The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Yes. The OpenAI API can browse the live web and return source citations, but browsing is not an automatic property of every model request. In a new integration, use the Responses API with its hosted web_search tool, then render the citation annotations returned with the model’s message.
If a lookup must happen on every request, configure tool choice as required rather than leaving it at the default automatic setting.
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What “web browsing” means in the OpenAI API
A normal model call generates an answer from the model’s available context. It does not inherently open web pages or check current information. Web access is an API tool that your application adds to a request. OpenAI’s web-search documentation describes the capability this way: “Web search allows models to access up-to-date information from the internet and provide answers with sourced citations.”
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For new applications, OpenAI recommends the Responses API and its hosted web_search tool. When the tool is available, the model can decide whether an online lookup is useful. The default automatic behavior is important: adding the tool does not necessarily force a search on every prompt.
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How a Responses API web search works
1. Add the hosted tool to the request
Your request conceptually contains a model, an input, and a tools array with an entry whose type is web_search. The hosted tool handles the search operation; you do not need to build a crawler or pass search-result pages into the prompt yourself.
{"model": "your-responses-model", "tools": [{"type": "web_search"}], "input": "What changed in the latest release of this library?"}The model may invoke the tool, use the retrieved information, and then produce a message. Your application should process both the tool activity and the final message rather than assuming that the first returned item is ordinary text.
2. Let the model decide, or require a search
With automatic tool choice, the model can choose to call web search when it judges that current or externally verified information is needed. This is useful for mixed workloads in which some questions are stable and others are time-sensitive.
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteUse tool_choice: "required", or explicitly select the web-search tool, when your product requirement is “perform a web lookup before answering.” This is the distinction between making search available and guaranteeing that a search occurs. A prompt instruction alone is not the same guarantee.
3. Inspect the returned response items
A Responses result includes a web-search call and a message containing the answer. The message text carries URL-citation annotations. Each annotation identifies the cited URL, the source title, and the start and end character locations for the portion of text associated with that citation.
Those character offsets are structured metadata, not decorative text inserted into the answer. They let your client associate a link with the exact span that relies on the source, even when the model’s prose changes from one response to the next.
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How citations are returned
Annotations, not plain-text footnotes
A citation is returned as an annotation attached to message text. At minimum, the annotation provides:
- The source URL.
- The title associated with that URL.
- A start-character location in the message text.
- An end-character location in the message text.
Because the citation is structured, do not parse bracketed numbers or search for a particular punctuation pattern. Read the message text and its annotation collection from the API response, then apply links using the supplied offsets.
Render citations visibly
When the answer is shown to a user, render citations as visible, clickable links. A practical presentation is an inline link attached to the cited sentence or phrase, with the source title available as link text or a tooltip. Also provide a source list when several pages support the answer. Users should be able to tell which statement came from which page without opening developer tools or inspecting raw JSON.
Preserve the source title and URL supplied by the API. Do not silently replace the URL with a home page, strip the path, or display a citation marker that has no destination. If your interface supports accessibility labels, include the source title and indicate that the element opens an external page.
Implementing web search step by step
- Choose the Responses API. Use it for new integrations that need the hosted web-search tool and its controls.
- Add
{"type":"web_search"}totools. Keep the tool declaration in the request that needs current information. - Write a task-specific input. State the question, the relevant date or region, and any source restrictions your application needs. A precise question gives the model a better basis for deciding what to search.
- Select the tool policy. Leave tool choice automatic when search is optional. Set
tool_choice: "required", or select the web-search tool, when every request must perform a lookup. - Process the complete response. Detect the web-search call, then read the final message text and its URL-citation annotations. Do not treat tool events as the user-facing answer.
- Map annotations to text. Use each annotation’s start and end character locations to associate the URL and title with the cited span.
- Display the links. Make every citation clickable and visible in the final interface. Keep source titles and URLs available to users who want to verify the answer.
- Handle the no-search case. If automatic tool choice does not invoke search, present the answer as a non-browsed response or ask the model to search again under a policy that requires the tool. Do not claim that a web lookup occurred merely because the tool was listed.
Responses web search versus Chat Completions search
Chat Completions has a separate, narrower search path. It uses the specialized gpt-5-search-api model, which retrieves web information before producing a response. Responses web search, by contrast, is a hosted tool that can be optional when tool choice is automatic.
| Capability | Responses API with web_search |
Chat Completions search path |
|---|---|---|
| Recommended use for new integrations | OpenAI recommends this path | Separate, narrower path |
| Model or tool arrangement | Your Responses model can use the hosted web-search tool | Uses the specialized gpt-5-search-api model |
| When search happens | Optional with automatic tool choice; can be required with tool configuration | Search retrieves web information before the response |
| Allowed-domain filters | Supported | Not available on this specialized path |
| Complete list of consulted URLs | Supported through the Responses controls | Not available on this specialized path |
| Live-access control | Supported through the external_web_access control |
Not available on this specialized path |
| Longer token budget for high-effort runs | Supported | Not available on this specialized path |
| Citation handling | Message text includes URL-citation annotations with URL, title, and character offsets | Uses its own search-response behavior; do not assume the Responses annotation schema |
The table’s “not available” entries describe the documented difference between the two search paths, not a statement that Chat Completions cannot return useful source information. If your application needs domain restrictions, a complete consulted-source list, live-access control, or the Responses annotation format, choose Responses.
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Controls available in the Responses path
Allowed-domain filters
Responses web search can restrict retrieval to approved domains. This is useful for an internal knowledge workflow, a regulated subject, or an application that wants sources from a defined set of publishers. Treat the filter as a retrieval boundary, not as proof that every page on an allowed domain is accurate.
Complete sources list
The Responses controls can provide a complete list of URLs consulted during the search. Keep this list separately from inline citations if your product offers a “sources” panel. Inline annotations explain which passage supports which text; the complete list records the broader set of pages used during retrieval.
Live-access control
The external_web_access control lets an integration manage live access. Decide whether a request is permitted to reach the external web, and make that policy visible in the application’s behavior. A disabled live-access setting means the model should not be presented as having checked current pages.
Token budget for deeper runs
Responses also exposes a longer research token budget for high-effort runs. More available output and reasoning capacity can be useful for broad or source-heavy questions, but it does not turn an uncertain web page into an authoritative source. Set a budget appropriate to the task and still inspect the returned citations.
Designing a trustworthy citation experience
Separate “searched” from “cited”
A response can contain a search call and still require careful citation rendering. Your UI should record that a search occurred, then show the citations attached to the final text. Conversely, an answer generated without a search should not receive a “web verified” badge simply because the request included the tool declaration.
Keep offsets aligned
Character offsets refer to the message text returned by the API. If your client inserts formatting, translates the answer, trims whitespace, or concatenates several messages before applying annotations, the offsets may no longer point to the intended words. Apply links before transformations, or maintain a mapping from the original text to the rendered representation.
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Make source identity clear
Show the source title and destination URL, not only an icon or an unlabeled footnote. If several annotations point to the same page, you can deduplicate the source list while retaining each inline association. If an annotation covers only part of a sentence, link that span rather than the entire paragraph.
Preserve uncertainty
Web search provides access to current pages; it does not guarantee that every page is correct, complete, or unbiased. Your application should preserve qualifying language in the model’s answer and avoid rewriting “according to the cited page” into an absolute claim. For high-impact decisions, give users enough source information to perform their own verification.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Common failure modes and fixes
The model answers without searching
Cause: Tool choice is automatic, so the model decided that a lookup was unnecessary.
Fix: Use tool_choice: "required" or explicitly select web search for requests that must be checked online. Also inspect the response for a web-search call before labeling the result as browsed.
The answer has no clickable citations
Cause: The client displayed only the message text and ignored its annotation metadata.
Fix: Read the URL, title, and character offsets from each URL-citation annotation and generate links in the rendered text. Plain-text output alone cannot provide the full citation experience.
Links point to the wrong text
Cause: The client modified the message before applying the offsets.
Fix: Apply annotations to the original response text first, or maintain an exact offset mapping through any formatting and localization step.
The integration needs approved sources
Cause: The application is using a path without domain-filter controls.
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Fix: Move the workflow to Responses web search, where allowed-domain filters are supported. Do not attempt to enforce a source allow-list only through a natural-language prompt.
A team needs a full audit trail
Cause: The interface saved inline citations but discarded the other consulted URLs.
Fix: Retain the complete Responses sources list as well as the annotations attached to the answer. Store the request policy, such as whether live external access was enabled, alongside the result when your compliance process requires it.
Choosing the right API path
Use Responses with web_search when you are building a new integration, need optional or mandatory tool invocation, want domain filters, need the complete consulted-source list, or require control over live access and a larger high-effort token budget. Use the Chat Completions search path when your application is specifically built around its specialized search model and does not require those Responses-only controls.
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The direct answer is therefore conditional in an important way: the OpenAI API can browse and return citations, but your code must enable the web-search tool and correctly render the structured annotations. For guaranteed browsing, configure tool choice as required and verify the returned web-search call before telling users that the answer was checked against the live web.
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