Tools

Tools let applications enrich a prompt with external context before a request reaches a model. Optiak currently supports Web Search.

Organization Setup

Admins control web search availability for the whole organization in Company Setup -> Tools.

• Allow - Web search is available to applications; each application still chooses whether and how to use it.
• Block - Web search is disabled for every application in the organization. Applications cannot enable it, even if they were previously configured to use it.

Application Setup

Applications configure web search in Modules -> Tools. This is only available when the organization allows web search.

Application modes:

• Disabled - Web search does not run for the application.
• Per request - Web search is off by default; requests must opt in with web_search_enabled: true.
• Always on - Web search runs for every supported request to the application and cannot be turned off by a request flag.
• LLM Decides - Web search is exposed to the model as a tool it can call; the model decides whether and how to use it.

If the organization blocks web search, the application's Tools section shows Blocked by organization and cannot be changed until an admin allows it in Company Setup -> Tools.

Request-Level Opt-In

When an application is set to Per request, each request can choose whether to use web search via a simple opt-in flag. This cannot override an organization block or turn off an application's Always on setting.

LLM Decides Mode

In LLM Decides mode, web search is not run ahead of the request. Instead, Optiak exposes it to the model as a callable tool alongside the request's own function definitions, and the model decides at inference time whether the request needs it. If the model calls it, Optiak executes the search server-side, feeds the results back to the model, and lets the model decide whether to call it again (up to a bounded number of turns) or finish its response. Requests that don't need current information continue without a search.

Current limitations:

• A request that disables tool use cannot use LLM Decides Web Search.
• Some combinations with caller-provided tool calls are not supported.
• Execution is bounded; repeated or invalid tool calls can cause the request to fail.