Research the web with Answers

Use Answers when your input is a question or research task and you want the service to find relevant evidence on the web. Give the task a domain or page URL when you want it to start with a specific site.

Choose a mode

Mode	Credits per successful answer	Research budget	Best fit
`fast`	10	30 seconds	Focused factual lookups.
`ultra` (default)	100	50 seconds	Deeper questions, comparisons, and several sources.

Set the mode in the JSON body. A valid answer with unknown values is still billable. Validation, research, and timeout failures are not charged; inspect key_metadata and X-Credits-Used for the actual charge.

Ask for a structured answer

Copy an API key from the dashboard, set CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY on your server, and install an SDK if needed. A restricted key needs data:execute; see API key permissions. This request accepts a valid answer from the evidence collected within 30 seconds:

These examples use the SDKs’ low-level request methods to send the current API contract, including fields not yet exposed by the 2.14.0 typed helpers. Authentication, retries, and error handling still come from the SDK. See SDK compatibility.

curl https://api.context.dev/v1/web/answers \
  --request POST \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
  "mode": "fast",
  "task": "Find the pricing page URL and plan names for context.dev.",
  "json_format": {
    "pricing_page_url": "",
    "plans": [
      {
        "name": ""
      }
    ]
  },
  "timeoutOpts": {
    "milliseconds": 30000,
    "behavior": "return-partial"
  }
}'

import ContextDev from "context.dev";

const client = new ContextDev({ apiKey: process.env.CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY });

const response = await client.post<Record<string, unknown>>("/web/answers", {
  body: {
    "mode": "fast",
    "task": "Find the pricing page URL and plan names for context.dev.",
    "json_format": {
      "pricing_page_url": "",
      "plans": [
        {
          "name": ""
        }
      ]
    },
    "timeoutOpts": {
      "milliseconds": 30000,
      "behavior": "return-partial"
    }
  }
});

console.log(response.json_content, response.sources, response.partial);

import os
from context.dev import ContextDev

client = ContextDev(api_key=os.environ["CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY"])

response = client.post(
    "/web/answers",
    cast_to=dict[str, object],
    body={'mode': 'fast',
     'task': 'Find the pricing page URL and plan names for context.dev.',
     'json_format': {'pricing_page_url': '', 'plans': [{'name': ''}]},
     'timeoutOpts': {'milliseconds': 30000, 'behavior': 'return-partial'}},
)

print(response["json_content"], response["sources"], response.get("partial", False))

require "cgi/core"
require "context_dev"

client = ContextDev::Client.new(api_key: ENV.fetch("CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY"))

response = client.request(
  method: :post,
  path: "web/answers",
  body: {
    "mode": "fast",
    "task": "Find the pricing page URL and plan names for context.dev.",
    "json_format": {
      "pricing_page_url": "",
      "plans": [
        {
          "name": ""
        }
      ]
    },
    "timeoutOpts": {
      "milliseconds": 30000,
      "behavior": "return-partial"
    }
  }
)

pp response[:json_content], response[:sources], response[:partial]

package main

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"os"

	contextdev "github.com/context-dot-dev/context-go-sdk/v2"
	"github.com/context-dot-dev/context-go-sdk/v2/option"
)

func main() {
	client := contextdev.NewClient(option.WithAPIKey(os.Getenv("CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY")))
	var response map[string]any
	err := client.Post(context.Background(), "/web/answers", map[string]any{
		"mode": "fast",
		"task": "Find the pricing page URL and plan names for context.dev.",
		"json_format": map[string]any{
			"pricing_page_url": "",
			"plans": []any{map[string]any{
				"name": "",
			}},
		},
		"timeoutOpts": map[string]any{
			"milliseconds": 30000,
			"behavior":     "return-partial",
		},
	}, &response)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	fmt.Println(response["json_content"], response["sources"], response["partial"])
}

<?php
require __DIR__.'/vendor/autoload.php';

use ContextDev\Client;

$client = new Client(apiKey: getenv('CONTEXT_DEV_API_KEY'));

$raw = $client->request(
    method: 'post',
    path: 'web/answers',
    body: [
        "mode" => "fast",
        "task" => "Find the pricing page URL and plan names for context.dev.",
        "json_format" => [
            "pricing_page_url" => "",
            "plans" => [[
                    "name" => "",
                ]],
        ],
        "timeoutOpts" => [
            "milliseconds" => 30000,
            "behavior" => "return-partial",
        ],
    ],
);

$response = json_decode((string) $raw->getBody(), true, flags: JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR);
print_r($response['json_content']);
print_r($response['sources']);
var_dump($response['partial'] ?? false);

An illustrative response is:

{
  "json_content": {
    "pricing_page_url": "https://www.context.dev/pricing",
    "plans": [{ "name": "Developer" }, { "name": "Pro" }, { "name": "Scale" }]
  },
  "sources": ["https://www.context.dev/pricing"]
}

The example illustrates the shape; plan names and source content can change.

Shape and check the answer

task is required, trimmed, and limited to 2,000 characters. json_format is an example object whose keys and placeholder values describe the desired output. Omit it for the default {"result": ""} shape.

Nonempty objects preserve their keys; strings, numbers, and booleans preserve their types. Unknown values can be null.
An example array describes its items; the answer can contain any number of matching items.
Empty objects permit arbitrary fields, empty arrays permit any JSON items, and a null placeholder permits any JSON value.
Examples support at most eight levels, 500 values, and 16,000 serialized characters.

For extraction from known URLs with an explicit JSON Schema and controlled crawl scope, use Extract structured data. Answers uses an example shape and chooses its own research steps.

Read sources and partial results

sources lists contributing search results or readable pages, deduplicated in first-seen order. A URL may have contributed a search snippet without its full page being read. Sources do not map individual answer fields to citations. Check important claims against the source before using them in a decision. Page reads request fresh content; search snippets can still reflect indexed material. With timeoutOpts.behavior: "return-partial", research can stop early enough to produce a valid answer from collected evidence. A partial answer includes partial: true and costs the selected mode’s price. Preserve that marker when storing or displaying the result. timeoutOpts.milliseconds accepts 1,000–300,000 and can shorten the mode’s research budget. It cannot extend the 30-second Fast or 50-second Ultra limit. See Timeouts and partial results.

Handle failures

Status	Meaning	Recovery
`400`	Invalid task/example shape, or `ZDR_NOT_SUPPORTED`.	Correct the input. Answers does not support Zero Data Retention.
`403`	Key permissions or another access prerequisite.	Inspect `error_code` and the key’s `data:execute` grant.
`408`	Caller deadline expired without an acceptable result.	Allow a larger budget or use partial mode.
`502`	No usable evidence or no valid answer could be produced.	Refine the task or provide a more relevant starting URL.
`504`	Research/model time limit expired.	Narrow the question and retry with a bounded attempt count.

Standard authentication, credits, and rate limits also apply. Follow Troubleshooting for shared errors.

Get started

Web data

Brand data

Automation

Account and billing

Production

Research the web with Answers

Choose a mode

Ask for a structured answer

Shape and check the answer

Read sources and partial results

Handle failures

​Choose a mode

​Ask for a structured answer

​Shape and check the answer

​Read sources and partial results

​Handle failures

Choose a mode

Ask for a structured answer

Shape and check the answer

Read sources and partial results

Handle failures