Search overview

Search is Linkup’s synchronous web search endpoint, optimized for AI consumption. Given a natural-language query, the /search route returns ranked sources, optionally bundled with a cited natural-language answer or with structured output matching a JSON schema. depth controls how much search and retrieval work the agent performs, and outputType selects the shape of the response.

Modes

Search comes with three depth modes:

Mode	Description	Latency
`"fast"`	Sub-second latency, no query reinterpretation, no LLM. Query passed as-is to our index for retrieval.	<1s
`"standard"`	Single-iteration agentic search. The agent interprets the query, can run parallel sub-searches, and can scrape one URL provided in the query.	1–3s
`"deep"`	Multi-iteration agentic search-and-scrape chaining with evaluation.	5–30s

Agentic search (`"standard"`, `"deep"`)

In "standard" and "deep", the system interprets the query, plans the retrieval, and evaluates the outputs returned. This means those two modes understand instructions on how to behave/perform the search.

"fast" does not invoke an LLM. No query interpretation, no scraping — the query is passed as-is to the index.

Depending on the prompt and the selected depth, the agent may:

run one or several web searches,
open and scrape webpages,
reuse information discovered in earlier steps,
refine or expand queries until the requested data is found.

Instructions inside the query are followed literally. The prompt below is executed step by step:

First, find the official website of the AI company linkup, 
then scrape the page and return the full content

For more information, read search best practices.

Output types

Output Type	Description
`"searchResults"`	Array of `{name, url, content}`. Ranked URLs and content snippets for grounding.
`"sourcedAnswer"`	Search results plus a natural-language answer with inline citations.
`"structured"`	Search results plus JSON matching the caller’s `structuredOutputSchema`. Requires a JSON schema in `structuredOutputSchema`; see the structured output tutorial.

Filtering and date controls

includeDomains / excludeDomains: restrict to or exclude up to 100 domains.
fromDate / toDate: restrict to an ISO 8601 date range.
maxResults: cap the number of returned sources.
includeImages: surface relevant images.

See the domain and date filtering tutorial for examples.

Pricing

Cost depends on both depth and outputType. "sourcedAnswer" and "structured" invoke an LLM and carry a small premium over raw "searchResults".

`depth`	`outputType`	Cost
`"fast"` / `"standard"`	`"searchResults"`	$0.005 per call
`"fast"` / `"standard"`	`"sourcedAnswer"` / `"structured"`	$0.006 per call
`"deep"`	`"searchResults"`	$0.05 per call
`"deep"`	`"sourcedAnswer"` / `"structured"`	$0.055 per call

Example

Get your API key

Create a Linkup account for free to get your API key.

from linkup import LinkupClient

client = LinkupClient(api_key="<YOUR_LINKUP_API_KEY>")

response = client.search(
    query="What is Microsoft's 2024 revenue?",
    depth="standard",
    output_type="sourcedAnswer",
)
print(response)

import { LinkupClient } from 'linkup-sdk';

const client = new LinkupClient({ apiKey: '<YOUR_LINKUP_API_KEY>' });

const response = await client.search({
  query: "What is Microsoft's 2024 revenue?",
  depth: 'standard',
  outputType: 'sourcedAnswer',
});
console.log(response);

curl "https://api.linkup.so/v1/search" \
  -G \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LINKUP_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "q=What is Microsoft's 2024 revenue?" \
  --data-urlencode "depth=standard" \
  --data-urlencode "outputType=sourcedAnswer"

Successful response, by outputType:

{
  "answer": "Microsoft's revenue for fiscal year 2024 was $245.1 billion, reflecting a 16% increase from the previous year.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "name": "Microsoft 2024 Annual Report",
      "url": "https://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar24/index.html",
      "snippet": "Highlights from fiscal year 2024 compared with fiscal year 2023 included: Microsoft Cloud revenue increased 23% to $137.4 billion."
    }
  ]
}

{
  "results": [
    {
      "type": "text",
      "name": "Microsoft 2024 Annual Report",
      "url": "https://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar24/index.html",
      "content": "Highlights from fiscal year 2024 compared with fiscal year 2023 included: Microsoft Cloud revenue increased 23% to $137.4 billion."
    }
  ]
}

"structured" returns the JSON object described by structuredOutputSchema.

Best practices

Depth selection, query phrasing, schema design.

For AI agents

Tool definitions and integration prompt for coding agents.

API reference

Full parameter spec and response schema.

Get Started

Endpoints

Platform

Guides

Tutorials

FAQ

Modes

Agentic search (`"standard"`, `"deep"`)

Output types

Filtering and date controls

Pricing

Example

Get your API key

Next

Best practices

For AI agents

API reference

​Modes

​Agentic search ("standard", "deep")

​Output types

​Filtering and date controls

​Pricing

​Example

Get your API key

​Next

Best practices

For AI agents

API reference

Modes

Agentic search (`"standard"`, `"deep"`)

Output types

Filtering and date controls

Pricing

Example

Next