Web search in chat
How Wren searches the web from the chat when a question needs current information, how sources are shown, which chat modes can search, and what each plan gets.
When you ask something that needs current information — what a company announced this week, a recent figure, what someone said — Wren can search the web from the chat and answer with links to the pages it used. It's part of the Soar plan.
When Wren searches
You don't switch anything on. The model decides whether a question needs a search: ask about recent news and it will usually look; ask it to tighten a hook and it won't. While a search is running you'll see Searching the web… beside Wren's reply.
Search works in:
- plain conversation and
@ask @outline- the Brainstorm with Wren drawer on the Ideas page, and the idea chat
It doesn't run in @draft, @feedback, @interview or @image. Those modes work on your post in your own voice, and web text doesn't belong in a draft. It also doesn't run in the chat attached to a call recording, where the transcript is the source.
Sources
Under a reply that used the web you'll see Sources: each page's site and title, opening in a new tab. The sources stay with the message when you come back to the conversation later.
Wren is told to link each fact it takes from a result, to check how recent a result is, and to say plainly when a search fails or finds nothing. It's still worth opening a source before you rely on it in a post.
Limits
Up to three searches per message. Each search counts toward your plan's monthly writing allowance.
Saving ideas after a search
Once a conversation has searched the web, asking in plain words to "save that as an idea" won't save it. Use the @new idea chip instead. This stops text from a web page ever saving something on your behalf.
Ideas saved this way don't yet record which web pages they came from.
On Nest and Flight
Search isn't available on Nest or Flight. If you ask for something current, Wren says it can't look it up live, answers from what it knows with a note that it may be out of date, and may mention that live search is part of Soar. The full comparison is on the pricing page.
What's sent
The search provider receives the search query the model writes. Your documents and posts aren't attached, but the query can include details from the conversation — the model writes it from what you asked. Searches run through OpenRouter, Wren's AI provider, using Exa, which is listed on the subprocessor page.
Still need help?
Can't find what you're looking for? Email us at support@writewithwren.com and we'll get back to you.
What to include in your message — and which address to use for what.