AI Search: the search primitive for your agents (opens in new tab)
AI Search is presented as a general-purpose search primitive for AI agents, handling retrieval across code, support documentation, customer history, and agent memory. It combines semantic and keyword search while providing built-in storage, indexing, and dynamically creatable search instances. The result is less infrastructure to build and the ability to maintain separate searchable contexts for agents, customers, languages, or other tenants. ## Why Agents Need Search - Agents often need access to information too large or dynamic to fit in a context window. - Common examples include: - Coding agents searching millions of repository files. - Support agents searching product documentation and ticket history. - Memory systems retrieving relevant past interactions. - Building this independently requires: - A vector index. - Document parsing and chunking. - An indexing pipeline that stays synchronized with changing data. - A separate keyword index and result-fusion layer if lexical search is also needed. ## Hybrid Search - AI Search runs vector search and BM25 keyword search in parallel. - Results are fused into a single ranking. - This supports both: - Semantic matches based on meaning. - Exact-term matches for names, identifiers, and technical terminology. - The blog’s own search is powered by AI Search. ## Built-In Storage and Dynamic Namespaces - New AI Search instances include managed storage and a vector index. - Files can be uploaded directly through an API and indexed automatically. - Developers do not need to configure R2 buckets or external data sources for every instance. - The `ai_search_namespaces` binding allows Workers to create and delete instances at runtime. - Instances can be created per: - Agent. - Customer. - Language. - Other isolated contexts. - Documents can include metadata used to boost rankings at query time. - A single query can search across multiple instances. ## Customer Support Agent Example - The example uses the Cloudflare Agents SDK and Workers AI. - A shared `product-knowledge` instance contains product documentation backed by an R2 bucket. - Each customer receives a separate instance such as `customer-abc123`. - After an issue is resolved, the agent stores a summary of the problem and its fix. - Over time, each customer’s instance becomes a searchable history of previous resolutions. ## Agent Tools and Retrieval Flow - The support agent extends `AIChatAgent` and uses Kimi K2.5 through Workers AI. - It defines tools for: - Searching shared product documentation and the current customer’s history in one call. - Saving a resolution after an issue is resolved. - The model decides when to invoke these tools based on the conversation. - Search results can prioritize recent documents using metadata, such as a descending `timestamp` boost. - The Agents SDK persists the conversation history across reconnects, while AI Search provides retrieval over larger knowledge collections. AI Search is recommended for teams that want agent-ready retrieval without separately assembling vector databases, keyword indexes, storage, and synchronization pipelines. Its dynamically isolated instances are particularly useful for multi-tenant agents and applications that need both shared knowledge and private, continuously growing context.