Skip to main content
The Parallel Search API streamlines the traditional search → scrape → extract pipeline into a single, low-latency API—reducing token overhead and integration effort. Designed for agentic systems and LLM-based workflows, the API returns ranked, compressed excerpts optimized for LLMs. Results are designed to serve directly as model input, enabling faster reasoning and higher-quality completions with less post-processing.
Beta Notice: This API is currently in beta and subject to change. Usage is limited to 600 requests per minute. For production access or higher capacity, contact support@parallel.ai.

​
Key Benefits

The Search API is ideal for LLM workflows, agents and retrieval-augmented tasks that use web information.
  • Speed: Replace brittle multi-step pipelines with a single API call that reduces latency while improving overall quality.
  • Flexibility: Configure the number of results and control excerpt length using tunable parameters.
  • Token Efficiency: Returns compressed, structured text from the web that minimizes tokens and eliminates the need for post-processing or additional prompting.
  • Quality: Built on a web-scale index with advanced ranking and compression techniques that prioritize relevance, clarity, and source reliability.
  • Simple Integration: Drop-in replacement for existing keyword-based workflows—just send your search keywords as is to the API and receive structured results.

​
Request Fields

Note that at least one of objective or search_queries is required. The remaining fields are optional.
FieldTypeNotesExample
objectivestringNatural-language description of what the web research goal is. Include any source or freshness guidance.”I want to know when the UN was founded. Prefer UN’s websites.”
search_queriesstring[]Optional search queries to guide the search.[“Founding year UN”, “Year of founding United Nations”]
processorenumEither base or probase
max_resultsintMaximum number of search results10
max_chars_per_resultintMaximum characters per search result6000
source_policySourcePolicySource policy to use for controlling retrieval sourcesSee Source policy example
There are a few restriction on allowed values:
  • objective: limited to 5,000 characters.
  • search_queries: Maximum number of queries allowed is 5 and each query can have a maximum length of 200 characters.
  • max_results: Processor defined limits. See processors reference.
  • max_chars_per_result: Minimum value allowed is 100. Per-result excerpt length greater than 30,000 characters in length are not guaranteed.

​
Best Practices

  • Specify natural language objective over search queries. The objective field should contain a clear, natural language description of your research goal. Use search_queries only as optional guidance to supplement the objective.
  • Be precise about objective and avoid vague terms. Instead of “official announcements,” specify “press releases from company websites” or “SEC filings.” Clear objectives lead to more relevant results.
  • Choose processors according to your needs. Use base for fast, general queries and pro for complex research requiring higher quality and freshness. See the processors reference for detailed guidance.

​
Example Usage

​
Sample Request

curl https://api.parallel.ai/v1beta/search \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: $PARALLEL_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "objective": "When was the United Nations established? Prefer UN'\''s websites.",
    "search_queries": [
      "Founding year UN",
      "Year of founding United Nations"
    ],
    "processor": "base",
    "max_results": 10,
    "max_chars_per_result": 6000
  }'

​
Sample Response

{
  "search_id": "search_ce42c6a9-7e1e-afb3-4e42-2e5f1efdf819",
  "results": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.un.org/en/about-us/history-of-the-un",
      "title": "History of the United Nations",
      "excerpts": [
        "As World War II was about to end in 1945, nations were in ruins, and the world wanted peace.",
        "Representatives of 50 countries gathered at the United Nations Conference on International ",
        "Organization in San Francisco, California from 25 April to 26 June 1945. For the next two ",
        "months, they proceeded to draft and then sign the UN Charter, which created a new international ",
        "organization, the United Nations, which, it was hoped, would prevent another world war like the ",
        "one they had just lived through.",
        "Four months after the San Francisco Conference ended, the United Nations officially began, on ",
        "24 October 1945, when it came into existence after its Charter had been ratified by China, France, ",
        "the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories.",
        "Now, more than 75 years later, the United Nations is still working to maintain international peace ",
        "and security, give humanitarian assistance to those in need, protect human rights, and uphold ",
        "international law."
      ]
    },
    {
      "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations",
      "title": "United Nations - Wikipedia",
      "excerpts": [
        "The United Nations (UN) is the global intergovernmental organization established by the signing ",
        "of the UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and ",
        "security, to develop friendly relations among states, to promote international cooperation, and to ",
        "serve as a centre for harmonizing the actions of states in achieving those goals.",
        "The United Nations headquarters is located in New York City, with several other offices located in ",
        "Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna."
      ]
    },
    {
      "url": "https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/un",
      "title": "The Formation of the United Nations, 1945 - Office of the Historian",
      "excerpts": [
        "The Charter provided for an 18-member Economic and Social Council, an International Court of ",
        "Justice, a Trusteeship Council to oversee certain colonial territories, and a Secretariat under a ",
        "Secretary General. The United Nations came into existence on October 24, 1945, after 29 nations ",
        "had ratified the Charter."
      ]
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.un.org/en/video/founding-united-nations-1945",
      "title": "Founding of the United Nations 1945",
      "excerpts": [
        "In the summer of 1945, leaders from 50 countries gathered in San Francisco to agree upon an ",
        "international treaty to enshrine the equal rights of all people ..."
      ]
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.un.org/en/model-united-nations/history-united-nations",
      "title": "History of the United Nations",
      "excerpts": [
        "On 24 October 1945, this condition was fulfilled and the UN officially came into existence. Four ",
        "years of planning and the hope of many years had materialized ..."
      ]
    }
  ]
}
⌘I