Being able to restrict which tools register means you can take search and extraction without carrying the research tools' definitions on every turn — the standing cost becomes a choice rather than a given. The free tier without credentials removes the other barrier: you can evaluate whether the results are good before creating an account. On the research tool, the effort setting and structured output schema are the two parameters worth learning; a cited synthesis returned in the shape you asked for is considerably more useful than prose you then have to parse.
You.com's endpoint, spanning the range from a fast answer to a synthesised research report with inline citations. It answered our probe.
- you-search — web and news search returning snippets, source URLs and metadata, with domain boosting and exclusion
- you-contents — full content from specific URLs as markdown, HTML or structured metadata
- you-answer — one synthesised answer with verified inline citations, filterable by freshness, language and domain
- you-research — one-shot cited synthesis with an effort setting and source control, and an optional output schema
- you-balance for remaining credit, and you-discover for finding other agents, servers and skills
An API key as a bearer token, or OAuth 2.1. A free tier is available by adding a profile parameter, with no authentication. Which tools appear can be scoped by parameter or environment variable.
Paste a URL, then authorize — add the endpoint to your client, then approve the OAuth consent screen