> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://squad.so/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Research tools reference
> Every built-in research tool your agents can use: what it does, what it returns, what it costs in credits, and how caching, fresh data, failures, and rate caps work.
Your agents have 57 built-in research tools. They get public data for your squad: web pages, search results, people and companies, local businesses, SEO data, reviews, ads, and posts from social platforms. These are the only tools in Squad that spend credits.
This page lists every tool, what it returns, and its price. For the monthly allowance, credit packs, and auto-recharge, see [What Squad costs and what uses credits](/docs/costs).
## Ask for research
You do not call these tools yourself. You ask an agent in plain words, and the agent picks the tools. For example:
```text Ask your lead theme={null}
Find 20 coffee shops in Austin, TX with a rating under 4 stars. Put the names, websites, and ratings in a doc.
```
```text Ask your lead theme={null}
What does acme.com rank for on Google? Start with its domain rank, and only pull the full keyword list if the domain is big.
```
```text Ask your lead theme={null}
Pull the last 50 Trustpilot reviews for acme.com and group the complaints into themes. Don't spend more than 40 credits on this mission.
```
Agents are told to pick the cheapest tool that answers the question. For example, to find one person's LinkedIn profile, an agent searches Google first and then reads the profile, instead of running a LinkedIn search.
## How a price works
Each tool has a base price. Some tools also have a price for each result.
* **Flat price**: the call costs the base price, for example 1 credit for a Google search.
* **Base plus per result**: the call costs the base price plus the per-result price for each result that comes back, rounded up to a whole credit. You pay for the results that come back, up to the number the agent asked for.
A call that comes back with no results still costs the base price.
Before a call runs, Squad checks the balance against the full price at the number of results that the agent asked for. A call that could cost more than your balance is refused, even when fewer results would come back. The same check applies to a mission budget.
Agents can ask Squad for a price estimate before they start a big job. Agents are told to run jobs under 100 credits, to tell you about jobs of 100 to 500 credits, and to ask you first before a job of 500 credits or more. These are instructions, not limits that Squad enforces.
The **CREDIT COST PER USAGE** card on **Settings** > **Billing** shows the same prices, grouped like the tables below. It writes a flat price as, for example, `1 credits`, and a per-result price as, for example, `8 + 5/result`.
## Calls that cost 0 credits
| Call | Why it is free |
| --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| A result from the cache | Squad already has the answer. See [Cached results](#cached-results). |
| A call that fails | For example, the page is not found, or the source is busy. Squad records the call at 0 credits. |
| A call that Squad refuses | For example, your balance is too low, the mission budget is spent, the research tools are off, or a rate cap is reached. |
| A price estimate | The agent asks what a call or a plan would cost. Nothing runs. |
| Reading the rest of a long result | A long result comes back in parts. Getting the next part is free. See [Long results](#long-results). |
## Cached results
Squad keeps each result for a set time, shown in the **Cached for** column of each table below. When an agent makes the same request with the same inputs within that time, it gets the saved result for 0 credits. The cache is shared across Squad, so the saved result can come from the same request made in another workspace. A cached result still works when your balance is 0.
Squad does not cache a result with no items, or a result that was too long to return in one part.
### Fresh data
An agent can ask for fresh data. Squad then skips the cache, runs the call, and charges the normal price. The fresh result replaces the saved one.
Agents are told to ask for fresh data when timing matters, for example "what is X posting right now" or "the latest news on Y". To make sure an agent does this, say so:
```text Ask an agent theme={null}
Get today's top posts in r/SaaS. I need fresh data, not a cached copy.
```
## Rate caps
Squad caps how many research calls one agent session and the whole workspace can make in a short time. The caps stop an agent that repeats calls in a loop. They do not depend on your balance. For the values, see [Limits and defaults](/docs/limits-and-defaults#research-tools).
A call refused by a cap costs 0 credits. Cached results and failed calls also count toward the caps.
## Long results
* A tool returns up to 50 results by default. Some tools have their own default, shown in the **Default results** column. An agent can ask for up to 500 results in one call. Some tools have a lower maximum, shown in the table.
* An agent sees up to 100 results at once. A result with more items, or one very long page, is saved in full. The agent reads the rest in parts for free.
* One stored item has a size limit. When a page is longer, Squad keeps the start of it and marks where it was cut.
## When a call fails
When a research call does not work, agents are told to say it in plain words. This is what you can see in chat:
| What happened | What the agent says |
| ------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| The data is not public, or not found | "I couldn't find that publicly." |
| The source had a problem | "Let me try a different angle." The agent continues with what it has. |
| Too many calls at once | "Pulling in a lot at once — let me focus on the most relevant." |
| The session cap is reached | "We've fanned out a lot this turn — let me work with what we have." |
| Your balance is too low | "We're out of credits for this. You can buy more from the Billing page — I'll keep going once they land." |
| The mission budget is spent | "We've hit the budget you set for this task. Continue with what we have, or raise the limit?" |
| The research tools are off | "Scraping is paused for this workspace right now." |
To buy credits, see [Buy credits](/docs/billing#buy-credits). Agents cannot buy credits for you.
## Turn tools off
* To turn off one tool or a whole platform, go to **Settings** > **Tools**. The **RESEARCH & SCRAPE TOOLS** section groups the tools by platform. An agent cannot use a tool that is off.
* To turn off every research tool at once, use the **Research tools** switch on **Settings** > **Billing**.
For both controls, see [Settings reference](/docs/settings#tools) and [What Squad costs](/docs/costs#turn-research-tools-off).
## The tools
Each table follows a group on the **CREDIT COST PER USAGE** card. The first column shows the tool's name on **Settings** > **Tools**, then its name on the Billing card.
In the **Credits** column, "+ 0.5 per result" means half a credit for each result. The total is rounded up. **Typical call** is the price at the default number of results.
### Web
On the Tools page: **Web pages**.
| Tool | What it does | What it returns | Credits | Default results | Typical call | Cached for |
| ------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | ------- | --------------- | ------------ | ---------- |
| **Read page**
Billing: Web Page | Reads any web page, including pages that need a browser to load | The page title and the page text as markdown | 1 | 1 page | 1 | 24 hours |
| **Screenshot**
Billing: Web Screenshot | Takes a picture of a page, the visible part or the full page | A link to a PNG image | 1 | 1 image | 1 | 1 hour |
| **Extract data**
Billing: Web Extract | Pulls the fields that the agent describes out of a page | The fields as structured data | 6 | 1 page | 6 | 1 hour |
### Search
On the Tools page: **Search**.
| Tool | What it does | What it returns | Credits | Default results | Typical call | Cached for |
| --------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- | --------------- | ------------ | ---------- |
| **Google search**
Billing: Google Search | Searches Google, optionally for one country | Title, link, snippet, and position of each result. At most 50. | 1 | 10 | 1 | 1 hour |
| **Google News**
Billing: Google News | Searches Google News | Title, link, snippet, source, and date of each article | 1 | 10 | 1 | 15 minutes |
| **AI search**
Billing: AI Search | Answers a question from web sources, for general or news topics | A written answer and the sources it used | 6 | 8 sources | 6 | 30 minutes |
### Leads
On the Tools page: **People & companies**.
People search and person enrich work as a pair. People search is cheap and hides last names and contact details. Each row has an ID. Person enrich unlocks the full profile for one ID. Agents are told to search wide and unlock only the people the mission needs.
| Tool | What it does | What it returns | Credits | Default results | Typical call | Cached for |
| ----------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- | --------------- | ------------ | ---------- |
| **People search**
Billing: People Search | Finds business contacts by job title, location, seniority, company domain, company size, or keywords | First name, title, company, company domain, location, whether an email or phone exists, and an ID. At most 100. | 1 | 25 | 1 | 24 hours |
| **Person enrich**
Billing: Person Enrich | Unlocks one person from a people search | Full name, title, company, location, work history, education, skills, and social profile links. Email and phone only when the source can reveal them, which is often not the case. | 60 | 1 person | 60 | 7 days |
| **Person enrich (deep)**
Billing: Person Enrich Deep | Builds a full profile from a name and company, an email, or a LinkedIn link | Full work history, education, skills, and social profiles | 360 | 1 person | 360 | 7 days |
| **Company enrich**
Billing: Company Enrich | Looks up a company by domain, name, or LinkedIn link | Name, domain, website, LinkedIn link, industry, employees, size, founded year, location, description, and total funding | 60 | 1 company | 60 | 7 days |
| **Company enrich (deep)**
Billing: Company Enrich Deep | Looks up a company by domain, website, or name, with more detail | The same fields, filled in more fully | 120 | 1 company | 120 | 7 days |
Person enrich (deep) is the most expensive research tool. One call uses more than a third of the monthly allowance.
### Local
On the Tools page: **Local businesses**.
| Tool | What it does | What it returns | Credits | Default results | Typical call | Cached for |
| --------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------ | --------------- | ------------ | ---------- |
| **Local businesses**
Billing: Local Businesses | Finds businesses on the map for a search and a place, for example "plumbers" in "Austin, TX" | Name, address, phone, website, rating, review count, category, map position, place ID, and opening hours | 8 + 5 per result | 20 | 108 | 24 hours |
| **Local reviews**
Billing: Local Reviews | Gets Google reviews for one place, by place ID or by business name and city | Rating, title, text, author, date, and link of each review | 4 + 0.1 per result | 50 | 9 | 6 hours |
### SEO
On the Tools page: **SEO**.
| Tool | What it does | What it returns | Credits | Default results | Typical call | Cached for |
| ----------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------- | --------------------------- | ------------------ | ---------- |
| **Keyword data**
Billing: SEO Keywords | Looks up up to 100 keywords in one call, for one market (United States by default) | Search volume, cost per click, competition, difficulty, intent, and monthly trend for each keyword | 8 + 0.5 per result | One result per keyword sent | 18 for 20 keywords | 7 days |
| **Keyword ideas**
Billing: SEO Keyword Ideas | Suggests keywords related to one seed keyword | The same metrics for each idea | 7 + 0.3 per result | 50 | 22 | 7 days |
| **Ranked keywords**
Billing: SEO Ranked Keywords | Lists the keywords a domain ranks for | Keyword, position, search volume, ranking page, and traffic estimate | 9 + 0.2 per result | 100 | 29 | 7 days |
| **Domain rank**
Billing: SEO Domain Rank | Gives a quick overview of one domain | Rank, organic keyword count, organic traffic, traffic value, and paid keywords and traffic | 3 | 1 domain | 3 | 24 hours |
| **Backlinks**
Billing: SEO Backlinks | Lists links that point to a domain or a page | Linking page, target page, anchor text, linking page rank, dofollow status, and first-seen date | 14 + 0.2 per result | 100 | 34 | 7 days |
| **Google Trends**
Billing: Google Trends | Shows interest over time for one keyword | Dated interest values | 14 | 1 keyword | 14 | 24 hours |
| **Site tech**
Billing: SEO Site Tech | Finds the technology a website uses, such as analytics, live chat, CMS, and CDN | Technologies by category, plus the domain's rank, country, and public emails and phones found on the site | 15 | 1 domain | 15 | 24 hours |
| **Page audit**
Billing: SEO Page Audit | Checks one page for on-page SEO | On-page score, status code, title, description, H1 headings, link and image counts, load times, and check flags such as missing image text | 2 | 1 page | 2 | 6 hours |
| **Lighthouse**
Billing: SEO Lighthouse | Runs a Google Lighthouse audit of one page. Takes about 30 to 60 seconds. | Scores for performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO, the core web vitals, and the worst audits to fix. At most 25 audits. | 6 | 12 audits | 6 | 6 hours |
| **Rank check**
Billing: SEO Rank Check | Checks where a domain ranks on Google right now for one keyword, in the top 100 | The top results, plus the domain's own position. No position means the domain is not in the top 100. At most 100 results. | 14 + 0.5 per result | 10 | 19 | 1 hour |
| **AI mentions**
Billing: AI Mentions | Checks whether ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews mention a brand or a domain | The platform, the question, the answer, AI search volume, cited sources, and last-seen date. At most 100. | 100 + 2 per result | 25 | 150 | 24 hours |
A site audit is not one tool. For "audit my site", agents run **Page audit** and **Lighthouse** on your key pages and write the findings into one doc. For rank tracking, agents run **Rank check** from a scheduled task and keep a doc with the changes.
```text Ask your lead theme={null}
Every Monday, check where acme.com ranks for "invoice software" and "billing software". Keep a doc with the positions week by week.
```
### Reviews
On the Tools page: **Review sites**. For Google reviews of a place, see [Local](#local).
| Tool | What it does | What it returns | Credits | Default results | Typical call | Cached for |
| ------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------ | --------------- | ------------ | ---------- |
| **Trustpilot**
Billing: Reviews Trustpilot | Gets a company's Trustpilot reviews by its domain | Rating, title, text, author, date, and link of each review | 4 + 0.1 per result | 50 | 9 | 12 hours |
| **Tripadvisor**
Billing: Reviews Tripadvisor | Gets Tripadvisor reviews by business name and place | The same fields | 4 + 0.1 per result | 50 | 9 | 12 hours |
| **App Store**
Billing: Reviews Appstore | Gets reviews of an iOS app by the number in its store link | The same fields | 4 + 0.1 per result | 50 | 9 | 12 hours |
| **Google Play**
Billing: Reviews Googleplay | Gets reviews of an Android app by the ID in its store link | The same fields | 4 + 0.1 per result | 50 | 9 | 12 hours |
### Ads
On the Tools page: **Ads**.
| Tool | What it does | What it returns | Credits | Default results | Typical call | Cached for |
| ------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------- | --------------- | ------------ | ---------- |
| **Facebook ads**
Billing: Facebook Ads | Searches the Meta Ad Library for a brand or keyword, in one country (US by default) | Page name, ad text, platforms, start and end dates, and link of each ad | 9 + 1 per result | 25 | 34 | 12 hours |
### Twitter
On the Tools page: **Twitter / X**.
| Tool | What it does | What it returns | Credits | Default results | Typical call | Cached for |
| ------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- | --------------- | ------------ | ---------- |
| **User tweets**
Billing: Twitter User Tweets | Gets an account's recent tweets. At most 200. | Text, author, date, likes, retweets, replies, views, bookmarks, link, language, media, and quoted tweet | 1 | 50 | 1 | 1 hour |
| **Search**
Billing: Twitter Search | Searches tweets, with search operators such as `from:` and `since:`, sorted by latest or top | The same fields for each tweet | 1 | 50 | 1 | 30 minutes |
| **Profile**
Billing: Twitter Profile | Gets one account's profile | Handle, name, bio, followers, following, and verified status | 1 | 1 profile | 1 | 24 hours |
### YouTube
On the Tools page: **YouTube**.
| Tool | What it does | What it returns | Credits | Default results | Typical call | Cached for |
| ----------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------ | --------------- | ------------ | ---------- |
| **Search**
Billing: YouTube Search | Searches YouTube videos | Title, channel, link, views, likes, comments, date, duration, and description | 2 + 0.2 per result | 20 | 6 | 2 hours |
| **Video info**
Billing: YouTube Video Info | Gets the details of one video | The same fields for that video | 1 | 1 video | 1 | 24 hours |
| **Comments**
Billing: YouTube Comments | Gets the top comments on a video | Author, text, likes, date, reply count, and whether the channel owner wrote or liked it | 1 | 100 | 1 | 1 hour |
| **Transcript**
Billing: YouTube Transcript | Gets the spoken text of a video, in a language the agent picks | Text lines with start times | 8 | 1 video | 8 | 7 days |
| **Channel**
Billing: YouTube Channel | Gets a channel's details | Name, subscribers, video count, view count, description, and link | 1 | 1 channel | 1 | 24 hours |
### LinkedIn
On the Tools page: **LinkedIn**.
| Tool | What it does | What it returns | Credits | Default results | Typical call | Cached for |
| ------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- | --------------- | ------------ | ---------- |
| **Profile**
Billing: LinkedIn Profile | Gets a public profile | Name, headline, location, about, followers, connections, experience, education, skills, and open-to-work status | 5 | 1 profile | 5 | 24 hours |
| **Company**
Billing: LinkedIn Company | Gets a company page | Name, industry, size, about, and followers | 4 | 1 company | 4 | 24 hours |
| **Posts**
Billing: LinkedIn Posts | Gets the posts a profile wrote, without reshares | Author, text, likes, comments, date, and link | 4 | 25 | 4 | 1 hour |
| **Feed**
Billing: LinkedIn Feed | Gets a profile's activity: posts, reshares, and posts it engaged with | The same fields | 5 | 25 | 5 | 1 hour |
| **Search**
Billing: LinkedIn Search | Searches LinkedIn for people, companies, or jobs | The matching profiles, companies, or jobs | 145 | 25 | 145 | 1 hour |
### Reddit
On the Tools page: **Reddit**.
| Tool | What it does | What it returns | Credits | Default results | Typical call | Cached for |
| ---------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------ | --------------- | ------------ | ---------- |
| **Subreddit**
Billing: Reddit Subreddit | Gets posts from a subreddit, sorted by hot, new, top, or rising, with a time window for top | Title, subreddit, author, link, score, comment count, date, and text | 3 + 0.2 per result | 25 | 8 | 5 minutes |
| **Search**
Billing: Reddit Search | Searches all of Reddit or one subreddit | The same fields | 3 + 0.2 per result | 25 | 8 | 10 minutes |
| **Post comments**
Billing: Reddit Post Comments | Gets the comment thread under one post | Author, text, score, reply position, and date of each comment | 80 + 1 per result | 100 | 180 | 30 minutes |
| **User**
Billing: Reddit User | Gets a user's posts, comments, or both | The same post fields | 3 + 0.2 per result | 25 | 8 | 1 hour |
### Instagram
On the Tools page: **Instagram**.
| Tool | What it does | What it returns | Credits | Default results | Typical call | Cached for |
| ------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------- | --------------- | ------------ | ---------- |
| **Profile**
Billing: Instagram Profile | Gets a public profile | Handle, name, bio, followers, following, post count, and verified status | 3 | 1 profile | 3 | 24 hours |
| **Posts**
Billing: Instagram Posts | Gets an account's recent posts | Caption, likes, comments, date, and media link | 3 | 25 | 3 | 1 hour |
| **Hashtag**
Billing: Instagram Hashtag | Gets recent posts under a hashtag | The same fields | 3 | 25 | 3 | 30 minutes |
### TikTok
On the Tools page: **TikTok**.
| Tool | What it does | What it returns | Credits | Default results | Typical call | Cached for |
| ---------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ------- | --------------- | ------------ | ---------- |
| **User**
Billing: TikTok User | Gets an account's recent videos | Caption, views, likes, comments, shares, date, and link | 3 | 25 | 3 | 1 hour |
| **Search**
Billing: TikTok Search | Searches TikTok videos | The same fields | 3 | 25 | 3 | 30 minutes |
| **Hashtag**
Billing: TikTok Hashtag | Gets recent videos under a hashtag | The same fields | 3 | 25 | 3 | 30 minutes |
### Other
On the Tools page: **Bluesky**, **Hacker News**, **Product Hunt**, and **GitHub**.
| Tool | What it does | What it returns | Credits | Default results | Typical call | Cached for |
| ------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- | --------------- | ------------ | ---------- |
| **Bluesky: User**
Billing: Bluesky User | Gets an account's recent posts | Text, author, likes, reposts, replies, date, and link | 1 | 25 | 1 | 1 hour |
| **Hacker News: Search**
Billing: HackerNews Search | Searches stories and comments, by relevance or date | Title, link, author, points, comment count, and date | 1 | 25 | 1 | 10 minutes |
| **Product Hunt: Launches**
Billing: ProductHunt Launches | Searches recent launches | Name, tagline, link, upvotes, and launch date | 3 | 25 | 3 | 1 hour |
| **GitHub: User**
Billing: GitHub User | Gets a public user profile | Name, bio, company, location, website, followers, following, and public repository count | 1 | 1 profile | 1 | 24 hours |
| **GitHub: Repo**
Billing: GitHub Repo | Gets a public repository | Description, stars, forks, language, topics, last update, open issues, license, and homepage | 1 | 1 repository | 1 | 1 hour |
## Common questions
**Settings** > **Billing** shows **USAGE BY TOOL**, **USAGE BY AGENT**, **USAGE BY TASK**, **USAGE BY MISSION**, and **RECENT CREDIT USAGE**. In Runs, a research call shows the credits it used, or "cache hit" when it was free. See [What Squad costs](/docs/costs#where-to-see-your-spending).
Yes. Tell the agent, for example "don't spend more than 50 credits on this". The agent records a budget on the mission, and Squad refuses calls that would pass it. There is no dashboard field for it. See [Budgets for a mission](/docs/costs#budgets-for-a-mission).
Squad checks your balance against the price at the number of results the agent asked for, not the number that would come back. Ask the agent to request fewer results, or buy credits.
Not with research tools. They get public data only. For a site where you have an account, an agent uses its browser on the workspace computer. See [Watch or take over an agent's computer](/docs/computer).
No. Apps that you connect in Integrations, MCP servers, and email never use credits. See [What your agents can do](/docs/agent-capabilities).