Codex's Built-In Web Search Can Return Stale Results
I ran a side-by-side comparison of Codex using its built-in web search and using Exa through MCP. The difference wasn’t huge, but it was there: Codex’s built-in search returned a result that was about four days stale, while Exa found the latest release details.
I invoked Exa with @Exa for this search. It found the July 29 release.
Codex’s built-in search returned the July 25 release
The built-in search results aren’t always stale. When I asked about an event that had happened that same day, both searches returned the same information.
Codex added the current date when searching for a recent event
From what I could see in the transcript, Codex included the current date in its search query when it decided recency was important. That seems to help it find fresher results. When the prompt didn’t make the need for fresh information obvious, the built-in search missed the newest update.
There is one trade-off. Codex showed me the exact query it sent to its built-in search, but it didn’t show the query it sent to Exa.
Codex displayed Exa’s results, but not the search query
For now, I prefer using a dedicated third-party search tool by default for web research. Exa is one good example, and it gave me fresh results in this test. A four-day gap isn’t catastrophic, but it matters when I’m looking up recent release notes or current events.
Codex’s built-in search is still useful, especially when it recognizes that freshness matters. I just don’t want to depend on it making that call every time.