Introduction to Discover API

Collect search results at scale for you, instead of wasting time and effort on filtering or processing irrelevant results

Body Parameters

query

string

required

The search query.

intent

string

Describes the specific goal of the search to help the AI evaluate and rank result relevance. If not provided, the query string is used as the intent.For best results, use the following formula:

[PERSONA/CONTEXT]: I am [persona] looking for [use case].
[INCLUDE]: Prioritize [document type 1], [document type 2],
           and [source authority] published [recency if relevant].
[DEPTH]: Focus on [technical level / document section].
[EXCLUDE]: Strictly exclude [noise type 1], [noise type 2],
           and [source type to avoid].

Show Intent examples

B2B Financial Research (Investment RAG)

Query: "Impact of generative AI on SaaS revenue models"
Intent:

I am building an AI investment analyst tool for venture capitalists.
Prioritize institutional research reports, earnings call transcripts,
and B2B SaaS industry analyses published in the last 12 months.
Focus on financial metrics, pricing strategies, and market adoption rates.
Strictly exclude consumer software reviews, generic tech news,
and vendor promotional pages.

Advanced Engineering Troubleshooting (Developer RAG)

Query: "Optimize Postgres database query performance"
Intent:

I am building an internal knowledge base for senior backend engineers.
Prioritize official documentation, peer-reviewed engineering blogs,
and advanced performance benchmarks.
Focus on configuration settings, advanced indexing strategies,
and code-level tuning.
Strictly exclude beginner SQL tutorials, basic installation guides,
and database vendor marketing material.

filter_keywords

array of strings

A list of exact keywords that must appear in the search results. The API automatically applies intext: operators to guarantee keyword inclusion.Example: ["Product Manager", "Roadmap"]

format

string

default:"json"

The response format.Available options: json, markdown

include_content

boolean

default:"false"

If true, the response will include the page content in markdown format.

include_images

boolean

default:"false"

If true, the response will extract and include an array of images.

language

string

default:"en"

The language to search in and return data for.Supported across 31 languages to align with Voyage AI and SERP capabilities, including but not limited to: en (English), es (Spanish), fr (French), de (German), zh (Chinese), ja (Japanese), ar (Arabic), he (Hebrew), ko (Korean), hi (Hindi), pt (Portuguese), and ru (Russian).

num_results

integer

The exact number of search results to return in the response.

remove_duplicates

boolean

default:"true"

If true, duplicate results will be removed from the response.

start_date

string

Search only for content updated from the date specified (format: YYYY-MM-DD).

end_date

string

Search only for content updated until the date specified (format: YYYY-MM-DD).

country

string

default:"US"

Get search results from a specific country. This accepts all standard 2-letter ISO country codes (e.g., US, GB, DE, IL, FR, JP). This will prioritize content from the selected country in the search results.

city

string

Get search results localized to a specific city using SERP uule encoding (e.g., "New York", "Berlin", "Tel Aviv"). For best results, use this in conjunction with the corresponding country parameter.

Example

curl "https://api.brightdata.com/discover" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
  -d '{
    "query": "artificial intelligence trends",
    "filter_keywords": ["Product Manager", "Roadmap"],
    "num_results": 10,
    "city": "New York",
    "country": "US",
    "language": "en",
    "format": "json",
    "intent": "latest AI technology developments",
    "include_images": true
  }'

Response:

{
  "status": "ok",
  "task_id": "bde85a92-3232-4f26-98f6-5ed0328b8288"
}

Retrieve Results

curl "https://api.brightdata.com/discover?task_id=<task_id>" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>"

Response

status

string

The status of the request: processing or done

duration_seconds

integer

The time taken to process the request in seconds.

results

object[]

A list of sorted search results.

Show Item Properties

link

string

URL of the search result.

title

string

Title of the search result.

description

string

Most query-related content snippet.

relevance_score

float

Relevance score.

include_content

string

Parsed content in markdown format (only present if include_content is set to true).

curl "https://api.brightdata.com/discover" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
  -d '{
    "query": "artificial intelligence trends",
    "filter_keywords": ["Product Manager", "Roadmap"],
    "num_results": 10,
    "city": "New York",
    "country": "US",
    "language": "en",
    "format": "json",
    "intent": "latest AI technology developments",
    "include_images": true
  }'

# Retrieve Results
curl "https://api.brightdata.com/discover?task_id=<task_id>" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>"

{
  "status": "done",
  "duration_seconds": 10,
  "results": [
    {
      "link": "https://www.trigyn.com/insights/ai-trends-2026-new-era-ai-advancements-and-breakthroughs",
      "title": "AI Trends in 2026: Advancements and Breakthroughs Ahead",
      "description": "5 days ago — Explore top AI trends for 2026, from enterprise adoption to autonomous systems and breakthrough business innovations.",
      "relevance_score": 0.98184747,
      "content": null
    },
    {
      "link": "https://sisuadigital.com/blog/artificial-intelligence-trends-2026-sisua-digital/",
      "title": "10 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Trends That Will Define 2026",
      "description": "Dec 26, 2025 — Discover the 10 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Trends That Will Define 2026: governance, human collaboration, continuous learning, and more.",
      "relevance_score": 0.97948,
      "content": null
    }
  ]
}

Errors

Code	Meaning	Resolution
`400`	Bad Request	Verify that all body parameters match the required types and formats.
`401`	Unauthorized	Provide a valid API key in the `Authorization` header.
`403`	Forbidden	The Bright Data Discover API is not enabled for your account. Contact support to enable it.
`429`	Too Many Requests	You have exceeded your concurrency or rate limits. Slow down requests or upgrade your plan.
`500`	Internal Server Error	An issue occurred on Bright Data’s end. Retry the request after a few seconds.

FAQs

What is the difference between query and intent?

query is the exact string submitted to Google’s search engine. intent is the instruction given to the Bright Data AI to evaluate and rank the relevance of those results before returning them to you.Think of query as what you type into Google, and intent as the brief you give to a research analyst explaining what you actually need and what to ignore. The more specific the intent, the more relevant your results.

Why am I getting a 403 Forbidden error?

Access to the Bright Data Discover API is restricted. It must be manually enabled for your account by your account manager.

Overview

Products

Administrative API

Discover API

Introduction to Discover API

Body Parameters

Example

Retrieve Results

Response

Errors

FAQs

Overview

Products

Administrative API

​Introduction to Discover API

​Body Parameters

​Example

​Retrieve Results

​Response

​Errors

​FAQs

Introduction to Discover API

Body Parameters

Example

Retrieve Results

Response

Errors

FAQs