Research Endpoint - Linkup API Documentation

We’re introducing the new Research endpoint (/research), an autonomous research agent that investigates the web to handle questions a single search query cannot resolve. The agent plans its retrieval, gathers evidence from multiple sources in parallel, iterates through investigation, and returns a sourced response with inline citations. Three modes, four reasoning depths, two output types. Asynchronous lifecycle.

How to use

Send a POST /research request with a natural-language question and the parameters that pin the investigation. The endpoint immediately returns a task identifier and status of "pending".
Poll GET /research/{id} to retrieve a specific task, or GET /research to list all your research tasks.
While running, status is "pending" or "processing". Once the task is "completed", read the result in output. If "failed", inspect error.

Example Request

curl

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.linkup.so/v1/research \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer {{LINKUP_API_KEY}}' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
  "q": "Compare the 2024 cloud revenue growth of Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.",
  "mode": "investigate",
  "reasoningDepth": "L",
  "outputType": "sourcedAnswer"
}'

Modes

Mode	Description
`"answer"`	A precise, evidence-backed answer to a question with a definitive solution. Lowest latency of the three.
`"investigate"`	A focused report on a single defined subject, examining each angle and verifying claims.
`"research"`	A structured report organized by theme, covering many topics or entities in parallel. Highest latency.

If mode is not provided, the agent automatically classifies the question and selects one of the three modes for the request.

Reasoning depth

reasoningDepth controls thoroughness. Higher depths have more compute budget: they consult more sources, perform more iterations and cross-checking, produce longer outputs, and take longer to run.

Depth	Order-of-magnitude latency
`"S"`	2–5 minutes
`"M"`	3–7 minutes
`"L"`	5–10 minutes
`"XL"`	10–20 minutes

Omitting the parameter defaults to "L".

Output types

`outputType`	Description
`"sourcedAnswer"`	Natural-language answer with inline citations.
`"structured"`	JSON matching a caller-provided `structuredOutputSchema`.

Billing

The Research endpoint is billed per call at a flat rate per reasoningDepth, regardless of mode. See pricing. Read the full reference: POST /research · GET /research · GET /research/:id. For operational guidance, see research best practices.

​How to use

​Modes

​Reasoning depth

​Output types

​Billing

How to use

Modes

Reasoning depth

Output types

Billing