude models, available via the Anthropic API. This update enables Claude to access current information from the web, allowing developers to create applications and AI agents that provide up-to-date insights.
The new feature works by enabling Claude to generate targeted search queries when up-to-date information is needed. Claude analyzes the results, extracts relevant information, and provides a comprehensive response with citations to source materials. In some cases, Claude can perform iterative searches, refining queries based on previous results to generate more detailed answers. Developers can control the number of searches using the max_uses parameter.
The web search functionality is built to support a wide range of applications across different industries. In financial services, it can be used to analyze real-time stock prices, market trends, and regulatory updates. For legal research, it provides access to recent court decisions, changes in regulations, and legal news. Developers can use it to reference up-to-date API documentation, GitHub releases, and technology updates. In productivity-focused use cases, it enables the integration of the latest company reports, competitive intelligence, and industry research.
To ensure trust and control, every web-sourced response includes citations. Organizations can also manage access to web search through admin settings, such as allowing or blocking specific domains and controlling web search usage at the organization level.
The web search feature is now available in Claude Code, enabling developers to access current information during workflows, such as troubleshooting issues or working with new frameworks.
Spencer Chan, Head of Poe Product at Quora commented:
Anthropic’s web search tool is a welcome addition to the Poe platform, it is cost-effective and delivers search results with impressive speed, benefiting users who need real-time information while using Claude models on Poe.
Dennis Xu, Co-founder of Adaptive.ai, added:
Anthropic’s web search delivers consistently thorough results that have outperformed other tools we’ve tested. The depth and accuracy of Claude’s responses and its ability to function as a research agent will make a significant difference in how we enable customers to build web-enabled products.
Web search is available for Claude 3.7 Sonnet, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Claude 3.5 Haiku. Developers can enable the feature in their API requests and explore the documentation for more details.
The introduction of web search aligns with a broader trend among AI platforms to incorporate real-time data capabilities. xAI’s Grok, for instance, uses web search to generate more informed responses. Similarly, other platforms have integrated live search to improve information accuracy and relevance. Microsoft’s Copilot connects with Bing Search, allowing users to access up-to-date content. Perplexity AI offers a conversational interface that pulls from the web with source citations, delivering context-rich answers. Google’s Gemini integrates with Google Search to provide timely insights on current events, news, and technical topics. These capabilities are increasingly valuable for use cases such as research, customer support, and informed decision-making.
