Search

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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.

Default providers

term-llm defaults to Exa MCP for external search and Jina Reader for page fetch:

search:
  provider: exa_mcp
  fetch_provider: jina
  force_external: false

  exa_mcp:
    url: https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp # optional; this is the default
    api_key: ${EXA_API_KEY}    # optional; raises Exa MCP free-tier limits

With these defaults, web_search uses Exa’s free remote MCP server, while read_url continues to use the default Jina markdown reader. You do not need an Exa API key unless you want higher Exa MCP limits.

Configure external search

Common configurations:

Default: Exa MCP search + Jina page fetch:

search:
  provider: exa_mcp
  fetch_provider: jina

Use Exa MCP for both search and page fetch:

search:
  provider: exa_mcp
  fetch_provider: exa_mcp

Use another search provider while keeping Jina for read_url:

search:
  provider: perplexity
  fetch_provider: jina
  perplexity:
    api_key: ${PERPLEXITY_API_KEY}

Provider-specific credentials:

search:
  exa:
    api_key: ${EXA_API_KEY}

  exa_mcp:
    # url is optional; defaults to https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp
    # api_key is optional; set it to raise Exa MCP free-tier limits
    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:

Provider	Credentials	Notes
DuckDuckGo	none	free fallback option
Exa	`EXA_API_KEY`	semantic search
Exa MCP	optional `EXA_API_KEY`	default, free remote MCP-backed search (`provider: exa_mcp`); can also back page fetch with `fetch_provider: exa_mcp`
Perplexity	`PERPLEXITY_API_KEY`	search API with concise answer-oriented results
Tavily	`TAVILY_API_KEY`	agent-oriented search
Brave	`BRAVE_API_KEY`	independent index
Google	`GOOGLE_SEARCH_API_KEY` + `GOOGLE_SEARCH_CX`	Custom Search

Available fetch providers:

Provider	Notes
Jina	default `read_url` implementation (`fetch_provider: jina`)
Exa MCP	use Exa MCP `web_fetch_exa` for `read_url` (`fetch_provider: exa_mcp`)
none	do not expose the external `read_url` tool (`fetch_provider: none`)

search.provider and search.fetch_provider are independent. For example, provider: exa_mcp with fetch_provider: jina gives Exa MCP search results but keeps Jina for reading individual pages.

Native versus external priority

Priority is:

CLI override: --native-search or --no-native-search
global config: search.force_external: true
provider config: use_native_search: false
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