web-search.md

Web search tool (google_web_search)

The google_web_search tool allows the Gemini agent to retrieve up-to-date information, news, and facts from the internet via Google Search.

Technical reference

The agent uses this tool when your request requires knowledge of current events or specific online documentation not available in its internal training data.

Arguments

• query (string, required): The search query to be executed.

Technical behavior

• Grounding: Returns a generated summary based on search results.
• Citations: Includes source URIs and titles for factual grounding.
• Processing: The Gemini API processes the search results before returning a synthesized response to the agent.

Use cases

• Researching the latest version of a software library or API.
• Finding solutions to recent software bugs or security vulnerabilities.
• Retrieving news or documentation updated after the model's knowledge cutoff.

Next steps

• Follow the Web tools guide for practical usage examples.
• Explore the Web fetch tool reference for direct URL access.