Add secure Web Search to Claude Desktop with Amazon Bedrock AgentCore

This article explains how to integrate Web Search into Claude Desktop using Amazon Bedrock AgentCore with secure JWT-based authentication through AWS IAM Identity Center and Amazon Cognito.

• Claude Desktop on Bedrock lacks web search, limiting responses to training data cutoff; AgentCore Gateway with Web Search bridges this gap
• Web Search is a fully managed, MCP-compatible capability backed by Amazon's web index spanning billions of documents
• All query traffic stays within AWS infrastructure with no external API keys or queries leaving your boundary
• Authentication uses AWS IAM Identity Center for SSO, Amazon Cognito as federation layer, and JWT validation by AgentCore Gateway
• Configuration involves creating Cognito user pool, configuring IAM Identity Center SAML application, wiring SAML IdP into Cognito, and creating app client
• AgentCore Gateway created with JWT inbound auth type, then connected to Claude Desktop via MCP server configuration
• Web Search available in US East (N. Virginia), Europe (Ireland), and Asia Pacific (Tokyo) regions

This integration enables Claude Desktop to retrieve current information without third-party dependencies while maintaining enterprise identity governance and AWS boundary compliance.