Multiple issues using `web_search_preview` with gpt-5

API
,
1

My scenario is that I enable web_search_preview and ask the model “Please search the web to determine whether the Detroit Tigers won their game yesterday?”.

See the request/response below. There are multiple issues evident.

  • The web_search_call item in the response does not show the query that was made. ”query”: null.
  • There is no output_text and no annotations.
  • The arguments passed to the submit tool included apparently internal citation info in the form of Yes. Yesterday (Sunday, August 10, 2025), the Detroit Tigers beat the Los Angeles Angels 9–5. citeturn0sports0.

Here is the request and the response.

{
  "Request": {
    "input": [
      {
        "type": "message",
        "role": "developer",
        "content": [
          {
            "type": "input_text",
            "text": "\nYou are a helpful assistant attempting to submit the best possible answer.\nYou have several tools available to help with finding the answer. You will\nsee the result of tool calls right after sending the message. If you need\nto perform multiple actions, you can always send more messages with additional\ntool calls. Do some reasoning before your actions, describing what tool calls\nyou are going to use and how they fit into your plan.\n\n\nWhen you have completed the task and have an answer, call the submit()\ntool to report it.\n"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "type": "message",
        "role": "user",
        "content": [
          {
            "type": "input_text",
            "text": "Please search the web to determine whether the Detroit Tigers won their game yesterday?"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "tools": [
      {
        "type": "web_search_preview"
      },
      {
        "type": "function",
        "name": "submit",
        "description": "Submit an answer for evaluation.",
        "parameters": {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "answer": {
              "type": "string",
              "description": "Submitted answer"
            }
          },
          "required": [
            "answer"
          ],
          "additionalProperties": false
        },
        "strict": false
      }
    ],
    "tool_choice": null,
    "truncation": null,
    "extra_headers": {
      "x-irid": "FFxbBzMgCRr97YE9faGxUY"
    },
    "background": null,
    "model": "gpt-5"
  },
  "Response": {
    "id": "resp_6899fc13f8388199b4922887766b244102875157eea7d09d",
    "created_at": 1754922003,
    "error": null,
    "incomplete_details": null,
    "instructions": null,
    "metadata": {},
    "model": "gpt-5-2025-08-07",
    "object": "response",
    "output": [
      {
        "id": "rs_6899fc14585c819993b66efc5041fa2802875157eea7d09d",
        "summary": [],
        "type": "reasoning",
        "content": null,
        "encrypted_content": null,
        "status": null
      },
      {
        "id": "ws_6899fc181d708199a0ad352b4f33717602875157eea7d09d",
        "action": {
          "query": null,
          "type": "search"
        },
        "status": "completed",
        "type": "web_search_call"
      },
      {
        "id": "rs_6899fc19e910819991413f2859ad979f02875157eea7d09d",
        "summary": [],
        "type": "reasoning",
        "content": null,
        "encrypted_content": null,
        "status": null
      },
      {
        "arguments": "{\"answer\":\"Yes. Yesterday (Sunday, August 10, 2025), the Detroit Tigers beat the Los Angeles Angels 9–5. citeturn0sports0\"}",
        "call_id": "call_HqSEjKviqEpi6V2p5l6E1pxn",
        "name": "submit",
        "type": "function_call",
        "id": "fc_6899fc22291c8199b0d1dc3d82296af502875157eea7d09d",
        "status": "completed"
      }
    ],
    "parallel_tool_calls": true,
    "temperature": 1,
    "tool_choice": "auto",
    "tools": [
      {
        "name": "submit",
        "parameters": {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "answer": {
              "type": "string",
              "description": "Submitted answer"
            }
          },
          "required": [
            "answer"
          ],
          "additionalProperties": false
        },
        "strict": false,
        "type": "function",
        "description": "Submit an answer for evaluation."
      },
      {
        "type": "web_search_preview",
        "search_context_size": "medium",
        "user_location": {
          "type": "approximate",
          "city": null,
          "country": "US",
          "region": null,
          "timezone": null
        }
      }
    ],
    "top_p": 1,
    "background": false,
    "max_output_tokens": null,
    "max_tool_calls": null,
    "previous_response_id": null,
    "prompt": null,
    "prompt_cache_key": null,
    "reasoning": {
      "effort": "medium",
      "generate_summary": null,
      "summary": null
    },
    "safety_identifier": null,
    "service_tier": "auto",
    "status": "completed",
    "text": {
      "format": {
        "type": "text"
      },
      "verbosity": "medium"
    },
    "top_logprobs": 0,
    "truncation": "disabled",
    "usage": {
      "input_tokens": 9789,
      "input_tokens_details": {
        "cached_tokens": 8064
      },
      "output_tokens": 1339,
      "output_tokens_details": {
        "reasoning_tokens": 1280
      },
      "total_tokens": 11128
    },
    "user": null,
    "store": true
  }
}
1 Like