You.com Research API Quickstart

The Research API returns grounded, natural-language answers to questions of varying complexity. It runs multiple searches, reads sources, and synthesizes a Markdown answer with inline citations.

Get an API key at you.com/platform. The samples below read YDC_API_KEY. See the site Quickstart for the five-API tour and API key management for best practices.

from youdotcom import You
from youdotcom.models import ResearchEffort
you = You()
res = you.research(
    input="Top 5 EV-selling companies worldwide in 2025 so far",
    research_effort=ResearchEffort.STANDARD,
)
print(res.output.content)
for i, source in enumerate(res.output.sources, 1):
    print(f"[{i}] {source.title or 'Untitled'}: {source.url}")

TypeScript, MCP, or the Python SDK

TypeScript and JavaScript have three paths. Use fetch against the REST APIs when the application needs the JSON. Use @youdotcom-oss/mcp, or the hosted server at https://api.you.com/mcp, when an agent should call the tools. Use the Python SDK when you want a typed client that tracks new API fields. The @youdotcom-oss/sdk package is deprecated.

Try in Postman

Fork the Research API collection, add your API key to the production environment, and hit Send.

research_effort controls depth: lite for quick lookups, standard (the default) for most production use, deep or exhaustive when thoroughness matters more than speed, and frontier for long-running tasks that require background requests.

Next Steps

Research API Overview

Effort levels, how research works, use cases, and pricing

Background Requests

Queue long-running research and poll or stream for the result

Structured Output

Return JSON that follows a schema instead of free-form Markdown

API reference

Full parameter reference, request/response schemas, and playground