tools-only Tool Specification: mshtools-web_search
Overview
General-purpose web search capability providing real-time information retrieval from internet sources. Returns top results with relevant snippets for open-ended information retrieval.
JSON Schema
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"queries": {
"type": "array",
"items": {"type": "string"},
"description": "Array of search queries (max 5). Executed in parallel within one step.",
"maxItems": 5
}
},
"required": ["queries"]
}
Streaming Mechanism
- Transport: Synchronous HTTP API call
- Response Format: Structured JSON with ranked results
- Content: Each result includes title, URL, snippet, and citation number
- Citation Format: Results tagged with [^N^] format for academic referencing
- Parallel Execution: Multiple queries execute simultaneously within single tool call
Integration Architecture
Internal Flow
- Query Construction: Model formulates 1-6 word queries per guidelines
- API Dispatch: Request routed to Moonshot search infrastructure
- Result Aggregation: Search engine returns top-N results with metadata
- Context Injection: Results streamed back to model context window
- Citation Binding: Each result assigned numeric citation ID
External Dependencies
- Search Provider: Integrated with general web search index
- Rate Limiting: Subject to per-step budget (counts as 1 of 10 steps in Base Chat, 1 of 200-300 in OK Computer)
- Network Access: Requires outbound HTTPS to search endpoints
Operational Guidelines
Query Construction
- Optimal Length: 1-6 words per query
- Strategy: Start broad, narrow if needed
- Date Filtering: Use
before:andafter:operators for temporal constraints - Domain Restrictions: Use
site:operator to limit to specific domains - Exclusions: Use
-operator to exclude terms - Phrase Matching: Use
"exact phrase"for literal matching
Use Cases
- Frequently updated data (news, events, weather, prices)
- Unfamiliar entities recognition (people, companies, products)
- Fact-checking and verification requests
- High-impact topics requiring current information (health, finance, legal)
Limitations
- Result Volume: Returns only top-N results (not comprehensive)
- Freshness: Index may lag real-time by minutes to hours
- Paywall Content: May return snippets from restricted content
System Integration
- Base Chat: Available with 10-step budget per turn
- OK Computer: Available with extended 200-300 step budget per session
- Citation System: Integrates with automatic citation rendering using [^N^] format