Search

Search modes

When you use -s or --search, term-llm can answer with either:

• native provider search when the model backend supports it
• external search tools using the configured search provider plus page reading

Examples:

term-llm ask "latest node.js version" -s
term-llm exec "install latest docker" -s

Force native or external behavior

term-llm ask "latest news" -s --native-search
term-llm ask "latest news" -s --no-native-search

Use this when you want consistency, debugging clarity, or to work around a provider’s native search behavior.

Configure external search

search:
  provider: perplexity

  perplexity:
    api_key: ${PERPLEXITY_API_KEY}

  exa:
    api_key: ${EXA_API_KEY}

  brave:
    api_key: ${BRAVE_API_KEY}

  google:
    api_key: ${GOOGLE_SEARCH_API_KEY}
    cx: ${GOOGLE_SEARCH_CX}

Available external providers:

Native versus external priority

Priority is:

1. CLI override: --native-search or --no-native-search
2. global config: search.force_external: true
3. provider config: use_native_search: false
4. default provider behavior

Example:

search:
  force_external: true

providers:
  gemini:
    use_native_search: false

Search in chat and agents

In chat mode:

• Ctrl+S toggles web search
• /search toggles web search

Agents can also enable search in their configuration:

search: true

That exposes web search and page-reading tools to the agent.

When to prefer each mode

Use native search when:

• you want the provider’s built-in grounding behavior
• you trust the provider’s integrated search product
• you want fewer moving pieces

Use external search when:

• you want one search stack across providers
• you need provider-independent behavior
• you want to debug the search pipeline more explicitly

Related pages

• Providers and models
• Configuration
• Usage