AWS makes Web Answer generally available on Bedrock AgentCore
AWS has made Web Answer generally available on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, giving agent builders synthesized, source-cited answers to natural-language questions through a single tool call. The managed tool handles web search, page retrieval, fact checking, synthesis and attribution.
- Web Answer is generally available on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore.
- It returns synthesized answers with citations through a single tool call.
- The service plans searches, verifies pages and can search again when evidence is insufficient.
- Web Search returns raw results, while Web Answer handles synthesis and attribution.
- Web Answer supports MCP-compatible clients and can use domain filters.
A managed pipeline for current web answers
Web Answer is designed for agents that need information from current web sources. Instead of building and maintaining separate search, retrieval, content-cleaning, synthesis and citation components, developers send a question to an AgentCore Gateway and receive a finished answer with citations.
According to AWS, Web Answer plans its searches, runs several in parallel and reads key pages to verify facts. If the evidence is insufficient, it searches again before writing an answer that connects each claim to a source URL where one is available. AWS says the tool runs new searches for every question and gives its model today’s date to support up-to-date results.
The Gateway authenticates requests with AWS Identity and Access Management or a JSON Web Token. It then calls Web Answer through its own service role and returns the answer and citations to the agent as a Model Context Protocol tool result.
Web Answer compared with Web Search
AWS positions Web Answer and Web Search as tools for different retrieval needs. Web Search returns ranked URLs, titles, snippets and metadata, leaving developers in control of the model and the synthesis process. Web Answer runs the model, retrieval loop, synthesis and attribution, returning a completed cited answer.
AWS recommends Web Search when developers need full control over how results are processed. Web Answer is intended for a factual sub-task inside a larger agent when the developer does not want to own a retrieval pipeline. AWS says an agent may use both, relying on Web Search for broad research and Web Answer for specific questions that need a quick, cited response.
Adding the tool to an AgentCore Gateway
Web Answer is an AWS-owned connector referenced by ID. A Gateway administrator adds it as a target on an existing AgentCore Gateway, after which attached agents can discover the tool through MCP using tools/list and call it with tools/call.
The setup requires an AWS account with AgentCore Gateway access, an AgentCore Gateway in us-east-1 using IAM inbound authentication, suitable AWS credentials and Python 3.10 or later. Developers grant the Gateway service role the bedrock-agentcore:InvokeWebAnswer permission, create the Web Answer target and wait for its status to become READY.
The walkthrough shows the tool being called from a Strands agent, but AWS says it also works with LangChain, LangGraph, CrewAI and other MCP-compatible clients. Administrators can apply a domain filter to the target, while individual agent calls can additionally specify domains, a published-date range and a country for localized results.
What the launch means for agent builders
Web Answer reduces the amount of retrieval and citation infrastructure developers must maintain when an agent needs current web information. Its main distinction from Web Search is the level of control: Web Search exposes raw search results, while Web Answer manages the search and produces the cited response.
AWS says Web Answer includes responsible AI safeguards and warns that the Gateway and Web Answer invocations are billable. Developers following the setup instructions are also told to delete the AWS resources they create when finished.
