Web Search Integration

Enable transparent server-side web search execution for any LLM provider. LiteLLM automatically intercepts web search tool calls and executes them using your configured search provider (Perplexity, Tavily, etc.).

Quick Start

1. Configure Web Search Interception

Add to your config.yaml:

model_list:
  - model_name: gpt-4o
    litellm_params:
      model: openai/gpt-4o
      api_key: os.environ/OPENAI_API_KEY

litellm_settings:
  callbacks: ["websearch_interception"]
  websearch_interception_params:
    enabled_providers:
      - openai
      - minimax
      - anthropic
    search_tool_name: perplexity-search  # Optional

search_tools:
  - search_tool_name: perplexity-search
    litellm_params:
      search_provider: perplexity
      api_key: os.environ/PERPLEXITY_API_KEY

2. Use with Any Provider

import litellm

response = await litellm.acompletion(
    model="gpt-4o",
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "What's the weather in San Francisco today?"}
    ],
    tools=[
        {
            "type": "function",
            "function": {
                "name": "litellm_web_search",
                "description": "Search the web for information",
                "parameters": {
                    "type": "object",
                    "properties": {
                        "query": {"type": "string", "description": "Search query"}
                    },
                    "required": ["query"]
                }
            }
        }
    ]
)

# Response includes search results automatically!
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

How It Works

When a model makes a web search tool call, LiteLLM:

1. Detects the litellm_web_search tool call in the response
2. Executes the search using your configured search provider
3. Makes a follow-up request with the search results
4. Returns the final answer to the user

Result: One API call from user → Complete answer with search results

Supported Providers

Web search integration works with all providers that use:

• ✅ Base HTTP Handler (BaseLLMHTTPHandler)
• ✅ OpenAI Completion Handler (OpenAIChatCompletion)

Providers Using Base HTTP Handler

Provider	Status	Notes
OpenAI	✅ Supported	GPT-4, GPT-3.5, etc.
Anthropic	✅ Supported	Claude models via HTTP handler
MiniMax	✅ Supported	All MiniMax models
Mistral	✅ Supported	Mistral AI models
Cohere	✅ Supported	Command models
Fireworks AI	✅ Supported	All Fireworks models
Together AI	✅ Supported	All Together AI models
Groq	✅ Supported	All Groq models
Perplexity	✅ Supported	Perplexity models
DeepSeek	✅ Supported	DeepSeek models
xAI	✅ Supported	Grok models
Hugging Face	✅ Supported	Inference API models
OCI	✅ Supported	Oracle Cloud models
Vertex AI	✅ Supported	Google Vertex AI models
Bedrock	✅ Supported	AWS Bedrock models (converse_like route)
Azure OpenAI	✅ Supported	Azure-hosted OpenAI models
Sagemaker	✅ Supported	AWS Sagemaker models
Databricks	✅ Supported	Databricks models
DataRobot	✅ Supported	DataRobot models
Hosted VLLM	✅ Supported	Self-hosted VLLM
Heroku	✅ Supported	Heroku-hosted models
RAGFlow	✅ Supported	RAGFlow models
Compactif	✅ Supported	Compactif models
Cometapi	✅ Supported	Comet API models
A2A	✅ Supported	Agent-to-Agent models
Bytez	✅ Supported	Bytez models

Providers Using OpenAI Handler

Provider	Status	Notes
OpenAI	✅ Supported	Native OpenAI API
Azure OpenAI	✅ Supported	Azure-hosted OpenAI
OpenAI-Compatible	✅ Supported	Any OpenAI-compatible API

Configuration

WebSearch Interception Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description	Example
enabled_providers	List[String]	Yes	List of providers to enable web search for	[openai, minimax, anthropic]
search_tool_name	String	No	Specific search tool from search_tools config. If not set, uses first available.	perplexity-search

Provider Values

Use these values in enabled_providers:

Provider	Value	Provider	Value
OpenAI	openai	Anthropic	anthropic
MiniMax	minimax	Mistral	mistral
Cohere	cohere	Fireworks AI	fireworks_ai
Together AI	together_ai	Groq	groq
Perplexity	perplexity	DeepSeek	deepseek
xAI	xai	Hugging Face	huggingface
OCI	oci	Vertex AI	vertex_ai
Bedrock	bedrock	Azure	azure
Sagemaker	sagemaker_chat	Databricks	databricks
DataRobot	datarobot	VLLM	hosted_vllm
Heroku	heroku	RAGFlow	ragflow
Compactif	compactif	Cometapi	cometapi
A2A	a2a	Bytez	bytez

Search Providers

Configure which search provider to use. LiteLLM supports multiple search providers:

Provider	search_provider Value	Environment Variable
Perplexity AI	perplexity	PERPLEXITYAI_API_KEY
Tavily	tavily	TAVILY_API_KEY
Exa AI	exa_ai	EXA_API_KEY
Brave Search	brave	BRAVE_API_KEY
Parallel AI	parallel_ai	PARALLEL_AI_API_KEY
Google PSE	google_pse	GOOGLE_PSE_API_KEY, GOOGLE_PSE_ENGINE_ID
DataForSEO	dataforseo	DATAFORSEO_LOGIN, DATAFORSEO_PASSWORD
Firecrawl	firecrawl	FIRECRAWL_API_KEY
SearXNG	searxng	SEARXNG_API_BASE (required)
Linkup	linkup	LINKUP_API_KEY
Serper	serper	SERPER_API_KEY
SearchAPI.io	searchapi	SEARCHAPI_API_KEY

See Search Providers Documentation for detailed setup instructions.

Complete Configuration Example

model_list:
  # OpenAI
  - model_name: gpt-4o
    litellm_params:
      model: openai/gpt-4o
      api_key: os.environ/OPENAI_API_KEY

  # MiniMax
  - model_name: minimax
    litellm_params:
      model: minimax/MiniMax-M2.1
      api_key: os.environ/MINIMAX_API_KEY

  # Anthropic
  - model_name: claude
    litellm_params:
      model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5
      api_key: os.environ/ANTHROPIC_API_KEY

  # Azure OpenAI
  - model_name: azure-gpt4
    litellm_params:
      model: azure/gpt-4
      api_base: https://my-azure.openai.azure.com
      api_key: os.environ/AZURE_API_KEY

litellm_settings:
  callbacks: ["websearch_interception"]
  websearch_interception_params:
    enabled_providers:
      - openai
      - minimax
      - anthropic
      - azure
    search_tool_name: perplexity-search

search_tools:
  - search_tool_name: perplexity-search
    litellm_params:
      search_provider: perplexity
      api_key: os.environ/PERPLEXITY_API_KEY

  - search_tool_name: tavily-search
    litellm_params:
      search_provider: tavily
      api_key: os.environ/TAVILY_API_KEY

Usage Examples

Python SDK

import litellm

# Configure callbacks
litellm.callbacks = ["websearch_interception"]

# Make completion with web search tool
response = await litellm.acompletion(
    model="gpt-4o",
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "What are the latest AI news?"}
    ],
    tools=[
        {
            "type": "function",
            "function": {
                "name": "litellm_web_search",
                "description": "Search the web for current information",
                "parameters": {
                    "type": "object",
                    "properties": {
                        "query": {
                            "type": "string",
                            "description": "Search query"
                        }
                    },
                    "required": ["query"]
                }
            }
        }
    ]
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

Proxy Server

# Start proxy with config
litellm --config config.yaml

# Make request
curl http://localhost:4000/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-1234" \
  -d '{
    "model": "gpt-4o",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "user", "content": "What is the weather in San Francisco?"}
    ],
    "tools": [
      {
        "type": "function",
        "function": {
          "name": "litellm_web_search",
          "description": "Search the web",
          "parameters": {
            "type": "object",
            "properties": {
              "query": {"type": "string"}
            },
            "required": ["query"]
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }'

How Search Tool Selection Works

1. If search_tool_name is specified → Uses that specific search tool
2. If search_tool_name is not specified → Uses first search tool in search_tools list

search_tools:
  - search_tool_name: perplexity-search  # ← This will be used if no search_tool_name specified
    litellm_params:
      search_provider: perplexity
      api_key: os.environ/PERPLEXITY_API_KEY

  - search_tool_name: tavily-search
    litellm_params:
      search_provider: tavily
      api_key: os.environ/TAVILY_API_KEY

Troubleshooting

Web Search Not Working

1. Check provider is enabled:

   enabled_providers:
     - openai  # Make sure your provider is in this list

2. Verify search tool is configured:

   search_tools:
     - search_tool_name: perplexity-search
       litellm_params:
         search_provider: perplexity
         api_key: os.environ/PERPLEXITY_API_KEY

3. Check API keys are set:

   export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=your-key

4. Enable debug logging:

   litellm.set_verbose = True

Common Issues

Issue: Model returns tool_calls instead of final answer

• Cause: Provider not in enabled_providers list
• Solution: Add provider to enabled_providers

Issue: "No search tool configured" error

• Cause: No search tools in search_tools config
• Solution: Add at least one search tool configuration

Issue: "Invalid function arguments json string" error (MiniMax)

• Cause: Fixed in latest version - arguments weren't properly JSON serialized
• Solution: Update to latest LiteLLM version

Related Documentation

• Search Providers - Detailed search provider setup
• Claude Code WebSearch - Using with Claude Code
• Tool Calling - General tool calling documentation
• Callbacks - Custom callback documentation

Technical Details

Architecture

Web search integration is implemented as a custom callback (WebSearchInterceptionLogger) that:

1. Pre-request Hook: Converts native web search tools to LiteLLM standard format
2. Post-response Hook: Detects web search tool calls in responses
3. Agentic Loop: Executes searches and makes follow-up requests automatically

Supported APIs

• ✅ Chat Completions API (OpenAI format)
• ✅ Anthropic Messages API (Anthropic format)
• ✅ Streaming (automatically converted)
• ✅ Non-streaming

Response Format Detection

The handler automatically detects response format:

• OpenAI format: tool_calls in assistant message
• Anthropic format: tool_use blocks in content

Performance

• Latency: Adds one additional LLM call (follow-up request with search results)
• Caching: Search results can be cached (depends on search provider)
• Parallel Searches: Multiple search queries executed in parallel

Contributing

Found a bug or want to add support for a new provider? See our Contributing Guide.