> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bowerlabs.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Bower searches the web — with citations

> Bower now reaches outside your workspace when needed and brings back inline citations to the original sources.

**Shipped 2026-04-03 · AI**

Bower is best when grounded in your own notes. But research questions don't
always stay inside your workspace — sometimes you need a published method,
a recent paper, or a parameter from a public database. Bower can now reach
those sources and bring them back with citations.

## What's new

* **Web search tool** — when a question requires external information, Bower
  searches the web and uses the results to answer.
* **Inline citations** — every fact pulled from the web is numbered and
  linked back to its source. You see exactly where each piece of the answer
  came from.
* **Unified citation format** — citations from your workspace and citations
  from the web are formatted the same way, so you can scan an answer and
  immediately see what's grounded in your data versus the broader literature.

## How it works

Bower decides per question whether to search the web. Most workspace
questions stay inside your workspace; questions that involve unfamiliar
methods, recent results, or external standards trigger a web search. The
distinction is visible in the citation list at the end of every response.

## Why this matters

Without citations, AI answers are guesses with confidence. With citations,
they become a research starting point — you can read the source, decide
whether it applies, and adapt accordingly.

## Related docs

* [Bower, your AI assistant](/ai-and-search/bower-ai-assistant)