Agents can search the internet and read web pages to gather information for you. Whether you need quick facts, in-depth research, or content from a specific URL, agents handle it automatically.
What you can ask agents to do
- "Search for the latest news about renewable energy"
- "Find the top 5 project management tools and compare them"
- "Read this article and summarize the key points" (paste a URL)
- "What does this documentation page say about configuration?" (paste a URL)
How search works
When you ask an agent to research something, it:
- Searches the web using your configured search provider
- Reviews the results (titles, URLs, snippets)
- Fetches and reads the most relevant pages
- Synthesizes the information into a response
You see each step in the chat: the search query, which results came back, and which pages the agent decided to read.
How page reading works
Agents can read web pages in two ways:
Web fetch (quick read)
For straightforward pages like articles, documentation, and blog posts, the agent fetches the page and converts it to readable text. This is fast and works well for most content.
Browser automation (interactive)
For JavaScript-heavy sites, pages behind logins, or when the agent needs to interact with the page, it uses the full browser automation tools.
When to use which
| Scenario | Method |
|---|---|
| Read a blog post or article | Web fetch |
| Read documentation | Web fetch |
| Check a page that requires login | Browser |
| Navigate a single-page app | Browser |
| Fill out forms or click buttons | Browser |
Agents choose the right method automatically based on what you ask. You don't usually need to specify.
Search providers
Frona supports multiple search providers. The default Docker Compose setup includes SearXNG, a self-hosted privacy-respecting metasearch engine.
| Provider | Description |
|---|---|
| SearXNG | Self-hosted metasearch engine (default). Aggregates results from multiple search engines. |
| Tavily | Cloud API-based search service |
| Brave | Brave Search API |
Tips
- Be specific in research requests. "Find recent statistics on remote work adoption in Europe since 2024" is better than "research remote work."
- Paste URLs directly. If you want the agent to read a specific page, paste the URL in your message.
- Combine with other tools. Ask the agent to research something and then write code, create a file, or build a comparison table from the results.
Requirements
Web search requires a configured search provider. See Deployment for setup.
Next steps
- Browsing Websites. For interactive web browsing.
- What Agents Can Do. Full list of agent capabilities.