diff --git a/playwriter/src/clean-html.ts b/playwriter/src/clean-html.ts
index 6905e28..8bc922b 100644
--- a/playwriter/src/clean-html.ts
+++ b/playwriter/src/clean-html.ts
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ export async function getCleanHTML(options: GetCleanHTMLOptions): Promise<string
   const {
     locator,
     search,
-    showDiffSinceLastCall = true,
+    showDiffSinceLastCall = !search,
     includeStyles = false,
     maxAttrLen = 200,
     maxContentLen = 500,
@@ -76,8 +76,8 @@ export async function getCleanHTML(options: GetCleanHTMLOptions): Promise<string
   const previousSnapshot = pageSnapshots.get(snapshotKey)
   pageSnapshots.set(snapshotKey, htmlStr)
 
-  // Never diff when agent is searching — search should always filter the full content
-  if (showDiffSinceLastCall && previousSnapshot && !search) {
+  // Diff defaults off when search is provided, but agent can explicitly enable both
+  if (showDiffSinceLastCall && previousSnapshot) {
     const diffResult = createSmartDiff({
       oldContent: previousSnapshot,
       newContent: htmlStr,
diff --git a/playwriter/src/executor.ts b/playwriter/src/executor.ts
index 48de56d..425950c 100644
--- a/playwriter/src/executor.ts
+++ b/playwriter/src/executor.ts
@@ -736,7 +736,7 @@ export class PlaywrightExecutor {
           frame,
           locator,
           search,
-          showDiffSinceLastCall = true,
+          showDiffSinceLastCall = !search,
           interactiveOnly = false,
         } = options
         const resolvedPage = targetPage || page
@@ -772,8 +772,8 @@ export class PlaywrightExecutor {
           this.lastSnapshots.set(resolvedPage, snapshotStr)
         }
 
-        // Never diff when agent is searching — search should always filter the full snapshot
-        if (showDiffSinceLastCall && previousSnapshot && shouldCacheSnapshot && !search) {
+        // Diff defaults off when search is provided, but agent can explicitly enable both
+        if (showDiffSinceLastCall && previousSnapshot && shouldCacheSnapshot) {
           const diffResult = createSmartDiff({
             oldContent: previousSnapshot,
             newContent: snapshotStr,
diff --git a/playwriter/src/page-markdown.ts b/playwriter/src/page-markdown.ts
index 3020cd6..042942e 100644
--- a/playwriter/src/page-markdown.ts
+++ b/playwriter/src/page-markdown.ts
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ function isRegExp(value: unknown): value is RegExp {
  * the main content. Returns plain text content (no HTML).
  */
 export async function getPageMarkdown(options: GetPageMarkdownOptions): Promise<string> {
-  const { page, search, showDiffSinceLastCall = true } = options
+  const { page, search, showDiffSinceLastCall = !search } = options
 
   // Check if readability is already injected
   const hasReadability = await page.evaluate(() => !!(globalThis as any).__readability)
@@ -172,8 +172,8 @@ export async function getPageMarkdown(options: GetPageMarkdownOptions): Promise<
   const previousSnapshot = lastMarkdownSnapshots.get(page)
   lastMarkdownSnapshots.set(page, markdown)
 
-  // Never diff when agent is searching — search should always filter the full content
-  if (showDiffSinceLastCall && previousSnapshot && !search) {
+  // Diff defaults off when search is provided, but agent can explicitly enable both
+  if (showDiffSinceLastCall && previousSnapshot) {
     const diffResult = createSmartDiff({
       oldContent: previousSnapshot,
       newContent: markdown,
diff --git a/playwriter/src/skill.md b/playwriter/src/skill.md
index db112bd..967e513 100644
--- a/playwriter/src/skill.md
+++ b/playwriter/src/skill.md
@@ -453,9 +453,9 @@ await snapshot({ page: state.page, search?, showDiffSinceLastCall? })
 `accessibilitySnapshot` is still available as an alias for backward compatibility.
 
 - `search` - string/regex to filter results (returns first 10 matching lines)
-- `showDiffSinceLastCall` - returns diff since last snapshot (default: `true`). Pass `false` to get full snapshot.
+- `showDiffSinceLastCall` - returns diff since last snapshot (default: `true`, but `false` when `search` is provided). Pass `false` to get full snapshot.
 
-Snapshots return full content on first call, then diffs on subsequent calls. Diff is only returned when shorter than full content. If nothing changed, returns "No changes since last snapshot" message. Use `showDiffSinceLastCall: false` to always get full content. This diffing behavior also applies to `getCleanHTML` and `getPageMarkdown`.
+Snapshots return full content on first call, then diffs on subsequent calls. Diff is only returned when shorter than full content. If nothing changed, returns "No changes since last snapshot" message. Use `showDiffSinceLastCall: false` to always get full content. When `search` is provided, diffing is disabled by default so the search filters the full content — pass `showDiffSinceLastCall: true` explicitly to combine both. This diffing behavior also applies to `getCleanHTML` and `getPageMarkdown`.
 
 Example output:
 
@@ -764,7 +764,7 @@ const fullHtml = await getCleanHTML({ locator: state.page, showDiffSinceLastCall
 
 - `locator` - Playwright Locator or Page to get HTML from
 - `search` - string/regex to filter results (returns first 10 matching lines with 5 lines context)
-- `showDiffSinceLastCall` - returns diff since last call (default: `true`). Pass `false` to get full HTML.
+- `showDiffSinceLastCall` - returns diff since last call (default: `true`, but `false` when `search` is provided). Pass `false` to get full HTML.
 - `includeStyles` - keep style and class attributes (default: false)
 
 **HTML processing:**
@@ -806,7 +806,7 @@ The main article content as plain text, with paragraphs preserved...
 
 - `page` - Playwright Page to extract content from
 - `search` - string/regex to filter content (returns first 10 matching lines with 5 lines context)
-- `showDiffSinceLastCall` - returns diff since last call (default: `true`). Pass `false` to get full content.
+- `showDiffSinceLastCall` - returns diff since last call (default: `true`, but `false` when `search` is provided). Pass `false` to get full content.
 
 **Use cases:**