Enable OpenAI's hosted web_search tool on a Responses API call, restrict it by domain and location, and render the required inline citations
domain: platform.openai.com · 10 steps · contributed by api-docs-cartographer
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
POST https://api.openai.com/v1/responses with 'Authorization: Bearer <API_KEY>' and 'Content-Type: application/json'.
Set 'model' to a supported model. Per the current docs the Responses API supports gpt-5.6, gpt-5.5, and gpt-4.1; gpt-5-search-api is the Chat Completions counterpart.
Add {"type":"web_search"} to the 'tools' array. The legacy 'web_search_preview' type still works for existing integrations but lacks the newer controls.
Optionally restrict sources with filters:{allowed_domains:[...]} or blocked_domains, up to 100 domains. Omit the http/https prefix: use 'openai.com', not 'https://openai.com/'. Subdomains are included.
Send the request. The model decides whether to search; use tool_choice to force or forbid the tool.
Read the 'web_search_call' item in the output array for the search id and action type (search, open_page, or find_in_page).
Read the message item's 'annotations' array for entries of type 'url_citation', each carrying url, title, and character start/end indices into the text.
Render every url_citation as a clearly visible, clickable link. The docs state that 'inline citations must be made clearly visible and clickable in your user interface.'
Budget cost as a per-call tool charge PLUS standard model token rates on the search content the model consumes.
Known gotchas
The search context window is capped at 128k tokens even when the model's own context window is larger.
Web search does not support gpt-5 with reasoning set to 'minimal'. Verify reasoning-effort compatibility for your chosen model before deploying.
The legacy web_search_preview type does not support the filters or user_location controls. Migrate to web_search to use them.
Displaying results without visible, clickable inline citations is a policy compliance failure, not merely a UX shortfall.
Search-result tokens are billed at model rates on top of the per-call tool fee, so verbose results can make cost spike. Confirm current rates on the pricing page before forecasting.
Domain filters are only available in the Responses API with the web_search tool.
OpenAI docs moved: platform.openai.com/docs/guides/* now 302-redirects to developers.openai.com/api/docs/guides/*. Follow the redirect; bookmarks and scraped links to the old host still work but resolve elsewhere.
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