Octen Docs | The Search infrastructure for AI

For AI agents: docs.octen.ai/capabilities/broad-search.md

Some questions have more than one angle. Comparisons, research tasks, and surveys need sources spread across many subtopics, and a single query only reaches a few of them. Broad Search closes that gap: it expands your query into several sub-queries from different angles and searches them all at the same time. For the full list of parameters, see the Broad Search API reference.

Why Broad Search

Wider coverage. Several sub-queries from one query, each covering a different part of the topic.
No query rewriting. Pass the original query as is, and Octen generates the sub-queries from it.
Still fast. Sub-queries run concurrently, so broader coverage does not mean a longer wait.
Made for LLMs and agents. Results arrive grouped by sub-query, ready for a model to ground a complete answer.

For a single, precise lookup, use Web Search instead.

How It Works

Send one query. Octen decomposes it into multiple sub-queries.
Each sub-query runs as a Web Search.
The response returns the generated sub-queries, with ranked search results grouped under each.

Scenarios

Compare options

Comparisons across many sources, such as pricing, products, or vendors.

curl -X POST https://api.octen.ai/broad-search \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "query": "compare cloud GPU pricing across major providers",
    "max_queries": 5
  }'

Research a topic

For surveys and deeper research, raise max_queries so more angles are covered.

{
  "query": "state of solid-state battery technology in 2026",
  "max_queries": 12
}

Get the original text

When you need the full text of each result, turn on full content through search_options.

{
  "query": "compare cloud GPU pricing across major providers",
  "max_queries": 8,
  "search_options": {
    "full_content": { "enable": true, "max_tokens": 2048 }
  }
}

Filter every sub-query

Apply topic, domain, or time filters to all sub-queries at once. search_options takes the same parameters as Web Search.

{
  "query": "latest central bank interest rate decisions globally",
  "max_queries": 8,
  "search_options": {
    "topic": "news",
    "include_domains": ["reuters.com", "bloomberg.com"],
    "time_range": "week"
  }
}

Broad Search

Why Broad Search

How It Works

Scenarios

Compare options

Research a topic

Get the original text

Filter every sub-query

Next Steps

Try in Console

Broad Search API Reference

​Why Broad Search

​How It Works

​Scenarios

​Compare options

​Research a topic

​Get the original text

​Filter every sub-query

​Next Steps

Try in Console

Broad Search API Reference

Why Broad Search

How It Works

Scenarios

Compare options

Research a topic

Get the original text

Filter every sub-query

Next Steps