AWS launches Web Answer for Bedrock AgentCore in us-east-1

AWS has launched Web Answer as a managed Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Gateway connector in us-east-1. In one Model Context Protocol call, the tool searches current web sources and returns a synthesized answer with citations. That puts search, page retrieval, synthesis and citation handling behind an AWS-managed service. The release joins other recent AgentCore features, including live web app previews for AgentCore sessions.

At launch, the connector is available only in US East (N. Virginia). AWS prices Web Answer at $10 per 1,000 tool calls, billing per call rather than per token, with no minimum fee or upfront commitment. AgentCore Gateway usage is charged separately. The reviewed pricing page lists Gateway API invocations, including ListTools, InvokeTool and Ping, at $0.005 per 1,000 invocations. AWS says more Regions are planned but has not provided a timetable.

A Gateway administrator adds Web Answer as a target with the web-answer connector ID. An attached agent can discover the target through tools/list and invoke it through tools/call. AWS’s setup guide says callers authenticate to the Gateway through its configured inbound authorizer, such as AWS Identity and Access Management with Signature Version 4 or a JSON Web Token. The Gateway then calls the AWS-owned Web Answer backend with its service role, which must allow bedrock-agentcore:InvokeWebAnswer; no separate Web Answer API key is required.

Web Answer differs from AgentCore Web Search. AWS documentation says Web Search returns ranked titles, URLs, snippets and publication dates for the customer’s model to process. Web Answer handles retrieval and model-based synthesis, then returns a finished answer with inline citation markers and a structured list of source URLs.

Connector version 1.1.0 and later supports administrator-set domain inclusion and exclusion lists, as well as per-request domain, publication-date and country controls. Request-level settings can narrow an administrator’s target-level domain bounds but cannot widen them. AWS also requires customers to retain and display the supplied citations and links when showing Web Answer results to end users. It prohibits using results for bulk extraction or to build a competing index or database.

AWS says questions are handled within its infrastructure using an Amazon-operated web index and an Amazon Bedrock model, are not sent to third-party search engines, and can reach the Gateway through AWS PrivateLink. The company also says processing remains within supported commercial AWS Regions inside the applicable geographic boundary, and describes Web Answer as designed and tested with responsible-AI safeguards. Those are AWS claims. The reviewed materials provide no independent test results, accuracy measurement, service-level agreement or citation-accuracy benchmark. The launch post lists a limit of 10 transactions per second per account in us-east-1, with higher limits available by request through AWS Support.