/search

Feature	Supported
Supported Providers	`perplexity`, `tavily`, `parallel_ai`, `exa_ai`
Cost Tracking	❌
Logging	✅
Load Balancing	❌

tip

LiteLLM follows the Perplexity API request/response for the Search API

info

Supported from LiteLLM v1.78.7+

LiteLLM Python SDK Usage

Quick Start

Basic Search
from litellm import search
import os

os.environ["PERPLEXITYAI_API_KEY"] = "pplx-..."

response = search(
    query="latest AI developments in 2024",
    search_provider="perplexity",
    max_results=5
)

# Access search results
for result in response.results:
    print(f"{result.title}: {result.url}")
    print(f"Snippet: {result.snippet}\n")

Async Usage

Async Search
from litellm import asearch
import os, asyncio

os.environ["PERPLEXITYAI_API_KEY"] = "pplx-..."

async def search_async(): 
    response = await asearch(
        query="machine learning research papers",
        search_provider="perplexity",
        max_results=10,
        search_domain_filter=["arxiv.org", "nature.com"]
    )
    
    # Access search results
    for result in response.results:
        print(f"{result.title}: {result.url}")
        print(f"Snippet: {result.snippet}")

asyncio.run(search_async())

Optional Parameters

Search with Options
response = search(
    query="AI developments",
    search_provider="perplexity",
    # Unified parameters (work across all providers)
    max_results=10,                         # Maximum number of results (1-20)
    search_domain_filter=["arxiv.org"],     # Filter to specific domains
    country="US",                           # Country code filter
    max_tokens_per_page=1024                # Max tokens per page
)

LiteLLM AI Gateway Usage

LiteLLM provides a Perplexity API compatible /search endpoint for search calls.

Setup

Add this to your litellm proxy config.yaml

config.yaml
model_list:
  - model_name: gpt-4
    litellm_params:
      model: gpt-4
      api_key: os.environ/OPENAI_API_KEY

search_tools:
  - search_tool_name: perplexity-search
    litellm_params:
      search_provider: perplexity
      api_key: os.environ/PERPLEXITYAI_API_KEY
  
  - search_tool_name: tavily-search
    litellm_params:
      search_provider: tavily
      api_key: os.environ/TAVILY_API_KEY

Start litellm

litellm --config /path/to/config.yaml

# RUNNING on http://0.0.0.0:4000

Test Request

Option 1: Search tool name in URL (Recommended - keeps body Perplexity-compatible)

cURL Request
curl http://0.0.0.0:4000/v1/search/perplexity-search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-1234" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "latest AI developments 2024",
    "max_results": 5,
    "search_domain_filter": ["arxiv.org", "nature.com"],
    "country": "US"
  }'

Option 2: Search tool name in body

cURL Request with search_tool_name in body
curl http://0.0.0.0:4000/v1/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-1234" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "search_tool_name": "perplexity-search",
    "query": "latest AI developments 2024",
    "max_results": 5
  }'

Load Balancing

Configure multiple search providers for automatic load balancing and fallbacks:

config.yaml with load balancing
search_tools:
  - search_tool_name: my-search
    litellm_params:
      search_provider: perplexity
      api_key: os.environ/PERPLEXITYAI_API_KEY
  
  - search_tool_name: my-search
    litellm_params:
      search_provider: tavily
      api_key: os.environ/TAVILY_API_KEY
  
  - search_tool_name: my-search
    litellm_params:
      search_provider: exa_ai
      api_key: os.environ/EXA_API_KEY

router_settings:
  routing_strategy: simple-shuffle  # or 'least-busy', 'latency-based-routing'

Test with load balancing:

curl http://0.0.0.0:4000/v1/search/my-search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-1234" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "AI developments",
    "max_results": 10
  }'

Request/Response Format

info

LiteLLM follows the Perplexity Search API specification.

See the official Perplexity Search documentation for complete details.

Example Request

Search Request
{
  "query": "latest AI developments 2024",
  "max_results": 10,
  "search_domain_filter": ["arxiv.org", "nature.com"],
  "country": "US",
  "max_tokens_per_page": 1024
}

Request Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`query`	string or array	Yes	Search query. Can be a single string or array of strings
`search_provider`	string	Yes (SDK)	The search provider to use: `"perplexity"`, `"tavily"`, `"parallel_ai"`, or `"exa_ai"`
`search_tool_name`	string	Yes (Proxy)	Name of the search tool configured in `config.yaml`
`max_results`	integer	No	Maximum number of results to return (1-20). Default: 10
`search_domain_filter`	array	No	List of domains to filter results (max 20 domains)
`max_tokens_per_page`	integer	No	Maximum tokens per page to process. Default: 1024
`country`	string	No	Country code filter (e.g., `"US"`, `"GB"`, `"DE"`)

Query Format Examples:

# Single query
query = "AI developments"

# Multiple queries
query = ["AI developments", "machine learning trends"]

Response Format

The response follows Perplexity's search format with the following structure:

Search Response
{
  "object": "search",
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "Latest Advances in Artificial Intelligence",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/paper/example",
      "snippet": "This paper discusses recent developments in AI...",
      "date": "2024-01-15"
    },
    {
      "title": "Machine Learning Breakthroughs",
      "url": "https://nature.com/articles/ml-breakthrough",
      "snippet": "Researchers have achieved new milestones...",
      "date": "2024-01-10"
    }
  ]
}

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
`object`	string	Always `"search"` for search responses
`results`	array	List of search results
`results[].title`	string	Title of the search result
`results[].url`	string	URL of the search result
`results[].snippet`	string	Text snippet from the result
`results[].date`	string	Optional publication or last updated date

Supported Providers

Provider	Environment Variable	`search_provider` Value
Perplexity AI	`PERPLEXITYAI_API_KEY`	`perplexity`
Tavily	`TAVILY_API_KEY`	`tavily`
Exa AI	`EXA_API_KEY`	`exa_ai`
Parallel AI	`PARALLEL_AI_API_KEY`	`parallel_ai`

Perplexity AI

Get API Key: https://www.perplexity.ai/settings/api

LiteLLM Python SDK

Perplexity Search
import os
from litellm import search

os.environ["PERPLEXITYAI_API_KEY"] = "pplx-..."

response = search(
    query="latest AI developments",
    search_provider="perplexity",
    max_results=5
)

LiteLLM AI Gateway

1. Setup config.yaml

config.yaml
model_list:
  - model_name: gpt-4
    litellm_params:
      model: gpt-4
      api_key: os.environ/OPENAI_API_KEY

search_tools:
  - search_tool_name: perplexity-search
    litellm_params:
      search_provider: perplexity
      api_key: os.environ/PERPLEXITYAI_API_KEY

2. Start the proxy

litellm --config /path/to/config.yaml

# RUNNING on http://0.0.0.0:4000

3. Test the search endpoint

Test Request
curl http://0.0.0.0:4000/v1/search/perplexity-search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-1234" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "latest AI developments",
    "max_results": 5
  }'

Tavily

Get API Key: https://tavily.com

LiteLLM Python SDK

Tavily Search
import os
from litellm import search

os.environ["TAVILY_API_KEY"] = "tvly-..."

response = search(
    query="latest AI developments",
    search_provider="tavily",
    max_results=5
)

LiteLLM AI Gateway

1. Setup config.yaml

config.yaml
model_list:
  - model_name: gpt-4
    litellm_params:
      model: gpt-4
      api_key: os.environ/OPENAI_API_KEY

search_tools:
  - search_tool_name: tavily-search
    litellm_params:
      search_provider: tavily
      api_key: os.environ/TAVILY_API_KEY

2. Start the proxy

litellm --config /path/to/config.yaml

# RUNNING on http://0.0.0.0:4000

3. Test the search endpoint

Test Request
curl http://0.0.0.0:4000/v1/search/tavily-search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-1234" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "latest AI developments",
    "max_results": 5
  }'

Exa AI

Get API Key: https://exa.ai

LiteLLM Python SDK

Exa AI Search
import os
from litellm import search

os.environ["EXA_API_KEY"] = "exa-..."

response = search(
    query="latest AI developments",
    search_provider="exa_ai",
    max_results=5
)

LiteLLM AI Gateway

1. Setup config.yaml

config.yaml
model_list:
  - model_name: gpt-4
    litellm_params:
      model: gpt-4
      api_key: os.environ/OPENAI_API_KEY

search_tools:
  - search_tool_name: exa-search
    litellm_params:
      search_provider: exa_ai
      api_key: os.environ/EXA_API_KEY

2. Start the proxy

litellm --config /path/to/config.yaml

# RUNNING on http://0.0.0.0:4000

3. Test the search endpoint

Test Request
curl http://0.0.0.0:4000/v1/search/exa-search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-1234" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "latest AI developments",
    "max_results": 5
  }'

Parallel AI

Get API Key: https://www.parallel.ai

LiteLLM Python SDK

Parallel AI Search
import os
from litellm import search

os.environ["PARALLEL_AI_API_KEY"] = "..."

response = search(
    query="latest AI developments",
    search_provider="parallel_ai",
    max_results=5
)

LiteLLM AI Gateway

1. Setup config.yaml

config.yaml
model_list:
  - model_name: gpt-4
    litellm_params:
      model: gpt-4
      api_key: os.environ/OPENAI_API_KEY

search_tools:
  - search_tool_name: parallel-search
    litellm_params:
      search_provider: parallel_ai
      api_key: os.environ/PARALLEL_AI_API_KEY

2. Start the proxy

litellm --config /path/to/config.yaml

# RUNNING on http://0.0.0.0:4000

3. Test the search endpoint

Test Request
curl http://0.0.0.0:4000/v1/search/parallel-search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-1234" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "latest AI developments",
    "max_results": 5
  }'

Provider-specific parameters

Sending provider-specific parameters is supported for all providers, you just need to pass them in the request body.

Tavily Search

Tavily Search
import os
from litellm import search

os.environ["TAVILY_API_KEY"] = "tvly-..."

response = search(
    query="latest tech news",
    search_provider="tavily",
    max_results=5,
    # Tavily-specific parameters
    topic="news",                    # 'general', 'news', 'finance'
    search_depth="advanced",         # 'basic', 'advanced'
    include_answer=True,             # Include AI-generated answer
    include_raw_content=True         # Include raw HTML content
)

Exa AI Search

Exa AI Search
import os
from litellm import search

os.environ["EXA_API_KEY"] = "exa-..."

response = search(
    query="AI research papers",
    search_provider="exa_ai",
    max_results=10,
    search_domain_filter=["arxiv.org"],
    # Exa-specific parameters
    type="neural",                   # 'neural', 'keyword', or 'auto'
    contents={"text": True},         # Request text content
    use_autoprompt=True              # Enable Exa's autoprompt
)

Parallel AI Search

Parallel AI Search
import os
from litellm import search

os.environ["PARALLEL_AI_API_KEY"] = "..."

response = search(
    query="latest developments in quantum computing",
    search_provider="parallel_ai",
    max_results=5,
    # Parallel AI-specific parameters
    processor="pro",                 # 'base' or 'pro'
    max_chars_per_result=500         # Max characters per result
)

LiteLLM Python SDK Usage​

Quick Start​

Async Usage​

Optional Parameters​

LiteLLM AI Gateway Usage​

Test Request​

Load Balancing​

Request/Response Format​

Example Request​

Request Parameters​

Response Format​

Response Fields​

Supported Providers​

Perplexity AI​

LiteLLM Python SDK​

LiteLLM AI Gateway​

Tavily​

LiteLLM Python SDK​

LiteLLM AI Gateway​

Exa AI​

LiteLLM Python SDK​

LiteLLM AI Gateway​

Parallel AI​

LiteLLM Python SDK​

LiteLLM AI Gateway​

Provider-specific parameters​

Tavily Search​

Exa AI Search​

Parallel AI Search​

LiteLLM Python SDK Usage

Quick Start

Async Usage

Optional Parameters

LiteLLM AI Gateway Usage

Test Request

Load Balancing

Request/Response Format

Example Request

Request Parameters

Response Format

Response Fields

Supported Providers

Perplexity AI

LiteLLM Python SDK

LiteLLM AI Gateway

Tavily

LiteLLM Python SDK

LiteLLM AI Gateway

Exa AI

LiteLLM Python SDK

LiteLLM AI Gateway

Parallel AI

LiteLLM Python SDK

LiteLLM AI Gateway

Provider-specific parameters

Tavily Search

Exa AI Search

Parallel AI Search