Missing web_search tool causes agent to fail retrieving live OSPI CTE content

[krishagel]

Summary

The web_search tool is unavailable ("disabled or no provider available"), causing the agent to fail when users ask for live web content (e.g., OSPI CTE resources, CTSO/POW requirements). The agent attempted direct web_fetch to guessed OSPI URLs (all 404) and a Bing search fetch (blocked by bot-challenge), but could not retrieve the requested content.

Definition of Done

• Root cause identified: determine why web_search tool is disabled or has no provider
• Provider configuration checked (config.yaml, environment variables)
• Fix documented (enable web_search provider, or document the workaround for users)
• (manual) Fix applied and verified

Affected failures

ID	Occurred At (UTC)	User	Source	Error
257	2026-07-29 23:27:29	stolhanda@psd401.net	agent_self_report	tool_unavailable — web_search returned "disabled or no provider available"

Affected users

• stolhanda@psd401.net

Error details

error_class: tool_unavailable
error_message: "User asked for OSPI state info/resources on CTSOs and Program of Work (POW) requirements. web_search tool returned 'disabled or no provider available'. Attempted direct web_fetch to guessed OSPI CTE URLs (ospi.k12.wa.us/student-success/career-technical-education, /career-technical-education-cte, /career-technical-student-organizations-ctsos) - all 404. Bing search fetch blocked by a bot-challenge page. Could not retrieve live OSPI CTSO/POW content for the user this turn."
context: {"tool": null, "user_facing": true, "self_reported": true}

Acceptance tests / E2E flows

N/A — this is a configuration/tooling issue.

Affected areas

• web_search tool configuration
• config.yaml (tool providers)
• Environment variables for search providers

Out of scope

• Implementing custom web scraping as a workaround
• Writing custom S3 upload code

Risk & rollback

• Risk: low — enabling a tool provider
• Rollback: disable the provider or revert config changes

[krishagel]

This issue was created in the wrong repo. The correct issue is in psd401/aistudio.