Jan in the Local API mode and web searching possible?

[bpasson]

I have Jan running in a Local API setup and when I ask to find something on the internet it always comes back with: "I can't search the internet". How can I make this work for the Local API. I thought it was enough to enable the web search MCP as that solved it for the desktop chat. Any help would be appreciated.

[wellkilo]

Yes, but enabling the Web Search MCP for Desktop chat is only half of the setup for requests sent to Jan's Local API.

In Settings → Local API Server → Configuration → Advanced Settings, enable Execute Tools on Server, then restart the Local API server. That option is disabled by default. When it is off, /v1/chat/completions returns tool calls for the API client to execute; it does not run Jan's MCP tools on the client's behalf. When it is on, Jan executes MCP calls server-side.

Also check these prerequisites:

1. The Web Search MCP server is enabled and connected under Settings → MCP Servers.
2. The model used in your API request has the Tools capability and is actually good at tool calling. For a local/custom model you may need to enable that capability in the model settings.

For example, keep using the normal OpenAI-compatible request:

curl http://127.0.0.1:1337/v1/chat/completions \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY' \
  -d '{
    "model": "YOUR_TOOL_CAPABLE_MODEL_ID",
    "messages": [{"role":"user","content":"Search the web for the latest Jan release and cite the sources"}]
  }'

If it still says it cannot browse, turn on Verbose Server Logs and verify that the request contains tool definitions / that the model emits a tool call. A model merely claiming “I cannot search” usually means either server-side execution is still off or the selected model did not call a tool.

This behavior is documented in Jan's Local API Server advanced settings, while the tool-capability requirement is covered in the MCP documentation.