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Search the web, extract content from URLs, get answers with citations, run multi-step research, and manage background research tasks using You.com APIs

Actions6

Research

AI-generated

Summary

Perform an in-depth, cited web research task to obtain a comprehensive answer to a complex question, optionally queuing the task for background processing and controlling the research depth and source filters.

Inputs

  • input (required) — The complex research question or query requiring detailed investigation (up to 40,000 characters).
  • researchEffort — Selects the depth and time spent on research; options: Lite (quick answers), Standard (balanced), Deep (more time and cross-referencing), Exhaustive (most thorough), Frontier (highest quality requiring background mode).
  • background — Boolean flag to queue the research task for background processing and immediately return a task handle instead of waiting for inline results. Use 'Get Research Task' operation to retrieve results later.
  • sourceControl — Beta feature to control which web sources the agent searches and visits; includes boosts, includes, excludes domains, geographic country filter, and result freshness filters.
  • outputSchema — Beta JSON Schema string to request structured JSON output for the research result; supported only with standard, deep, exhaustive, and frontier effort levels (not with lite).

Output shape

An object containing the research task result if run inline, or a task handle if background mode is enabled.

If background mode is enabled, the operation returns a task id immediately; use 'Get Research Task' operation with this id to poll for completion and retrieve results. Output format can be influenced by a user-defined JSON schema for structured data when supported. Domain include/exclude and freshness filters can customize sources searched. Setting Frontier effort requires background mode enabled.

Examples

Example 1: Inline research

Provide a detailed research question, set Research Effort to Standard or deeper, leave Background disabled, and optionally specify domain/source controls and output schema. The node returns the researched answer inline when ready.

Example 2: Background research

Provide the research question with Research Effort set to Frontier or others, enable Background true to queue the task and immediately get a task id. Use a subsequent Get Research Task operation referencing this id to obtain results.

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