> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.consensus.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quick start: Search

> Find ranked papers for a query in one request, and see when search is the right Consensus API endpoint.

`GET /v1/search` returns ranked papers for a query in a single request. Use it when your code or your own model needs the papers themselves: titles, journals, citation counts, links, and full-text excerpts.

## When to use search

Search is the right fit when you want the papers and plan to do the reasoning yourself.

* **Lookups:** find the papers on a specific question, author, or method.
* **Your own pipeline:** feed ranked papers and full-text excerpts into your own LLM, agent, or scoring step.
* **High volume:** screen many queries or targets quickly. Each request costs one call per 100 papers returned.
* **Structured filtering:** narrow by study design, date, journal quality, sample size, field, or country.

Want Consensus to read the papers and write a cited answer for you instead? Use [Threads](/api-quickstart-threads).

## Make a request

Store your key in an environment variable named `CONSENSUS_API_KEY`, then send a `query`:

```bash theme={null}
curl -G "https://api.consensus.app/v1/search" -H "x-api-key: $CONSENSUS_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "query=does creatine improve working memory" \
  --data-urlencode "study_types=rct,meta-analysis" \
  --data-urlencode "year_min=2015"
```

Each result in `results` carries the paper's `title`, `authors`, `journal_name`, `publish_year`, `citation_count`, `doi`, a Consensus `url`, and a one-sentence `takeaway`.

## Go further

* **Full-text excerpts:** add `include_full_text_chunks=true` on a paid plan to get the passages that answer your query. See [Full text in the API](/api-full-text).
* **More results:** raise `page_size` and page through with `page`. Your plan sets the maximum. See [plans and access](/api-plans-and-access).
* **Every parameter:** see the [search endpoint reference](/api-reference/search).

## Use cases

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Abstract screening" icon="filter" href="/use-cases/abstract-screening">
    Screen candidate papers against inclusion criteria at scale.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Citation verification" icon="badge-check" href="/use-cases/citation-verification">
    Check that a claim is backed by the paper it cites.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Extract values from full text" icon="table" href="/use-cases/extract-values-from-full-text">
    Pull doses, effect sizes, and sample sizes from full-text excerpts.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Scheduled research pipeline" icon="calendar-clock" href="/use-cases/scheduled-research-pipeline">
    Monitor a field on a schedule and report what's new.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


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