3-Tier Web Access for Agents: Search/Fetch/Browser Separation Cuts Context Pollution by 82%
Dan-Mercede · reddit · 2026-07-06
The author proposes splitting Agent web access into three distinct roles: Search returns only candidate URLs without reading full text; Fetch converts pages into clean Markdown before passing them to the model (tests show a reduction from 9541 tokens to 1678 tokens on the same page, saving 82%); and Browser specifically handles operations requiring stateful interaction. The core philosophy is to prevent raw HTML—along with irrelevant navigation bars, scripts, and ads—from polluting the Agent's working memory. This layered design balances token costs with context quality.
More from coding & agent
- GPT-6 Astra beats Factorio with enemies in 44 in-game hours at ~$4,500 API cost — liminal_bardo · 2026-09-11
- 105 hidden bugs, 2 repos: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash fixes 24 at $1.80 vs Opus 5's 27 at $51.33 — ChartsJournalX · 2026-09-11
- Investment Analyst Asks How to Build a Claude-Based Diligence Agent Stack — Careless_Tie2286 · 2026-09-11
- Treating agents like 50 First Dates: a 3-layer context system so every conversation doesn't start from zero — evielync · 2026-09-11
- Running the Firefox MCP on Android via Termux, ngrok, and mcp-proxy — Nervous-Strain7544 · 2026-09-11
- SmolVM open-sources persistent computer infrastructure for agents that outlive chat sessions — aniketmaurya · 2026-09-11