Search

Search the web, then optionally scrape each result page and return structured content. Async job with polling.

Execution model

Live request

Runtime depends on endpoint, target, pagination, rendering mode, and active plan limits.

Credit weight

Live catalog

Current weights are managed from the Data API Weights admin table and shown on pricing before use.

Parameters

Name	Type	Requirement	Description
query	string	Required	The search query.
num_results	number	Optional	Number of search results to scrape.
engine	string	Optional	Search engine: "google" (SearXNG), "duckduckgo", or "brave".
formats	Array<string \| object>	Optional	Output formats for scraped results. Supports string formats and object configs for markdown mode and screenshot capture, same as /scrape.
only_main_content	boolean	Optional	Extract only the main content from each result.
mobile	boolean	Optional	Emulate a mobile device viewport for scraping.
mobile_device	string	Optional	Mobile device preset name.
headers	object	Optional	Custom HTTP headers for scraping.
cookies	object	Optional	Custom cookies for scraping.
extract	object	Optional	LLM extraction config applied to each result: { prompt, schema, provider, model }.
google_api_key	string	Optional	Google Custom Search API key (alternative to SearXNG).
google_cx	string	Optional	Google Custom Search Engine ID.
brave_api_key	string	Optional	Brave Search API key.
webhook_url	string	Optional	Webhook URL for search completion notification.
webhook_secret	string	Optional	HMAC secret for webhook signature verification.

Response fields

Field	Type	Description
job_id	string	Poll GET /search/{job_id} (or SSE) for results.
status	string	Current job status: started, running, completed, failed, or cancelled.
time_taken	number	Elapsed processing time in seconds once timing is available.
data[]	object	Search results with rank, title, url, snippet, and optional scraped content fields.

Code example

curl -X POST "https://api.datablue.dev/v1/search" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "query": "best python web scraping libraries 2026",
  "num_results": 5,
  "engine": "google",
  "formats": [
    "markdown"
  ]
}'

System responses

200 OK

Request processed successfully.

401 UNAUTHORIZED

Missing or invalid API key.

429 RATE LIMIT

System capacity exceeded.

500 SYSTEM FAILURE

Internal core exception.

Example response

{
  "success": true,
  "job_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440001",
  "status": "started",
  "message": "Search job started"
}