Workspace Tools

Workspace tools and web search

Tools let a model request information or actions beyond generating text. A local model can use a remote tool, so local inference does not mean every part of a conversation stays on your machine.

Choose the search integration deliberately

Open WebUI provides built-in web-search integrations. For Perplexity Search, open the administrator's Web Search settings, enable search, choose perplexity_search, enter the provider's API key and save. Follow the Open WebUI provider guide for your installed version.

Perplexity Search returns search results. The separate Perplexity integration uses Perplexity's models as well. Select the one that matches your intended workflow and account.

Test with a public question

Enable search in a test chat and ask for a recent public announcement. Check that search actually runs, inspect the returned sources, and open the relevant page before trusting the answer.

What leaves the local setup

A remote search provider receives the search query. Its service terms and billing apply. Keep confidential material out of those queries unless the destination is approved for it.

Custom tools

A community Python tool is executable code, not a harmless prompt. Read it before installing it and check what files, credentials and network destinations it can access. The old embedded Perplexity tool listing was broken into invalid fragments during conversion; it has been replaced by the documented built-in setup above.