Glonce

Cloudflare launches Web Search API in beta for AI agents

toolsThe Glonce editorsHacker News🔥76Glonce rating76Impact62Novelty52Relevance94Surprise38Players70Credibility87
Cloudflare launches Web Search API in beta for AI agents

Cloudflare has announced Web Search API in beta, in its developer changelog. The service lets AI agents and applications search the Internet and ground their responses in live information, instead of guessing URLs or relying on a model's training cutoff.

At launch there are three search providers to choose from: Ceramic.ai, Exa and Linkup. According to Cloudflare, all three support Zero Data Retention for requests made through Cloudflare, and all have committed to Cloudflare's verified bot crawling standards.

Web Search API runs through AI Gateway. Search requests therefore show up in the user's gateway logs and are billed to their AI Gateway credits at each provider's list API price, with no additional markup. Users can also bring their own provider API key.

Developers can call the API with the REST API, or from a Worker with the AI binding. The changelog points to a separate guide, "How to use Web Search API", for getting started.

Key facts

  • Cloudflare's Web Search API is available in beta, letting agents and apps search the Internet and ground responses in live information.
  • Three search providers are selectable at launch: Ceramic.ai, Exa and Linkup.
  • All three support Zero Data Retention for requests made through Cloudflare and have committed to Cloudflare's verified bot crawling standards.
  • It runs through AI Gateway: requests appear in gateway logs and are billed to AI Gateway credits at each provider's list API price, with no additional markup.
  • It can be called via the REST API or from a Worker with the AI binding, and users can bring their own provider API key.

Why it matters

Agents that answer from a model's training data go stale, or guess at URLs. Cloudflare's pitch is to give them live search without leaving its platform. The notable design choice is that search runs through AI Gateway, so it sits beside the logging and billing developers on Cloudflare may already use, rather than as a separate vendor account.

Who it affects

Developers building AI agents and applications on Cloudflare, especially those who use Workers or AI Gateway. It also concerns the three launch providers, Ceramic.ai, Exa and Linkup, which gain distribution through Cloudflare.

How to use it

Call Web Search API through the REST API, or from a Worker using the AI binding. Pick one of the three providers, or bring your own provider API key. Requests are billed to AI Gateway credits at each provider's list API price with no markup, and they appear in gateway logs. The changelog directs readers to its guide, "How to use Web Search API", to get started.

How solid is it

This is Cloudflare's own changelog announcement, so the claims about providers, data retention and billing are the company's statements. The service is in beta. The announcement gives no performance, quality or latency comparisons between the providers, and no pricing figures beyond the pass-through of list prices.

Risks and caveats

It is a beta, and no general-availability date, rate limits, regions or plan restrictions are stated. Actual cost depends on each provider's list API price, which the announcement does not give. The Zero Data Retention support is described as applying to requests made through Cloudflare, and the providers have separately committed to Cloudflare's verified bot crawling standards.