Plugging search into the agent doesn’t solve the problem

WHAT HAPPENED

Cloudflare launched a search API for agents and AI apps

The Web Search API entered beta. It lets you search live information on the internet via AI Gateway, instead of depending on model training or guessing a URL. At launch, there are three providers: Ceramic.ai, Exa and Linkup.

THE NUMBER

3

search providers at launch

The API runs on AI Gateway and can use the provider’s own key

THE REAL PROBLEM IN COMPANIES

What I see in companies when they try to use search in the agent

1. 01Search gets added, but no one defines when to query and when to answer
2. 02The agent finds a lot, but doesn’t filter what actually fits the task
3. 03Without rules and metrics, no one knows whether it helped or just seemed useful

I’VE ALREADY SOLVED THIS

I applied this in a building materials store in Southern Brazil

1. 0113,312 products in the ERP and 136 different ways to write the unit
2. 02The AI never sees the catalog: a simple search answers in milliseconds and returns 8 results
3. 0365 out of 65 real customer questions found the right product

MY TAKE

Measure instead of assume.

Search for agents is infrastructure. Business value comes after that: the right tool, the right context and a clear rule to execute the task without hallucinating. In practice, I look less at the demo and more at what was queried, what was answered and what got it right.