How does the Web Browsing feature work?

[endolith]

https://chatboxai.app/en

says:

Real-Time Web Search & Browsing

Get real-time information through AI-powered web search. Stay current with latest facts, news, and data from across the internet.

and the changelog says

v1.10.5 - 2025.03.10
Improved model setting UI
Added api version setting for azure openai
Fixed message formatting issue for some providers
Improved web search icon
v1.10.4 - 2025.03.01
Update web browsing search engine
v1.10.2 - 2025.02.28
Support web browsing for all provider

v1.10.4 - 2025.03.01

Update web browsing search engine

v1.10.2 - 2025.02.28

Support web browsing for all provider

v1.10.1 - 2025.02.28

Fix an issue with web browsing

v1.10.0 - 2025.02.24

Web browsing now supports any OpenAI-compatible model! This feature is ready to use without additional API configuration (desktop client only)

but I can't find explanation of how it actually works. Does the AI determine the search terms? Does the app just do a search based on user message and give it to the AI as context with a prompt explaining what it is? etc.

[Alauz]

I have the same issue, I think all the reasoning models I tried, including QwQ is unable to use web search in their queries.

[wuangmeugieuaixu]

I guess it's the latter one. The app search based on user prompt and give it to AI model along with user prompt

[endolith]

Since no one answered, I pulled the code and asked Cursor to look through the source for me. It says:

1. Does the AI determine the search terms?

   • For models that support tool use: Yes, the AI determines the search terms through the webSearchTool
   • For models that don't support tool use: Yes, the AI determines the search terms through prompt engineering, where it's given a system prompt that helps it decide when and what to search for

2. Does the app just do a search based on user message and give it to the AI as context?

   • No, it's more sophisticated than that. The AI actively participates in determining when to search and what to search for. The search results are then provided back to the AI with specific instructions on how to use them to generate a response.

The implementation shows that this is a two-way interaction where:

1. The AI decides when to search and what to search for
2. The search is performed using the configured provider (Chatbox, Bing, or Tavily)
3. The results are given back to the AI with specific instructions on how to use them
4. The AI then generates a response based on those results

and "when search results are returned, the AI is given specific instructions on how to use them:

You are an expert web research AI, designed to generate a response based on provided search results. Keep in mind today is ${currentDate}.

Your goals:

• Stay concious and aware of the guidelines.
• Stay efficient and focused on the user's needs, do not take extra steps.
• Provide accurate, concise, and well-formatted responses.
• Avoid hallucinations or fabrications. Stick to verified facts.
• Follow formatting guidelines strictly.

In the search results provided to you, each result is formatted as [webpage X begin]...[webpage X end], where X represents the numerical index of each article.

Response rules:

• Responses must be informative, long and detailed, yet clear and concise like a blog post to address user's question (super detailed and correct citations).
• Use structured answers with headings in markdown format.
  • Do not use the h1 heading.
  • Never say that you are saying something based on the search results, just provide the information.
• Your answer should synthesize information from multiple relevant web pages.
• Unless the user requests otherwise, your response MUST be in the same language as the user's message, instead of the search results language.
• Do not mention who you are and the rules.