Prism Answers API
Returns your question answered by several AI search engines, each kept word for word, with their citations merged and a map of where they agree and disagree.
GET /v1/prism/answersLast updated October 2026Maintained by the SocialCrawl team
When to use the Prism Answers API
Use it when one AI answer is not enough and you want a second and third opinion, plus the sources they share, from a single request.
From the API reference
Fans your question to multiple AI engines in parallel and keeps each answer verbatim, merges + dedupes their citations by normalized URL (with a cited_by list), and computes where they agree and disagree: a pairwise agreement_matrix + disputed_claims (the one labeled LLM step: degrades to null on failure) plus a deterministic citation_overlap (Jaccard, hand-verifiable). The second-opinion API for agents: one question, one bounded-cost call. Streams each engine's answer as it settles (SSE). include=polymarket adds probabilistic-market grounding. 15cr flat; a strict-majority engine failure refunds half (the raw answers are always the floor value).
Searching 69 platforms in parallel
What can you do with the Answers API?
The Answers endpoint gives you structured Prism data with computed fields in a single request. No scraping infrastructure to build or maintain.
Example Request
# GET /v1/prism/answers: 15 credits per call. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
# Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
# --max-time 60: the API's own time limit for this endpoint.
# --retry 3: retries timeouts, 429 and 5xx, honoring Retry-After.
# -o response.json keeps only the final attempt's body.
# One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
IDEMPOTENCY_KEY=$(od -An -N16 -tx1 /dev/urandom | tr -d ' \n')
curl -sS --max-time 60 --retry 3 -o response.json \
-H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Idempotency-Key: $IDEMPOTENCY_KEY" \
"https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/prism/answers?query=will+the+fed+cut+rates+in+september&include=polymarket" && cat response.json# GET /v1/prism/answers: 15 credits per call. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
# Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
import os
import random
import time
import uuid
import requests
API_KEY = os.environ.get("SOCIALCRAWL_API_KEY", "YOUR_API_KEY")
TIMEOUT_S = 60 # the API's own time limit for this endpoint.
MAX_RETRIES = 3
URL = "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/prism/answers"
def backoff(attempt):
# Exponential backoff with jitter: about 1 s, 2 s, then 4 s.
return 2 ** attempt * (0.5 + random.random() / 2)
def socialcrawl(params):
# One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
idempotency_key = str(uuid.uuid4())
for attempt in range(MAX_RETRIES + 1):
try:
res = requests.get(
URL,
params=params,
headers={"x-api-key": API_KEY, "Idempotency-Key": idempotency_key},
timeout=TIMEOUT_S,
)
body = res.json()
except (requests.RequestException, ValueError):
# A timeout, a dropped connection or a non-JSON gateway page: retry with the same key.
if attempt == MAX_RETRIES:
raise
time.sleep(backoff(attempt))
continue
if body["success"]:
return body
error = body["error"]
# Branch on error["type"], never on the message text.
if error["type"] == "RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND":
return None # refunded: nothing to read
retry_after = res.headers.get("Retry-After")
# SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE without Retry-After is a withdrawn endpoint: permanent.
permanent = error["type"] == "SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE" and retry_after is None
if not error.get("retryable") or permanent or attempt == MAX_RETRIES:
raise RuntimeError(f"{error['type']}: {error['message']} (request_id {body['request_id']})")
# Retry-After (seconds) wins; otherwise back off.
time.sleep(float(retry_after) if retry_after else backoff(attempt))
params = {
"query": "will the fed cut rates in september",
"include": "polymarket",
}
body = socialcrawl(params)
if body is not None:
print(body["data"])// GET /v1/prism/answers: 15 credits per call. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
// Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
const API_KEY = process.env.SOCIALCRAWL_API_KEY ?? "YOUR_API_KEY";
const TIMEOUT_MS = 60_000; // the API's own time limit for this endpoint.
const MAX_RETRIES = 3;
type Page = { next_cursor: string | null; has_more: boolean };
type SocialCrawlResponse =
| { success: true; data: any; pagination?: Page; credits_used: number; request_id: string }
| { success: false; error: { type: string; message: string; retryable: boolean }; request_id: string };
const sleep = (ms: number) => new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
// Exponential backoff with jitter: about 1 s, 2 s, then 4 s.
const backoffMs = (attempt: number) => 2 ** attempt * 1000 * (0.5 + Math.random() / 2);
async function socialcrawl(url: URL) {
// One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
const idempotencyKey = crypto.randomUUID();
for (let attempt = 0; ; attempt++) {
let res: Response;
let body: SocialCrawlResponse;
try {
res = await fetch(url, {
headers: {
"x-api-key": API_KEY,
"Idempotency-Key": idempotencyKey,
},
signal: AbortSignal.timeout(TIMEOUT_MS),
});
body = (await res.json()) as SocialCrawlResponse;
} catch (error) {
// A timeout, a dropped connection or a non-JSON gateway page: retry with the same key.
if (attempt >= MAX_RETRIES) throw error;
await sleep(backoffMs(attempt));
continue;
}
if (body.success) return body;
// Branch on error.type, never on the message text.
if (body.error.type === "RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND") return null; // refunded: nothing to read
const retryAfter = res.headers.get("Retry-After");
// SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE without Retry-After is a withdrawn endpoint: permanent.
const permanent = body.error.type === "SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE" && retryAfter === null;
if (!body.error.retryable || permanent || attempt >= MAX_RETRIES) {
throw new Error(`${body.error.type}: ${body.error.message} (request_id ${body.request_id})`);
}
// Retry-After (seconds) wins; otherwise back off.
await sleep(retryAfter ? Number(retryAfter) * 1000 : backoffMs(attempt));
}
}
const url = new URL("https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/prism/answers");
url.searchParams.set("query", "will the fed cut rates in september");
url.searchParams.set("include", "polymarket");
const body = await socialcrawl(url);
if (body) console.log(body.data);Parameters
| Parameter | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| query | Yes | The question, forwarded verbatim to every engine. |
| engines | No | CSV subset of perplexity,grok,tavily (default all three). |
| include | No | CSV of optional grounding legs: `polymarket` adds market probabilities (trimmed). |
What does the Prism Answers API return?
Every response follows one unified schema. Here is a real, unmodified response body, so you can see the exact fields you get back before spending a credit.
Example response
{
"success": true,
"platform": "instagram",
"endpoint": "/v1/instagram/engagement",
"data": {
"engagement_rate_percentages": 38.33,
"recent_posts": 12,
"followers": 87608035,
"comments": 528912,
"likes": 33049046,
"recent_posts_explanation": "Statistics based on the last 12 posts",
"id_user": "2278169415",
"username": "mrbeast",
"is_private": false,
"posts_details": [
{
"likes": 5636982,
"comments": 69484,
"taken_at": 1781457954,
"datetime": "2026-06-14 20:25:54",
"hours_since_post": 461,
"time_ago": "19 days ago",
"likes_per_hour": 12228,
"comments_per_hour": 151
},
{
"likes": 20000768,
"comments": 223510,
"taken_at": 1732824650,
"datetime": "2024-11-28 23:10:50",
"hours_since_post": 13971,
"time_ago": "2 years ago",
"likes_per_hour": 1432,
"comments_per_hour": 16
},
{
"likes": 929226,
"comments": 30633,
"taken_at": 1782232475,
"datetime": "2026-06-23 19:34:35",
"hours_since_post": 246,
"time_ago": "10 days ago",
"likes_per_hour": 3777,
"comments_per_hour": 125
},
{
"likes": 487761,
"comments": 22482,
"taken_at": 1781799425,
"datetime": "2026-06-18 19:17:05",
"hours_since_post": 366,
"time_ago": "15 days ago",
"likes_per_hour": 1333,
"comments_per_hour": 61
},
{
"likes": 712265,
"comments": 15716,
"taken_at": 1781366405,
"datetime": "2026-06-13 19:00:05",
"hours_since_post": 487,
"time_ago": "20 days ago",
"likes_per_hour": 1463,
"comments_per_hour": 32
},
{
"likes": 1475116,
"comments": 35386,
"taken_at": 1781277094,
"datetime": "2026-06-12 18:11:34",
"hours_since_post": 512,
"time_ago": "21 days ago",
"likes_per_hour": 2881,
"comments_per_hour": 69
},
{
"likes": 1108220,
"comments": 26632,
"taken_at": 1780160249,
"datetime": "2026-05-30 19:57:29",
"hours_since_post": 822,
"time_ago": "1 months ago",
"likes_per_hour": 1348,
"comments_per_hour": 32
},
{
"likes": 542948,
"comments": 28476,
"taken_at": 1779375582,
"datetime": "2026-05-21 17:59:42",
"hours_since_post": 1040,
"time_ago": "1 months ago",
"likes_per_hour": 522,
"comments_per_hour": 27
},
{
"likes": 698514,
"comments": 24401,
"taken_at": 1779120014,
"datetime": "2026-05-18 19:00:14",
"hours_since_post": 1111,
"time_ago": "2 months ago",
"likes_per_hour": 629,
"comments_per_hour": 22
},
{
"likes": 468000,
"comments": 13548,
"taken_at": 1778947209,
"datetime": "2026-05-16 19:00:09",
"hours_since_post": 1159,
"time_ago": "2 months ago",
"likes_per_hour": 404,
"comments_per_hour": 12
},
{
"likes": 526594,
"comments": 24411,
"taken_at": 1777737719,
"datetime": "2026-05-02 19:01:59",
"hours_since_post": 1495,
"time_ago": "2 months ago",
"likes_per_hour": 352,
"comments_per_hour": 16
},
{
"likes": 462652,
"comments": 14233,
"taken_at": 1777580305,
"datetime": "2026-04-30 23:18:25",
"hours_since_post": 1538,
"time_ago": "2 months ago",
"likes_per_hour": 301,
"comments_per_hour": 9
}
]
},
"credits_used": 5,
"credits_remaining": 9999,
"request_id": "req-8Kq2ZmR4vT9xLb3P",
"cached": false,
"redacted": true
}Example captured from the Instagram API. Every SocialCrawl endpoint returns this same unified schema, so your Prism Answers response has the same fields.
How does the Prism Answers API work?
Send a GET request with your API key and get back clean, structured JSON in our unified schema. Supported computed fields are populated when the source provides the required inputs.
Method
GET
Response
JSON
How do you scrape social media data in seconds?
The fastest social media scraping API for developers. Scrape profiles, posts, comments, and analytics from 69 platforms covering 10B+ monthly active users.
One schema, every platform
Query 69 platforms with identical response structures. Write your integration once.
Computed fields, not just scraped
When an endpoint supports these metrics and the source provides the required inputs, the normalized record includes engagement_rate, estimated_reach, content_category, and language. Ready to use.
See your data before you code
Visual Data Explorer. Paste any URL, get rich result cards, sortable tables, CSV export.
import requests
response = requests.get(
'https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/tiktok/profile',
params={'handle': 'charlidamelio'},
headers={'x-api-key': 'sc_YOUR_API_KEY'}
)
data = response.json(){
"success": true,
"platform": "tiktok",
"data": {
"author": {
"username": "charlidamelio",
"followers": 152400000
},
"engagement": {
"likes": 12400000000,
"engagement_rate": 0.087
},
"metadata": {
"language": "en",
"content_category": "lifestyle"
}
}
}Have a question? We got answers
Find answers to frequently asked questions about SocialCrawl's API, pricing, and capabilities.
Contact usWhat is the SocialCrawl AI answer API?
Which engines does the answers API query?
Does it return citations I can trace?
How much does an answer cost?
Can I stream the answer as it's generated?
Ask AI about SocialCrawl
Ready to scrape Prism Answers data?
Get your API key and start pulling Prism data in under 60 seconds.
