Getting started with the API

API PLAYGROUND in the left sidebar is the fastest way in. Without a key it says so plainly — "You'll need an API key with research access" — and offers GENERATE KEY, or a link to manage your keys in Settings → API Keys.

• Do not paste keys into chat, email or screenshots.
• Do not commit them to source control.
• Do keep them in a secrets manager or environment variable, and rotate when someone leaves or a key may be exposed.

The playground writes the calls for you and shows them as CURL, PYTHON or JS. Authorization accepts either a Grep API key or an OAuth access token minted for /api/v2.

The body of the submit call is a question, an effort level and a runtime — for example question, effort "low", runtime "claude_agents". effort takes low, medium, high or build; the older ultra_fast, deep and ultra_deep names are still accepted. runtime is claude_agents or agentrun.

• Poll every few seconds at first, then back off as the job runs longer.
• Stop polling once the job reaches a final state.
• Handle failures and timeouts rather than retrying forever.
• Store the job ID against your own workflow record.

API jobs bill exactly like jobs started in the app: a minimum reservation by effort level when the job starts, reconciled to real usage when it finishes.

• Use idempotency keys or your own request IDs when retrying job creation.
• Avoid creating duplicate jobs on network retries — each one is charged.
• Log the final status and cost so you can reconcile later.
• Start at medium effort unless you know the question is simple or genuinely high-stakes.