| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| API key | A unique identifier used to authenticate requests to Parallel APIs. Generate your API key at platform.parallel.ai. |
| Asynchronous API | An API that returns a run ID immediately and processes the request in the background. Task, FindAll, and Monitor APIs are asynchronous. Poll for status or use webhooks to receive results. |
| Cadence | The frequency at which a monitor executes: hourly, daily, or weekly. |
| Candidate | A potential entity discovered during a FindAll run. Candidates are generated from web data and evaluated against match conditions. |
| Chat API | A synchronous API that provides OpenAI-compatible streaming chat completions with web-grounded responses. Supports both speed-optimized and research-grade models. |
| Citation | A reference to a web source that contributed to an output field. Includes the URL and relevant excerpts from the source. |
| Confidence level | A reliability rating for each output field: high (strong evidence from multiple authoritative sources), medium (adequate evidence with some inconsistencies), or low (limited or conflicting evidence). |
| Enrichment | Additional structured data extracted for matched candidates using the Task API. Enrichments run automatically on candidates that pass all match conditions. |
| Event | A detected change or update that matches a monitor’s query. Events include the detected information, event date, and source URLs. |
| Event group | A collection of related events detected during a single monitor execution. |
| Excerpt | A focused portion of page content that’s relevant to your objective. Optimized for LLM consumption. |
| Extract API | A synchronous API that converts any public URL into clean, LLM-optimized markdown. Handles JavaScript-heavy pages and PDFs. |
| Fast processor | A processor variant optimized for speed over data freshness. Append -fast to any processor name (e.g., core-fast) for 2-5x faster response times. |
| FieldBasis | The specific object containing citations, reasoning, and confidence for an individual output field within the research basis. |
| FindAll API | An asynchronous API for web-scale entity discovery. Turns natural language queries into structured, enriched databases by generating candidates, validating them against criteria, and optionally enriching matches. |
| FindAll run | A single execution of a FindAll query. Includes candidate generation, evaluation, and optional enrichment. |
| Generator | The engine that determines the quality and thoroughness of FindAll run results. Options include preview, base, core, and pro. |
| Match condition | A criterion that candidates must satisfy to be included in FindAll results. Defined in natural language as part of the query. |
| Match status | The state of a candidate after evaluation: matched (satisfies all conditions), unmatched (fails one or more conditions), or generated (not yet evaluated). |
| MCP (Model Context Protocol) | A protocol for connecting AI models to external tools and data sources. Parallel provides MCP servers for Search and Task APIs. |
| Monitor | A scheduled query that continuously tracks the web for changes relevant to a specific topic. |
| Monitor API | An asynchronous API for continuous web tracking. Creates scheduled queries that detect relevant changes and deliver updates via webhooks. |
| Objective | A natural language description of what you’re looking for. Used by Search and Extract APIs to focus results on relevant content. |
| Processor | The engine that executes Task Runs. Processors vary in performance characteristics, latency, and reasoning depth. Options include lite, base, core, core2x, pro, ultra, ultra2x, ultra4x, and ultra8x. Each is available in standard and fast variants. |
| Rate limit | The maximum number of API requests allowed within a time period. See Rate limits for default quotas. |
| Research Basis | The structured explanation detailing the reasoning and evidence behind each Task Run result. Includes citations, reasoning, and confidence levels. |
| SDK | Software Development Kit. Parallel provides official SDKs for Python and TypeScript. |
| Search API | A synchronous API that executes natural language web searches and returns LLM-optimized excerpts. Replaces multiple keyword searches with a single call for broad or complex queries. |
| Search query | A specific search term or phrase used to find relevant pages. Multiple search queries can be combined in a single Search API request. |
| Source policy | Configuration that controls which web sources can be accessed during research. Can include or exclude specific domains. |
| Synchronous API | An API that returns results immediately in the response. Search, Extract, and Chat APIs are synchronous. |
| Task API | An asynchronous API that combines AI inference with web search and live crawling to turn complex research tasks into repeatable workflows. Returns structured outputs with citations and confidence levels. |
| Task Group | A collection of Task Runs that can be executed and tracked together. Useful for batch processing multiple inputs. |
| Task Run | A single execution of a task specification. Each Task Run processes one input and produces one output with its associated research basis. |
| Task spec | The definition of what a Task Run should accomplish. Includes input schema, output schema, and optional instructions. |
| Webhook | An HTTP callback that delivers notifications when specific events occur (e.g., task completion, monitor event detection). |
Getting started
Glossary
Key terms and concepts used throughout Parallel’s documentation