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The advanced_settings object on the Extract API lets you tune fetch behavior (cached vs live), excerpt sizing, and full content extraction. Most callers don’t need it — the defaults return focused excerpts from the cached index, which works well for the majority of tool-calling and research use cases.

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Fields

FieldTypeNotesExample
fetch_policyobjectControls when to return indexed content (faster) vs fetching live content (fresher). Default is to use cached content from the index. Enabling live fetch significantly increases latency. For more info including field details, see Fetch Policy below.{"max_age_seconds": 3600}
excerpt_settingsobjectControls excerpt sizes. Provide max_chars_per_result for fine-grained control, or omit to use defaults.{"max_chars_per_result": 10000}
full_contentbool or objectControls full content extraction. Defaults to false (disabled). Set to true to enable with defaults, or provide a settings object.false or {"max_chars_per_result": 50000}

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Fetch Policy

The fetch_policy parameter controls when to return indexed content (faster) or fetch fresh content from the source (fresher). Fetching fresh content may take up to a minute and is subject to rate limits to manage the load on source websites.
FieldTypeDefaultNotes
max_age_secondsintdynamicMaximum age of indexed content in seconds. If older, fetches live. Minimum 600 (10 minutes). If unspecified, uses dynamic policy based on URL and objective.
timeout_secondsnumberdynamicTimeout for fetching live content. If unspecified, uses a dynamic timeout based on URL and content type (typically 15s-60s).
disable_cache_fallbackboolfalseIf true, returns an error when live fetch fails. If false, falls back to older indexed content.

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Excerpt and Full Content Settings

Both excerpt_settings and full_content are configured inside the advanced_settings object. Enable full content with custom excerpt sizes: 
{
  "urls": ["https://example.com"],
  "advanced_settings": {
    "excerpt_settings": {
      "max_chars_per_result": 5000
    },
    "full_content": {
      "max_chars_per_result": 50000
    }
  }
}
Enable full content with default excerpts: 
{
  "urls": ["https://example.com"],
  "advanced_settings": {
    "full_content": true
  }
}

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Tool schemas, evals, and optional parameters

If you are designing a tool description or running an agent eval against Extract, prefer a minimal tool schema that only exposes urls and an optional objective (aligned with Tool definition). Do not add optional API fields to the tool—such as max_chars_total, excerpt_settings, full_content, or similar—unless you have a concrete product reason. Models often set these without need, which hurts output quality and consistency. Keep tuning and limits server-side in your tool handler instead. For the full rationale, see Agent evaluations and benchmarks on the tool definition page. When calling the HTTP API or SDK directly (no tool layer), advanced settings remain useful; use them when you need explicit caps, excerpt sizing, fetch behavior, or to enable full page content. Notes:
  • When full_content is enabled, you’ll receive both excerpts and full content in the response
  • Excerpts are always focused on relevance; full content always starts from the beginning
  • Without objective or search_queries, excerpts will be redundant with full content. The request still succeeds, but may return less relevant content and may include a warning.
  • max_chars_total (top-level) controls total excerpt size but does not affect full content