feat(slack): add web search to Slack bot agent

[saddlepaddle]

Summary

• Add Claude's built-in web_search_20250305 server tool to the Slack bot agent, giving it the ability to search the web when answering questions
• Handle pause_turn stop reason in the agent loop for long-running server-side tool execution
• Update system prompt to guide the agent on when to search and to cite sources

Details

Uses Claude's native server-side web search — the Anthropic API executes searches automatically. No external API keys, no new dependencies, no new files. Just 26 lines added to run-agent.ts.

The tool is capped at max_uses: 3 per request to control costs ($10/1000 searches).

Prerequisite

Web search must be enabled in the Anthropic Console organization settings (Settings > Privacy).

Test plan

• Verify typecheck passes (bun run typecheck --filter=@superset/api)
• Verify lint passes (bun run lint)
• Verify tests pass (bun test)
• @mention the Slack bot with a question requiring current info (e.g. "what's the latest version of Next.js?") and confirm it searches and cites sources
• @mention the bot with a task management question and confirm existing MCP tools still work
• Confirm pause_turn handling works by testing with a query that triggers multiple searches

Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features
  • Web search tool integration added to Slack agent workflow
  • Pause and resume capability for long-running agent operations
  • System prompt updated to handle web search and source citations

_{✏️ Tip: You can customize this high-level summary in your review settings.}

[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

This change adds a web_search tool to the Slack agent workflow and introduces pause_turn handling to support pausing and resuming long-running server-side turns. The tool type signature was updated from Anthropic.Tool[] to Anthropic.Messages.ToolUnion[] to accommodate the new web_search tool, which includes a max_uses limit of 3.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)

Summary

Slack Agent Tool Integration apps/api/src/app/api/integrations/slack/events/utils/run-agent/run-agent.ts

Added web_search tool (type: "web_search_20250305", max_uses: 3) to agent's available tools. Extended system prompt to reference web_search usage and source citation. Updated tools variable type to Anthropic.Messages.ToolUnion[]. Introduced pause_turn handler in tool-processing loop to pause long-running turns and resume with updated messages and context. Modified iteration termination condition to account for both tool_use and pause_turn.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~12 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• fix(slack): replace Slack MCP stdio client with direct web API #1066: Modifies the same run-agent.ts file, affecting tool registration and the tool-handling loop execution flow.

Poem

🐰 A web_search tool hops into view,
With pauses that let the agent break through,
Three searches max, then back to the dance,
The turn can resume with newfound chance!
Anthropic's tools now work in harmony—
What a delightful change, don't you see? ✨

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 2 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (2 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The PR title clearly and concisely summarizes the main change: adding web search functionality to the Slack bot agent.
Description check	✅ Passed	The PR description covers all required template sections with comprehensive details about the changes, implementation approach, and testing plan.

_{✏️ Tip: You can configure your own custom pre-merge checks in the settings.}

✨ Finishing touches

• 📝 Generate docstrings

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment
• Commit unit tests in branch add-browser-search-to-slack-integration-via-mcp

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[github-actions]

🧹 Preview Cleanup Complete

The following preview resources have been cleaned up:

• ✅ Neon database branch
• ✅ Electric Fly.io app

Thank you for your contribution! 🎉