Parallel Search

High-accuracy web search built for AI agents. Returns ranked results with intelligent excerpts optimized for LLM consumption.

When to Use

Trigger this skill when the user asks for: - "search the web", "web search", "look up", "find online" - "current news about...", "latest updates on..." - "research [topic]", "what's happening with..." - Fact-checking with citations needed - Domain-specific searches (e.g., "search GitHub for...", "find on Reddit...")

Quick Start

parallel-cli search "your query" --json --max-results 5

CLI Reference

Basic Usage

parallel-cli search "<objective>" [options]

Common Flags

Flag	Description
-q, --query "<keyword>"	Add keyword filter (repeatable, 3-8 recommended)
--max-results N	Number of results (1-20, default: 10)
--json	Output as JSON
--after-date YYYY-MM-DD	Filter for recent content
--include-domains domain.com	Limit to specific domains (repeatable, max 10)
--exclude-domains domain.com	Exclude domains (repeatable, max 10)
--excerpt-max-chars-total N	Limit total excerpt size (default: 8000)

Examples

Basic search:

parallel-cli search "When was the United Nations founded?" --json --max-results 5

With keyword filters:

parallel-cli search "Latest developments in quantum computing" 
  -q "quantum" -q "computing" -q "2026" 
  --json --max-results 10

Domain-scoped search:

parallel-cli search "React hooks best practices" 
  --include-domains react.dev --include-domains github.com 
  --json --max-results 5

Recent news only:

parallel-cli search "AI regulation news" 
  --after-date 2026-01-01 
  --json --max-results 10

Best-Practice Prompting

Objective

Write 1-3 sentences describing: - The real task context (why you need the info) - Freshness constraints ("prefer 2026+", "latest docs") - Preferred sources ("official docs", "news sites")

Keyword Queries

Add 3-8 keyword queries including: - Specific terms, version numbers, error strings - Common synonyms - Date terms if relevant ("2026", "Jan 2026")

Response Format

Returns structured JSON with: - search_id — unique identifier - results[] — array of results: - url — source URL - title — page title - excerpts[] — relevant text excerpts - publish_date — when available

Output Handling

When turning results into a user-facing answer: - Prefer official/primary sources when possible - Quote or paraphrase only the relevant extracted text - Include URL + publish_date for transparency - If results disagree, present both and note the discrepancy

Running Out of Context?

For long conversations, save results and use sessions_spawn:

parallel-cli search "<query>" --json -o /tmp/search-<topic>.json

Then spawn a sub-agent:

{
  "tool": "sessions_spawn",
  "task": "Read /tmp/search-<topic>.json and synthesize a summary with sources.",
  "label": "search-summary"
}

Error Handling

Exit Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	Unexpected error (network, parse)
2	Invalid arguments
3	API error (non-2xx)

Prerequisites

1. Get an API key at parallel.ai
2. Install the CLI:

curl -fsSL https://parallel.ai/install.sh | bash
export PARALLEL_API_KEY=your-key

References

• API Docs
• Search API Reference