githubnext / githubnext/agentics

weekly-research workflow uses WebSearch despite only declaring web-fetch in tools AND redacts all URLs in its research

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Description

## Summary

The [`weekly-research.md`](https://github.com/githubnext/agentics/blob/main/workflows/weekly-research.md) workflow only declares `web-fetch:` in its tools block, but at runtime on the Claude engine, `WebSearch` is implicitly available as a default tool. The model then calls `WebSearch` repeatedly — which works, but produces a report full of redacted URLs, undermining the value of a research workflow.

Per the [gh-aw tools reference](https://github.github.com/gh-aw/reference/tools/#web-tools), `web-search:` requires explicit declaration for Codex but appears to be default-on for Claude. This means the workflow silently depends on engine-specific defaults rather than explicitly declaring its intent.

## Observed behavior

1. Workflow tools block declares only `web-fetch:` (no `web-search:`)
2. gh-aw correctly passes `--allowed-tools ...WebFetch...` (no `WebSearch`) to the Claude CLI
3. Claude engine makes `WebSearch` available anyway (default-on behavior)
4. Model calls `WebSearch` multiple times for research queries
5. Results contain redacted URLs — "safe" but defeats the purpose of a web research report

## Suggestions

1. **Add `web-search:` to the workflow's tools block** — makes the intent explicit, ensures cross-engine compatibility (particularly Codex where it's off by default), and signals that the search results are expected to be useful (not redacted)
2. **Address the redacted URL problem** — a research workflow that searches the web but returns redacted URLs produces output that's hard to act on. If `web-search:` is the intended tool, the results should include actionable links

## Why this matters

- Sample workflows set the pattern for the community — implicit engine-specific defaults are confusing for anyone building their own workflows
- The workflow would silently break or degrade on Codex without `web-search:` declared
- Redacted URLs in a research report undermine the workflow's stated purpose

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