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Web Search

Ask LucidPal to search the web and get real-time results without leaving the app.

Overview​

LucidPal can query the web on your behalf and include results in its response. Three search providers are supported — one works out of the box with no configuration required.

ProviderSetup requiredPrivacy
DuckDuckGoNone — works immediatelyNo API key, HTML scrape
Brave SearchBrave API keyRequires free/paid API key
SearXNGSelf-hosted instance URLFull self-hosted privacy

Simple mode (default): Open Settings → Data Sources and flip the Web Search toggle. DuckDuckGo is used automatically — no further configuration required.

Advanced mode: Open Settings → Data Sources → Web Search to access the full configuration screen where you can:

  1. Choose a provider.
  2. If using Brave Search, paste your API key.
  3. If using SearXNG, enter your instance URL (must be https://).

To switch to Advanced mode, tap the mode selector at the top of Settings.

Using Web Search in Chat​

Once enabled, ask naturally:

  • "What's the weather in Montreal today?"
  • "Search for the latest news on iOS 19"
  • "Look up the price of AAPL stock"

LucidPal fetches up to 5 results, summarizes them, and cites sources inline.

note

The AI uses a two-pass approach: the first pass detects a search intent and fetches results; the second pass synthesizes the answer. The synthesis pass cannot trigger another web search — only one search round-trip occurs per message.

Provider Details​

All providers use a 10-second request timeout. If the provider does not respond in time, the search fails and the AI reports the error inline.

DuckDuckGo​

Zero-config. LucidPal scrapes DuckDuckGo's HTML search results using a mobile Safari user-agent. No account or API key needed.

Requires a Brave Search API key (free tier available). Enter the key in Settings → Web Search → Brave API Key.

SearXNG (Self-Hosted)​

Point LucidPal at your own SearXNG instance. The instance must:

  • Use https://
  • Have JSON format enabled (search.formats: [json] in settings.yml)
tip

If you see "SearXNG JSON format is disabled", add json to the search.formats list in your SearXNG settings.yml and restart the container.

Privacy​

Web search queries are sent to the chosen provider — DuckDuckGo, Brave, or your own SearXNG server. No queries are sent to Anthropic or any LucidPal backend. The on-device model synthesizes the results locally.