Mixedbread's Toast 1 is recorded as a retrieval-surface signal. Instead of treating search as a hidden embedding step, the product frames search as an agent-style interface with chat-completion ergonomics and retrieval behavior exposed as a service.
This fits the broader infrastructure shift in the basket. Search, parsing, evaluation, and browsing are moving closer to runtime components that agents call directly. The next thing to watch is whether Toast's agent surface gives operators enough evidence, ranking control, and failure visibility to replace bespoke retrieval stacks.