Native Web Search

Web search is now fully integrated in Alter router models

AuthorAuthor

Samuel ROY & Olivier Legris
March 06, 2026

Hey everyone,

What if search just happened automatically when it should?

Native Web Search: The Better Way

Today, we're shipping Native Web Search, baked into Alter's router models.

Pick best, fair, fast, or light, and web search is automatic.

No tool setup. No extra steps. The model retrieves current information from the internet when it's needed, everything handled on the backend.

You ask about currency conversion? It searches for today's rates.

You need recent data? It finds it automatically.

You ask about a recent event? It gets the facts.

How It Works

  1. Choose a router model (best, fair, fast, or light)

  2. Ask your question normally

  3. Web search happens automatically in the background

  4. Get current, accurate answers every time

No configuration needed. No extra friction.

Using Alter Router in a third‑party app? You get web search for free :)

Alter Team

Ground It In Your Workspace

The real power is in workspaces. Set context-specific instructions: 

When discussing currency or financial transactions, 
always search online for the most up-to-date exchange rates.

Now every financial question automatically gets today's rates. Every currency conversion is accurate. Every calculation is correct.

Real use cases:

  • Finance workspaces that always pull current FX rates and market data

  • Research workspaces that automatically surface recent articles and news

  • Project workspaces that verify the latest APIs and documentation

  • Sales workspaces that check current pricing and competitor info

Still Want Tools? We Got You

Native search is the default. But we know you might need alternatives:

  • WebSearch Tool — Uses Duck Duck Go, free, works everywhere

  • WebSearch Gemini — Uses Google's Gemini backend, included in Alter Pro

  • Third-party integrations — Linkup, Tavily, Firecrawl, Exab and more

Use what works for your workflow.

Olivier & Samuel

Full Changelog

New Features & Enhancements

  • Native Web Search: Added automatic backend-powered web retrieval to Alter's router models so current information is fetched from the internet when needed.

  • Workspaces: Now code runner and full-access are exclusive to avoid confusion, full rework of the sandbox system for both bash sandbox and code container, and added previews for all workspace root files.

  • Meetings: Automatically copy transcripts in Markdown format with sync support.

  • New Default Skills: Embedded Anthropic skill for DOCX, PPTX, and XLSX files.

  • New Model: OpenAI GPT-5.4 is available to everyone.

Bug Fixes & Stability

  • Message Editing Reliability: Fixed floating panel editing, newline handling, deletion at the start of lines, and Escape-to-cancel behavior.

  • Speech-to-prompt: Fixed continuous speech-to-prompt when an active chat is open in the hub.

  • Custom Model Providers: Fixed model identifier parsing.

  • Tool Use: Improved bash tool and reduced malformed tool calls

Videos on Alter