parallel-ai

name	parallel-ai
description	Tool for web search, data extraction, and research using Parallel AI APIs. Use when you need to search the web, extract data from URLs, enrich company data, or analyze markets. Provides direct API access to Search, Extract, Task, and Deep Research without SDK.

Parallel AI Research Tool

4 APIs for research: Search (web), Extract (URLs), Task (structured data), Deep Research (analysis)

Setup

API Key: https://platform.parallel.ai Store in: .env.local as PARALLEL_API_KEY=your-key

Load API key (Windows/Git Bash compatible):

API_KEY=$(grep "^PARALLEL_API_KEY=" .env.local | cut -d= -f2)

Usage in curl:

curl -s -X POST "https://api.parallel.ai/v1beta/search" \
  -H "x-api-key: $API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "parallel-beta: search-extract-2025-10-10" \
  -d '{"objective": "your query"}'

The 4 APIs at a Glance

API	Purpose	Speed	Cost	Use For
Search	Web search + excerpts	5-60s	$0.01	Quick lookups
Extract	Scrape specific URLs	5-30s	$0.01	Pricing, data
Task	Structured enrichment	1-25m	$0.01-0.30	Companies, data
Deep Research	Multi-source analysis	5-25m	$0.10-0.30	Markets, reports

Processors (Pick One)

Processor	Speed	Cost/1K	When
lite	5-60s	$5	Simple Q&A
base	15-100s	$10	Quick data
core	1-5m	$25	Detailed
pro	3-9m	$100	Analysis
ultra	5-25m	$300	Deep

Endpoint URLs

POST https://api.parallel.ai/v1beta/search       (web search)
POST https://api.parallel.ai/v1beta/extract      (URL scraping)
POST https://api.parallel.ai/v1beta/tasks/runs   (research tasks)
GET  https://api.parallel.ai/v1beta/tasks/runs/{id}  (check status)

Required Headers (All Requests)

x-api-key: your-api-key
Content-Type: application/json
parallel-beta: search-extract-2025-10-10     (only Search/Extract)

Minimal Examples

Search: {"objective": "your question"}

Extract: {"url": "https://...", "objective": "what to extract"}

Task: {"input": "company name", "processor": "core"}

Task Status: GET /v1beta/tasks/runs/{task_id}

Task Polling Loop

Create task → get id
Poll every 2-5s: GET /v1beta/tasks/runs/{id}
Status: "running" → keep polling
Status: "completed" → use result
Status: "failed" → check error

Limits & Errors

• Rate limit: 2,000 req/min → HTTP 429 (wait, retry)
• Invalid key: HTTP 401
• Bad request: HTTP 400 (check parameters)
• Server error: HTTP 500/503 (retry)

See api-reference.md for complete endpoint docs See quick-reference.md for troubleshooting See research-workflows.md for real examples