ai.research

Grounded research brief. POST { query, urls? }. Gathers sources (Wikipedia + any URLs you supply), then synthesizes a factual, cited brief: a 2-4 sentence summary, key facts, and the source list. Grounded only in the fetched sources (no free-form invention). For agent research, due diligence, and topic primers.

price
$0.0420 USDC per call
method
POST/api/ai/research
payment
x402 v2 · USDC on Base (EIP-3009) or Solana (SPL transfer)
auth
None. Sign the payment, retry with PAYMENT-SIGNATURE.
tier
Tier 2 — LLM/render upstream included

Overview

The research API is a pay-per-call ai endpoint built for AI agents and autonomous software. Grounded research brief.

There is no signup and no API key. An agent (or any HTTP client) hits the endpoint, receives an x402 "402 Payment Required" challenge, signs a sub-cent USDC payment on Base or Solana, and retries — the data comes back on the paid request. That makes it a drop-in research data source for an agent tool-use loop, an MCP host, or a backend that needs ai data on demand without onboarding to yet another vendor portal.

Use cases

Parameters

NameTypeDescription
queryrequiredstringTopic, entity, or question to research.
min 2 chars · max 400 chars
urlsarrayOptional source URLs to ground the brief in, alongside Wikipedia.

Code samples

cURLbash
# 1. Probe the endpoint with no auth — receive 402 with PaymentRequirements
curl -sS -X POST 'https://2s.io/api/ai/research' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"query":"xx","urls":["https://example.com"]}'

# 2. Sign the EIP-3009 transferWithAuthorization for the advertised price +
#    payTo from the 402 envelope, then retry with PAYMENT-SIGNATURE:
curl -sS -X POST 'https://2s.io/api/ai/research' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'PAYMENT-SIGNATURE: <base64-json-payload>' \
  -d '{"query":"xx","urls":["https://example.com"]}'

# Or just use the canonical runner — it handles the whole loop:
#   EVM_PRIVATE_KEY=0x... node --env-file=.env.local \
#     --experimental-strip-types scripts/x402-pay.ts \
#     'https://2s.io/api/ai/research'
TypeScript / Node — @2sio/sdktypescript
import { TwoS } from '@2sio/sdk'

const client = new TwoS({
  privateKey: process.env.EVM_PRIVATE_KEY as `0x${string}`,
})

const result = await client.ai.research({
  "query": "xx",
  "urls": [
    "https://example.com"
  ]
})

console.log('endpoint:', result.endpoint)
console.log('cost:', result.costUsd, 'USDC')
console.log('tx:', result.settlement?.txHash)
console.log('data:', result.data)
Python — 2siopython
import os
from twosio import TwoS

client = TwoS(private_key=os.environ["EVM_PRIVATE_KEY"])

result = client.ai.research(query="xx", urls=["https://example.com"])

print("endpoint:", result.endpoint)
print("cost:", result.cost_usd, "USDC")
print("tx:", (result.settlement or {}).get("tx_hash"))
print("data:", result.data)
MCP — Claude Desktop / AgentKit / any MCP hostjson
// 1. Add @2sio/mcp to your MCP host config (Claude Desktop example below).
//    EVM_PRIVATE_KEY funds x402 payments per call.

// claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "2sio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@2sio/mcp"],
      "env": { "EVM_PRIVATE_KEY": "0x..." }
    }
  }
}

// 2. Once the server is running, agents call this tool via standard MCP:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "ai.research",
    "arguments": {
      "query": "xx",
      "urls": [
        "https://example.com"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Response

FieldTypeDescription
okboolean
one of: true
itemsarray
totalintegerTotal matching rows upstream; null when unknown.
sourceobject
Example response datajson
{
  "ok": true,
  "items": [
    {
      "query": "example",
      "summary": "example",
      "keyFacts": [
        "example"
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "title": "example",
          "url": "example"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "total": 1,
  "source": {
    "provider": "example",
    "url": "example",
    "license": "example"
  }
}

FAQ

Do I need an API key to use the research API?
No. ai.research is x402-native — there is no signup and no API key. Your client makes the call, receives a 402 with payment requirements, signs a USDC payment, and retries. Funds come from a wallet you control.
How much does the research API cost?
$0.0420 USDC per call, charged per request. There are no monthly fees, seats, or minimums — you pay only for the calls you make.
Can I try the research API for free first?
Yes. Add ?trial=1 (or the header X-2s-Trial: 1) to get a free real call per endpoint per hour, so you can verify the response shape before wiring payment.
Which networks and tokens are supported?
USDC on Base (via EIP-3009 transferWithAuthorization) or Solana (SPL transfer), using the open x402 payment protocol.
How do I call ai.research from an AI agent or MCP host?
Use @2sio/sdk (TypeScript), 2sio (Python), or the @2sio/mcp server for any MCP host — each handles the probe → sign → retry loop for you. See the code samples on this page.

Discovery

Related: research api · ai research api · research api for ai agents · x402 ai api · research api no api key · pay per call research api · ai api