Claude how to enable web search: app, team and API steps

Claude how to enable web search: click the "+" button at the lower left of the chat window, choose "Web search" and check that a checkmark appears next to it. On Team and Enterprise plans, an Owner must first turn the feature on for the workspace. Developers using the API add a web_search tool to the request instead.

This guide is for people who want Claude to answer from the live web, with sources, instead of from what it learned in training. The steps come from Anthropic's help center and API docs, read on November 3, 2026. We did not run them ourselves, so the screens may differ slightly from what you see.

What you need first

• A Claude account. According to the help center, free accounts can use web search, and it counts toward their usage limits, which reset every five hours.
• On Team or Enterprise, an Owner or Primary Owner has to enable it for the whole workspace first. Members then switch it on per chat.
• A supported model. The help center lists Haiku 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Opus 5.5, Fable 5.1, Opus 5, Sonnet 5, Fable 5, Opus 4.8, Opus 4.7, Sonnet 4.6, Opus 4.6 and Haiku 4.5.

The help center does not say which paid plans include web search beyond free and Team or Enterprise, and it does not list supported regions.

How to turn on web search in a chat

1. Click the "+" button in the lower left corner of the chat window.
2. Find "Web search" in the dropdown and click it.
3. A checkmark appears next to "Web search" when it is on.

To turn it off, open the same menu and select "Web search" again. The help center gives no separate steps for the mobile apps.

Anthropic's page also describes a newer Claude experience that has no toggle. There, Claude searches the web whenever it decides that would help. If you do not see the option in the "+" menu, that may be why.

How to turn on web search for your team

This step is for Owners and Primary Owners on Team and Enterprise plans. Open Organization settings and look under Capabilities, where the web search setting lives. Once it is on for the workspace, members can switch it on in their own chats. If members tell you the option is missing, check this setting first.

How to make Claude search

With web search on, Claude decides for itself when a question needs current information. You can steer it. Anthropic suggests asking about recent events, or writing "Search the web" to make sure Claude searches. If you do not need fresh information, tell Claude not to search, which saves usage.

A few things to know about the results:

• Responses include citations and source links, and may include relevant quotes. A search indicator shows while Claude is working.
• Image results come with web search. There is no separate setting. They come from Bing and link to their source pages.
• Claude may use your approximate location, inferred from your IP address, to localize results.
• Anthropic recommends asking for multiple sources and checking anything important against them.

Web fetch is separate

Web fetch lets Claude read the full content of a specific URL you give it. Both search and fetch count against your usage limits. Long articles can use a large share of a free account's allowance.

How to enable web search in the Claude API

On the API, web search is a tool you add to the request. According to the API docs, it is on for your organization unless an administrator disabled it in the Claude Console capabilities settings. If it is disabled, a request that includes the tool fails with a 400 invalid_request_error saying web search is not enabled.

Here is the basic request from the docs, which caps Claude at five searches:

curl https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages \
  -H "x-api-key: $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY" \
  -H "anthropic-version: 2023-06-01" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-opus-5-5",
    "max_tokens": 1024,
    "messages": [
      {"role": "user", "content": "What is the weather in NYC?"}
    ],
    "tools": [{
      "type": "web_search_20250305",
      "name": "web_search",
      "max_uses": 5
    }]
  }'

The docs list three versions of the tool:

Other settings go on the same tool: max_uses to cap searches per request, allowed_domains or blocked_domains (one or the other, not both) and user_location to localize results. Citations are always on for web search.

In Managed Agents, web search is on by default once you add the agent toolset, and max_uses is not available there.

What web search costs on the API

As of November 3, 2026, Anthropic lists web search at $10 per 1,000 searches, plus standard token costs for the content the searches bring in. Each search counts as one use no matter how many results come back, and a search that errors is not billed.

Common problems

• No "Web search" in the menu on Team or Enterprise: an Owner has to enable it in Organization settings under Capabilities.
• Claude does not search: ask it to "Search the web" in your prompt, and check you picked a supported model.
• A link in an answer does not open: the help center says some website links may not work.
• Hitting your limit sooner than expected: search and fetch both count toward usage, so skip them for questions that do not need current information.
• API request fails with a 400 error: web search may be disabled for your organization in the Console.
• API result shows max_uses_exceeded: Claude tried more searches than your max_uses allows. Raise the cap.

For anything else about web search, the help center points to its Online Safety Contacts page.