Make SearchTool optional for Slack bots

backend/onyx/db/slack_channel_config.py

@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ def create_slack_channel_persona(
 ) -> Persona:
     """NOTE: does not commit changes"""
 
+    # Verify SearchTool exists and include it by default (but don't require it)
     search_tool = get_search_tool(db_session)
     if search_tool is None:
         raise ValueError("Search tool not found")
@@ -65,7 +66,9 @@ def create_slack_channel_persona(
         llm_filter_extraction=enable_auto_filters,
         recency_bias=RecencyBiasSetting.AUTO,
         prompt_ids=[default_prompt.id],
-        tool_ids=[search_tool.id],
+        tool_ids=[
+            search_tool.id
+        ],  # Include SearchTool by default, but it can be removed later
         document_set_ids=document_set_ids,
         llm_model_provider_override=None,
         llm_model_version_override=None,

backend/onyx/onyxbot/slack/handlers/handle_regular_answer.py

@@ -195,8 +195,22 @@ def _get_slack_answer(
             if slack_channel_config is not None
             else False
         )
+        # Check if SearchTool is enabled for this persona
+        search_tool_enabled = (
+            any(tool.in_code_tool_id == "SearchTool" for tool in persona.tools)
+            if persona and persona.tools
+            else True
+        )  # Default to True if no persona/tools
+
+        # Set search behavior based on whether SearchTool is enabled
+        run_search = (
+            OptionalSearchSetting.AUTO
+            if search_tool_enabled
+            else OptionalSearchSetting.NEVER
+        )
+
         retrieval_details = RetrievalDetails(
-            run_search=OptionalSearchSetting.ALWAYS,
+            run_search=run_search,
             real_time=False,
             filters=filters,
             enable_auto_detect_filters=auto_detect_filters,