Web Research

Nova can pull live information from the internet directly into your project. Just ask Nova a research question, and it will automatically run Web Search or Web Fetch based on your prompt. Use these tools to:

• Research competitors, industry trends, or pricing.
• Pull product details, menus, specifications, or documentation from a known website.
• Gather current facts that may be newer than Nova’s built-in knowledge.
• Summarize a long article or page before adding its content to your site.

Web Search vs Web Fetch#

Web Search#

Nova uses Web Search when you want to find information on other websites and summarize its findings.

To trigger Web Search, phrase your prompt like a research command or question. You do not need to include any URLs. Nova recognizes the intent and searches the web on its own. For example:

Find the top five bakeries in Seattle that opened after 2020 and list their three most popular menu items.

Compare the starting monthly prices of the five most popular small business accounting tools in 2026 and rank them from cheapest to most expensive.

Research sustainable packaging trends for e-commerce brands published in the last 12 months and summarize the top three takeaways.

How Web Search works#

When you trigger Web Search, the system generates a search query from your prompt and finds up to 10 matching pages. Click the dropdown arrow ( ) in the Web Search card ( ) to expand or collapse the list of sources. Nova will analyze each source and consolidate its findings into a single summarized response.

To improve the accuracy of your search, add specificity to your prompt. Include information about location, time range, or criteria. Ask Nova to compare, rank, or structure its response according to your needs. For example, “Compare the top five vegan lunch spots in Austin that opened after 2023 and rank them by average price” will return better results than “good vegan restaurants in Austin.”

Web Fetch#

Nova uses Web Fetch when you want to read the contents of a specific web page. To trigger Web Fetch, include the URL of the page in your prompt. For example:

List every breakfast pastry on https://example.com/menu/breakfast, grouped by category.

Summarize the company mission and founding year from https://example.com/about in two sentences.

Extract the plan names, monthly prices, and included features from the pricing table at https://example.com/plans.

How Web Fetch works#

When you trigger Web Fetch, Nova opens the link, retrieves the full content of the page, and uses your instructions (summarize, list, extract, rewrite, and so on) to generate a response. Nova will show a Fetched indicator ( ) with the domain of the page it read. Click the external-link icon ( ) to open the original page in a new tab.

To improve the accuracy of your fetch, paste the most specific URL available and be clear about what you want Nova to do with the content. A page dedicated to pricing gives better results than the site’s homepage, and instructions like “Summarize the product descriptions” or “Extract the contact details” return better results than “read this page.”