The Pulse

AWS adds direct web search API to Bedrock AgentCore

AWS has made a web search API generally available for applications, agent loops and data pipelines using Bedrock AgentCore. The API returns ranked results from an Amazon-operated index and costs $7 per 1,000 queries.

AI.info Team · · fact-checked · against 5 sources ↓ · Published 12 Nov 2026

Applications and AI agents can now search the web through a direct Amazon Bedrock AgentCore API without creating a gateway or a search target. AWS made the API generally available on November 10.

Web Search was already available through AgentCore Gateway as a tool accessed by a Model Context Protocol (MCP) client. The standalone API can be used by applications, custom agent loops and data pipelines, with no resources to create first.

Results are ranked and each includes a text extract, along with a page title, URL and publication time when available. AWS says queries are served from an Amazon-operated web index inside its infrastructure and are not sent to a third-party search engine.

The API is billed at $7 per 1,000 queries, the same rate as Web Search through the gateway. There are no gateway charges for the direct API.

Filters and request limits

Developers call the InvokeWebSearch operation through AWS software development kits or the AWS Command Line Interface, using AWS credentials to sign requests. The calling identity needs the bedrock-agentcore:InvokeWebSearch permission on the managed web search tool.

Requests can include or exclude specific domains, with up to 100 domain names in each list; a root domain also matches its subdomains. Publication-date filters accept a time range with inclusive bounds, expressed as RFC 3339 date-times in UTC.

A query can contain up to 200 characters and request between 1 and 25 results. If no maximum is specified, the API returns up to 25 results.

The default quota is up to 10 requests per second per account in each region, with increases available on request. Developers can also test searches in the AgentCore console, adjust filters and generate a code snippet using those settings.

Choosing a connection

The API and the existing gateway search the same index, but they differ in authorization and how filters are applied. AWS recommends the gateway for most agentic workloads; it combines web search with other tools behind an MCP endpoint and handles authentication and tool selection.

The gateway can authorize callers with a JSON Web Token as well as IAM, while the direct API uses IAM authorization only. An administrator can set domain lists on a gateway target for all requests without exposing them to the calling agent; direct API requests carry their own filters.

LangChain agents can use the API through the AgentCore web search tool in langchain-aws 1.9.3 or later. The AgentCore Python SDK also supports the API from version 1.26.0, including a client that returns results with parsed dates.

Private access and availability

AWS PrivateLink can route calls through an interface endpoint in a virtual private cloud rather than over the public internet. Interface endpoints are billed at standard PrivateLink rates.

AWS CloudTrail can record requests as data events, though those events are not logged by default. Those events record the search tool and maximum result count, but not the search text or filters.

AWS's acceptable use terms for Web Search require users to retain and display the source citations and links provided with each search result in any output shown to end users. The API is available in US East (N. Virginia), US East (Ohio), US West (Oregon), and Europe (Ireland). It is also available in Asia Pacific (Tokyo) and Asia Pacific (Sydney).