Mattermost Agents

The change is one field

The plugin's Google provider uses "API URL" when it is set and Google's address when it is empty. Under System Console, Plugins, Agents, the web search panel, before and after:

System Console > Plugins > Agents, web search

Provider:            Google Custom Search
Google API Key:      <your Google key>
Search Engine ID:    <your engine ID>
Result Limit:        5
API URL (optional):  (empty, so the plugin calls https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1)

System Console > Plugins > Agents, web search

Provider:            Google Custom Search
Google API Key:      <your SpecStream key>
Search Engine ID:    any
Result Limit:        5
API URL (optional):  https://api.specstream.ai/customsearch/v1

Keep the provider on Google Custom Search. The plugin needs a key and an engine ID, so give any engine ID: SpecStream accepts cx and does not use it. This is the call the plugin then sends, with key, cx, q and num from "Result Limit":

curl "https://api.specstream.ai/customsearch/v1?key=$SPECSTREAM_API_KEY&cx=any&q=mattermost+release+notes&num=5"

The same JSON, so the plugin's parser reads it

The plugin reads items[] and takes title, link and snippet from each. SpecStream returns items[] with those fields in Google's shape, with searchInformation.totalResults and queries.nextPage. In the plugin's config these fields are webSearch.google.apiKey, searchEngineId, resultLimit and apiURL.

The same call from Python, to see what the agent will get:

import os, requests

reply = requests.get(
    "https://api.specstream.ai/customsearch/v1",
    params={"key": os.environ["SPECSTREAM_API_KEY"], "cx": "any", "q": "mattermost release notes", "num": 5},
).json()

for item in reply["items"]:
    print(item["title"], item["link"], item["snippet"])

Every parameter and field of the route is in the Google Custom Search guide.

$5 per 1,000 searches, with no daily limit

A search of up to 10 results costs $0.005. There is no monthly plan and no daily limit. Credit you buy never expires, and a new account starts with $10 of credit, which covers 2,000 searches. A call stopped by a 429 charges nothing.

The most accurate web search API, in about one second

On SimpleQA Verified the SpecStream Search API scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official questions, 978 of them correct. On WideSearch it scores 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official tasks. The Extract API scores 0.908 F1 on WCXB. Every score and its method is on the benchmarks page.

Every drop-in call runs the fast search. Measured on production on November 9, 2026, its median was 0.82 s at 1 search a second and 1.07 s at 20 a second, the 95th percentile stayed between 1.09 and 1.73 s, and it answered 718 of 720. One account can send up to 26,666 searches a minute.

You decide what is kept, on each key

Create the key with zero_retention and a search made with it keeps no request text and no answer after the reply. spend_cap_cents is the most the key can spend.

curl -X POST https://api.specstream.ai/v1/account/keys \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "production", "scopes": ["account:read", "finds:spend"], "spend_cap_cents": 500000, "zero_retention": true}'

Search, pages and rows on one key

The same key reads up to 20 pages or documents a call with the Extract API at $0.80 per 1,000 pages, and a page with no text is not charged. Deep Search returns every match for a request in plain words as structured rows, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row, with a source URL on every value. The most a run can cost is approved before it starts.

Google Custom Search, until January 1, 2027

Existing customers can leave "API URL" empty until Google ends the API: $5 per 1,000 queries after 100 free a day, up to 10,000 a day. A new project gets no key. SpecStream costs the same $5 per 1,000, with no daily limit, behind one field.

Brave Search

The plugin's second provider. Brave's Search plan costs $5 per 1,000 requests, and Mattermost's guide says admins must subscribe to Brave's Pro AI plan for this use. SpecStream keeps your Google settings, at $5 per 1,000 and 97.9 on SimpleQA Verified.

SearXNG (self-hosted)

The third provider is an instance you install and run, reached by its root URL, with the json format turned on. Its results are those of the engines it queries. SpecStream needs no server and searches the whole live web at $0.005 a search.