Enable image search in web search

Set enable_image_search to true on the web_search tool. Grok searches for images and embeds them in the response as Markdown (![alt](url)). Those images also enter the model context used to write the answer. Base setup: Add web search to a Grok API request.

curl

curl https://api.x.ai/v1/responses \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
  "model": "grok-4.6",
  "input": [
    {
      "role": "user",
      "content": "Show me images of Starship on the launch pad."
    }
  ],
  "tools": [
    {
      "type": "web_search",
      "enable_image_search": true
    }
  ]
}'

xAI SDK

import os

from xai_sdk import Client
from xai_sdk.chat import user
from xai_sdk.tools import web_search

client = Client(api_key=os.getenv("XAI_API_KEY"))
chat = client.chat.create(
    model="grok-4.6",
    tools=[
        web_search(enable_image_search=True),
    ],
)

chat.append(user("Show me images of Starship on the launch pad."))
response = chat.sample()
print(response.content)
print(response.server_side_tool_usage)

Usage includes SERVER_SIDE_TOOL_IMAGE_SEARCH when image search ran.

OpenAI Responses client

response = client.responses.create(
    model="grok-4.6",
    input=[
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": "Show me images of Starship on the launch pad.",
        },
    ],
    tools=[
        {
            "type": "web_search",
            "enable_image_search": True,
        },
    ],
)

print(response)

Example output

![Why the SpaceX Starship launch pad matters](https://www.astronomy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/starship-test-flight-mission-scaled.jpg)

Here are several high-quality images of SpaceX's Starship on the launch pad at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.

Pitfalls

• The Vercel AI SDK does not yet expose enableImageSearch. Use the Responses API or the xAI Python SDK.
• enable_image_understanding equips the agent with the view_image tool for pages already being browsed (usage key SERVER_SIDE_TOOL_VIEW_IMAGE). Enabling it on Web Search also enables image understanding for X Search when that tool is on the same request.
• Markdown embeds live in the response text.
• Console API credits are separate from SuperGrok's weekly pool on grok.com.