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Cloudflare announced that its Web Search API is available in beta, giving AI agents and applications a way to search the live internet. It runs through AI Gateway and initially supports Ceramic.ai, Exa and Linkup, with billing at each provider’s listed API price and no additional markup from Cloudflare.
Cloudflare announced its Web Search API in beta on October 2, offering AI agents and applications a way to search the live internet and use current information in responses. The service runs through AI Gateway and launches with three search providers: Ceramic.ai, Exa and Linkup.
The API is designed to let applications retrieve web results rather than rely on a model’s training cutoff or guess at URLs. Cloudflare says developers can submit queries through a REST endpoint or call the service from a Worker using the AI binding. Requests can specify a provider and a result limit; Cloudflare’s example uses a query about fall activities in Salt Lake City.
Search requests pass through AI Gateway, where they appear in gateway logs. Cloudflare says usage is billed against AI Gateway credits at the selected provider’s list API price, with no additional Cloudflare markup. Developers can also provide their own provider API key.
At launch, the available providers are Ceramic.ai, Exa and Linkup. Cloudflare says all three support Zero Data Retention for requests made through Cloudflare and have committed to its verified bot crawling standards. These are statements in Cloudflare’s announcement; the company did not provide further detail there about the providers’ individual data handling terms or how the standards are applied.
Live Search for AI Applications
The beta gives developers a direct way to add current web search to applications that use AI models. That can help an application retrieve information that may have changed since a model was trained, while giving developers a path to include search results in responses. The announcement describes the API’s purpose, but does not report accuracy benchmarks or show how results compare across its providers.
Routing searches through AI Gateway also brings requests into the same logging and credit billing system. This may be useful to teams already using the gateway to manage AI traffic. Costs still depend on the chosen search provider’s listed API price and how the application uses the service; Cloudflare has not announced a single fixed price for searches.
The initial provider choice gives developers multiple services to test, while the stated retention and crawling commitments address data handling and access to websites. Those commitments may matter to teams deciding whether to send queries through the service, but the announcement alone does not establish how every provider handles each category of data or how crawling commitments affect search coverage.
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How Cloudflare Routes Searches
Cloudflare’s announcement frames the Web Search API as part of AI Gateway, its system for routing AI-related requests. The API connects an application to one of three named search providers, and the resulting requests show up in gateway logs. A developer may use Cloudflare’s account-level REST API or call the service from a Worker, according to the documentation described in the announcement.
The beta follows a common challenge for AI applications: model responses can rely on information learned during training, which may not reflect recent events or changes. Web search can supply live results for an application to use, though the source does not specify how those results are ranked, cited, checked, or incorporated into a model’s final response. Developers will need to determine how the API fits into their own answer-generation and verification process.
Cloudflare says the service uses providers’ list API prices and adds no markup. The announcement does not give a per-query price, provider-specific feature comparison or service-level guarantees. It directs developers to its “How to use Web Search API” documentation for setup details.
““Web Search API is now available in beta.””
— Cloudflare
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Questions During the Beta
The announcement does not give a general availability date or say how long the beta will run. It also leaves open whether Cloudflare plans to add more providers, what service limits apply, and whether the API will have different capabilities or costs depending on the provider.
Cloudflare has not published comparative information on search quality, coverage, speed or result freshness in the source announcement. It also does not explain the specific scope of Zero Data Retention for each provider, the handling of logs, or the practical details of the verified bot crawling standards. Those details may be addressed in product documentation or provider terms, but they are not established by the announcement itself.
It is also unclear how returned results are formatted beyond the API examples, or what tools developers will have to cite and verify sources. The service provides a way to search; the source does not say that it guarantees factual or complete answers from an AI application.
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Developers Begin Beta Testing
Developers can begin using the beta through Cloudflare’s REST API or from a Worker with the AI binding. Cloudflare points users to its Web Search API setup documentation for instructions. Teams evaluating the service can compare the three launch providers for their own queries and review pricing and data-handling terms before choosing one.
Cloudflare has not announced a date for a wider release or described its next planned features. Further details about availability, provider options, limits and operational terms remain pending in the information published with the beta announcement.
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Key Questions
What did Cloudflare announce?
Cloudflare announced that its Web Search API is available in beta. It lets AI applications and agents search the live internet through Cloudflare AI Gateway.
Which search providers are available?
The launch providers are Ceramic.ai, Exa and Linkup, according to Cloudflare.
How is the API billed?
Cloudflare says requests are billed to AI Gateway credits at the selected provider’s list API price, with no additional Cloudflare markup. The announcement does not provide a fixed per-search price.
Can developers use their own provider key?
Yes. Cloudflare says developers can bring their own provider API key. The API can also be called through the REST endpoint or from a Worker using the AI binding.
Is a general release date known?
No. The announcement identifies the service as a beta but does not give a date for general availability or say how long the beta will last.
Source: hn
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