| # Web search and fetch |
|
|
| Access the live internet directly from your prompt. In this guide, you'll learn |
| how to search for up-to-date documentation, fetch deep context from specific |
| URLs, and apply that knowledge to your code. |
|
|
| ## Prerequisites |
|
|
| - Gemini CLI installed and authenticated. |
| - An internet connection. |
|
|
| ## How to research new technologies |
|
|
| Imagine you want to use a library released yesterday. The model doesn't know |
| about it yet. You need to teach it. |
|
|
| ### Scenario: Find documentation |
|
|
| **Prompt:** |
| `Search for the 'Bun 1.0' release notes and summarize the key changes.` |
|
|
| Gemini uses the `google_web_search` tool to find relevant pages and synthesizes |
| an answer. This "grounding" process ensures the agent isn't hallucinating |
| features that don't exist. |
|
|
| **Prompt:** `Find the documentation for the 'React Router v7' loader API.` |
|
|
| ## How to fetch deep context |
|
|
| Search gives you a summary, but sometimes you need the raw details. The |
| `web_fetch` tool lets you feed a specific URL directly into the agent's context. |
|
|
| ### Scenario: Reading a blog post |
|
|
| You found a blog post with the exact solution to your bug. |
|
|
| **Prompt:** |
| `Read https://example.com/fixing-memory-leaks and explain how to apply it to my code.` |
|
|
| Gemini will retrieve the page content (stripping away ads and navigation) and |
| use it to answer your question. |
|
|
| ### Scenario: Comparing sources |
|
|
| You can even fetch multiple pages to compare approaches. |
|
|
| **Prompt:** |
| `Compare the pagination patterns in https://api.example.com/v1/docs and https://api.example.com/v2/docs.` |
|
|
| ## How to apply knowledge to code |
|
|
| The real power comes when you combine web tools with file editing. |
|
|
| **Workflow:** |
|
|
| 1. **Search:** "How do I implement auth with Supabase?" |
| 2. **Fetch:** "Read this guide: https://supabase.com/docs/guides/auth." |
| 3. **Implement:** "Great. Now use that pattern to create an `auth.ts` file in |
| my project." |
| |
| ## How to troubleshoot errors |
|
|
| When you hit an obscure error message, paste it into the chat. |
|
|
| **Prompt:** |
| `I'm getting 'Error: hydration mismatch' in Next.js. Search for recent solutions.` |
|
|
| The agent will search sources such as GitHub issues, StackOverflow, and forums |
| to find relevant fixes that might be too new to be in its base training set. |
|
|
| ## Next steps |
|
|
| - Explore [File management](file-management.md) to see how to apply the code you |
| generate. |
| - See the [Web search tool reference](../../tools/web-search.md) for citation |
| details. |
| - See the [Web fetch tool reference](../../tools/web-fetch.md) for technical |
| limitations. |
|
|