AI Agent - Aug 5, 2026

Amazon Bedrock Web Search Responses API Setup

Setup: answer first

Amazon Bedrock Web Search is a server-side built-in tool for OpenAI models on Bedrock’s next-generation inference engine. AWS’s launch flow is:

  1. supply AWS credentials through the standard credential chain;
  2. grant model inference and web-search IAM permissions;
  3. point the OpenAI client at the regional bedrock-mantle endpoint;
  4. add {"type": "web_search"} to the Responses API tools;
  5. render and preserve returned url_citation annotations.

Minimal indexed-web request

from openai import OpenAI
from aws_bedrock_token_generator import provide_token

region = "us-east-1"
client = OpenAI(
    base_url=f"https://bedrock-mantle.{region}.api.aws/openai/v1",
    api_key=provide_token(region=region),
)

response = client.responses.create(
    model="openai.gpt-5.4",
    input="Summarize the latest official announcement and cite sources.",
    tools=[{"type": "web_search", "external_web_access": False}],
)

The model ID is the AWS launch example, not a universal default. Verify the current supported model and Region. At launch, AWS listed us-east-1, us-east-2, and us-west-2.

Read citations as structured evidence

Inspect message output_text annotations for url_citation, including title, URL, and character offsets. Store the source and retrieval time with the answer. A citation proves what source was returned; it does not prove that the source, extraction, or model conclusion is correct.

Frequently asked questions

What permissions are required?

Grant the intended Bedrock inference actions plus at least bedrock-websearch:InvokeSearch. Add InvokeFetch only when full-page fetch is required. Review the IAM and CloudTrail guide.

Should external_web_access be true?

At launch, AWS says live retrieval is not yet served. Set and authorize the field deliberately, and recheck current behavior before production.

Does this Flowith page enable Bedrock?

No. It is an independent implementation guide and does not establish AWS or Flowith account availability.

Official sources

Source check: August 5, 2026.