Does the built-in web_search tool work with Realtime speech API?

API
1

I am using this session.update via WebRTC with the realtime speech api:

    let sessionUpdate: [String: Any] = [
      "type": "session.update",
      "session": [
        "instructions": sessionInstructions,
        "voice": sessionVoice,
        "tool_choice": "auto",
        "tools": [
          [
            "type": "web_search"
          ],
          [ ... other tools

but in my testing, when I ask it for recent information, it says it will look it up, but then seems to hang indefinitely.

Is this expected to work? If not, any recommended alternatives in the meantime?

2

I just got confirmation from Justin Umberti in this x/twitter post that it doesn’t work yet.

3

Workaround: you can define a tool like this:

    {
      "type" : "function",
      "name" : "GPT-web-search",
      "parameters" : {
        "type" : "object",
        "properties" : {
          "query" : {
            "type" : "string",
            "description" : "The user’s question or topic to research across the live web."
          }
        },
        "required" : [
          "query"
        ]
      },
      "description" : "Comprehensive and fast web search"
    }

and then in the tool call, make a call to gpt-5 or gpt-4o, with a payload like this:

    const payload = {
      model: 'gpt-4o',
      input: [
        {
          role: 'system',
          content: [{ type: 'input_text', text: 'You are a focused research assistant. Use live web search to answer succinctly with citations when available.' }],
        },
        {
          role: 'user',
          content: [{ type: 'input_text', text: query }],
        },
      ],
      tools: [{ type: 'web_search' }],
      tool_choice: 'auto' as const,
    };

As long as the result of the search is returned to the realtime api, then it should proceed as if it was doing a built-in web search.

1 Like