Network service provider Cloudflare is currently launching a network search function for some developers. This function is mainly for AI agents and provides real-time web search capabilities. Developers can achieve real-time search of the entire Internet through a simple API, and with functions such as Browser Run, they can obtain complete page content, extract structured data, and generate web page screenshots.
It will improve the real-time query capabilities of AI agents and reduce hallucinations:
Since AI models themselves have data deadlines, models often provide outdated or incorrect content. In addition, many AI agents require online search capabilities. Currently, only Brave Search provides APIs for online search capabilities (2,000 free calls per month can meet the needs of ordinary users). Google Search and Bing Search have not opened such search APIs for AI agents or ordinary users.
The functions provided by Cloudflare Web Search are similar to Brave Search. Keyword query results can be obtained in real time through simple API calls. The query results include the complete URL, title, description, and metadata. After obtaining the search results, the AI agent can be used with Browser Run or other web crawling tools as needed to obtain the specific content of the web page and extract structured data.
This type of function helps the AI model to search for timely information online before generating answers when responding, avoiding hallucinations and other wrong answers due to the AI model's training data set being too old. The web search capability can also build a cross-query research agent, integrating content from multiple sources to provide more detailed research reports.
Of course, the search function also supports a variety of different AI agents or MCP servers. For example, it is used in coding tools such as Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode. You can call the search function to query the latest technical documents. In this way, the code generated by the coding tool is more accurate and avoids compatibility errors caused by using outdated data and using old code usage.
Whether free quota is provided still needs to be observed:
Currently, the Cloudflare search function is only available to invited developers. The specific usage experience and billing methods have not been announced yet. Cloudflare has not published any blog to explain. It may be that it is preparing to wait until the function is tested before publishing a blog. Of course, more users are paying attention to whether Cloudflare provides free quota. If it can also provide 2,000~5,000 queries per month, it will be enough for ordinary users to use it in tools such as OpenClaw.
It may be acceptable if there is no free quota at all and billing is based on the number of uses. However, it is naturally better for ordinary users to continue to use Brave Search, which provides free quota. At least Blue Dot currently uses the search function frequently in OpenClaw, but it has not exceeded the monthly usage limit of 2,000 times, so there is no need to pay at all.