# Codex web search Give Codex more ways to search the web. Codex has its own web search. Add Google rankings, source excerpts and domain-restricted results using TaskFuel with your agent. Tested with one question on 4 November 2026. Your agent shows the price for your own request before it pays. Provider in the worked example: Serper, Tavily and Exa. Price shown for this route: 0.2ยข per search, from. ## What it can do ### Google results for a query Titles, snippets and related questions from Google. Our test returned five results, the first an OpenAI web search guide. Price: $0.002 / search. ### Passages from each source Tavily returns a passage from every result, so Codex can read the relevant part without opening the page. One of our five excerpts came from the ChatGPT Learn docs. Price: $0.01 / search. ### Search only the docs you name Exa limited to the domains you give it. We gave it developers.openai.com and all five results came from there. Price: $0.01 / search. ## A real example Tested on 2026-11-04 through Serper, Tavily and Exa. We sent one question to three search APIs through the TaskFuel CLI, one call each. Each returned five results. Your agent asked: Search the web for OpenAI Codex web search live mode through three search APIs Returned in this test: - Serper (Google): The OpenAI API web search guide first; also related questions - Tavily: A Codex web search guide first; an excerpt says to set web_search to live in config.toml - Exa: All five on developers.openai.com, starting with the Codex web search page - Per search: Serper $0.002, Tavily $0.01, Exa $0.01 Charged in this test: $0.022. One question about Codex search, one call per API. ## Connect your agent Read the [setup guide](https://taskfuel.ai/docs/setup/) and choose the connection your agent supports. Use one TaskFuel account and prepaid balance. Inspect the provider and request quote before a paid call, then review the returned response and recorded charge. ## When to use it ### Search for the current docs. Codex searches for a library's documentation and reads the titles, snippets or excerpts that come back before it writes code. ### Search only the docs you trust. Codex limits a search to developers.openai.com, or to another vendor's docs, before it writes code against them. ### Ask Google and an excerpt API. Codex sends one question to Google results and to Tavily, and sees which pages each puts first. In our test they led with different guides. ## Questions ### Does Codex already have web search? Yes. OpenAI documents a built-in web search that is cached by default, with live search set as web_search = "live" in config.toml and "disabled" turning it off. TaskFuel adds more search APIs as paid calls and does not change those settings. ### Do I need accounts with Serper, Tavily or Exa? No. Your agent pays from your TaskFuel balance, so there is nothing else to sign up for. ### What does a Codex search cost? Our test cost $0.022 on 4 November 2026: $0.002 for Serper and $0.01 each for Tavily and Exa. Your agent shows the price for your own request before it pays. ### How does Codex use TaskFuel? Codex runs the TaskFuel CLI as a shell command, or you add TaskFuel as an MCP server. The test searches ran through the CLI. ### Which search providers does this cover? Three: Serper for Google results, Tavily for excerpts and Exa for domain-limited search. The web search API guide lists a fourth, Brave. ### Can Codex read a whole page from a search? A search returns result lists and excerpts. Pulling a whole page into the task is a separate call, covered in the webpage extraction guide. ## Related tool guides - [Compare every search API in one guide](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/web-search-api-for-llm/) - [Compare Tavily alternatives for source excerpts](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/tavily-alternative/) - [Compare Exa alternatives for domain-focused search](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/exa-alternative/) - [Read the full page after choosing a result](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/extract-webpage/) ## Reference - [Read this guide on the website](https://taskfuel.ai/tools/codex-web-search/). - [Browse providers and capabilities](https://taskfuel.ai/catalog/). - [Pricing](https://taskfuel.ai/pricing/). - [Agent instructions](https://taskfuel.ai/llms.txt).