Cited Answer API
Send one question, get back a short Markdown answer with numbered citations and the sources behind it. Research runs live across the web, news, and specialist datasets, so your agent gets a grounded answer without building a RAG pipeline.
What is Cited Answer API?
A synchronous answer endpoint: it searches, reads, and writes a short cited answer in one call, typically in 15 to 60 seconds. Returns the answer as Markdown plus the list of sources it cites.
- Endpoint
- POST /api/answer
- Authentication
- API key · x-api-key header
- Cost
- 100 credits / call
- Rate limit
- 20 req / min
- Response
- Structured JSON
Try Cited Answer Live
Enter your API key and run a real query against the live endpoint.
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Integration guide
Copy a snippet, replace your API key, run. Works in any HTTP client — examples below in cURL, JavaScript, and Python.
/api/answerhttps://www.apipick.comA synchronous answer endpoint: it searches, reads, and writes a short cited answer in one call, typically in 15 to 60 seconds. Returns the answer as Markdown plus the list of sources it cites.
querystringrequiredThe question to answer (max 2000 characters)
curl -X POST "https://www.apipick.com/api/answer" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
-d '{
"query": "What did the Federal Reserve decide at its most recent meeting?"
}'{
"query": "What did the Federal Reserve decide at its most recent meeting?",
"answer": "**Summary:** … [[1]](https://example.com/source)",
"results": [
{
"title": "Example source",
"url": "https://example.com/source",
"snippet": "Short excerpt the answer cites…"
}
],
"result_count": 1,
"credits_used": 100,
"remaining_credits": 99
}Rate limits
Throttling is per API key, sliding 60-second window. Hit the limit and you get a clean 429 with a Retry-After header.
20req/min
Per API key, per endpoint. Sliding 60-second window.
3concurrent
Max simultaneous in-flight requests per API key.
X-RateLimit-LimitMaximum requests allowed per minuteX-RateLimit-RemainingRequests remaining in the current windowX-RateLimit-ResetSeconds until the current window resetsRetry-AfterSeconds to wait before retrying (only on 429)HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Retry-After: 12
X-RateLimit-Limit: 20
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 0
X-RateLimit-Reset: 12
{
"error": "rate_limit_exceeded",
"message": "Rate limit exceeded: 20 requests/minute per API key. Retry after 12s.",
"retry_after": 12
}Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from Web Search?
Web Search returns ranked results for your own model to read. Cited Answer does the reading for you: it runs several searches, reads the sources, and returns a written answer where every claim links to a numbered source.
How long does a call take?
Usually 15 to 60 seconds, because the research runs live. The call is synchronous, so set your HTTP client timeout to at least 3 minutes.
Why 100 credits per answer, and what if it fails?
Each answer is a full research run, priced flat at 100 credits (≈ $0.10). If the answer fails or times out you get HTTP 502 or 504 and no credits are deducted.
What does the response contain?
answer is Markdown with inline numbered citations, and results lists each cited source with title, url, and snippet.
Tool schema for OpenAI / Claude?
GET /api/answer/tool-schema returns ready-to-paste OpenAI function and Claude tool-use definitions.
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