Alterlab Parallel Web

Parallel Web Systems API

Overview

This skill provides access to Parallel Web Systems APIs for web search, deep research, and content extraction. It is the primary tool for all web-related operations in the scientific writer workflow.

Primary interface: Parallel Chat API (OpenAI-compatible) for search and research. Secondary interface: Extract API for URL verification and special cases only.

API Documentation: https://docs.parallel.ai API Key: https://platform.parallel.ai Environment Variable: PARALLEL_API_KEY

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill for ALL of the following:

• Web Search: Any query that requires searching the internet for information
• Deep Research: Comprehensive research reports on any topic
• Market Research: Industry analysis, competitive intelligence, market data
• Current Events: News, recent developments, announcements
• Technical Information: Documentation, specifications, product details
• Statistical Data: Market sizes, growth rates, industry figures
• General Information: Company profiles, facts, comparisons

Use Extract API only for:

• Citation verification (confirming a specific URL's content)
• Special cases where you need raw content from a known URL

Do NOT use this skill for:

• Academic-specific paper searches (use research-lookup which routes to Perplexity for purely academic queries)
• Google Scholar / PubMed database searches (use citation-management skill)

Two Capabilities

1. Web Search (search command)

Search the web via the Parallel Chat API (base model) and get a synthesized summary with cited sources.

Best for: General web searches, current events, fact-finding, technical lookups, news, market data.

# Basic search
python scripts/parallel_web.py search "latest advances in quantum computing 2025"

# Use core model for more complex queries
python scripts/parallel_web.py search "compare EV battery chemistries NMC vs LFP" --model core

# Save results to file
python scripts/parallel_web.py search "renewable energy policy updates" -o results.txt

# JSON output for programmatic use
python scripts/parallel_web.py search "AI regulation landscape" --json -o results.json

Key Parameters:

• objective: Natural language description of what you want to find
• --model: Chat model to use (base default, or core for deeper research)
• -o: Output file path
• --json: Output as JSON

Response includes: Synthesized summary organized by themes, with inline citations and a sources list.

2. Deep Research (research command)

Run comprehensive multi-source research via the Parallel Chat API (core model) that produces detailed intelligence reports with citations.

Best for: Market research, comprehensive analysis, competitive intelligence, technology surveys, industry reports, any research question requiring synthesis of multiple sources.

# Default deep research (core model)
python scripts/parallel_web.py research "comprehensive analysis of the global EV battery market"

# Save research report to file
python scripts/parallel_web.py research "AI adoption in healthcare 2025" -o report.md

# Use base model for faster, lighter research
python scripts/parallel_web.py research "latest funding rounds in AI startups" --model base

# JSON output
python scripts/parallel_web.py research "renewable energy storage market in Europe" --json -o data.json

Key Parameters:

• query: Research question or topic
• --model: Chat model to use (core default for deep research, or base for faster results)
• -o: Output file path
• --json: Output as JSON

3. URL Extraction (extract command) — Verification Only

Extract content from specific URLs. Use only for citation verification and special cases.

For general research, use search or research instead.

# Verify a citation's content
python scripts/parallel_web.py extract "https://example.com/article" --objective "key findings"

# Get full page content for verification
python scripts/parallel_web.py extract "https://docs.example.com/api" --full-content

# Save extraction to file
python scripts/parallel_web.py extract "https://paper-url.com" --objective "methodology" -o extracted.md

Model Selection Guide

The Chat API supports two research models. Use base for most searches and core for deep research.

Recommendations:

• search command defaults to base — fast, good for most queries
• research command defaults to core — thorough, good for comprehensive reports
• Override with --model when you need different depth/speed tradeoffs

Python API Usage

Search

from parallel_web import ParallelSearch

searcher = ParallelSearch()
result = searcher.search(
    objective="Find latest information about transformer architectures in NLP",
    model="base",
)

if result["success"]:
    print(result["response"])  # Synthesized summary
    for src in result["sources"]:
        print(f"  {src['title']}: {src['url']}")

Deep Research

from parallel_web import ParallelDeepResearch

researcher = ParallelDeepResearch()
result = researcher.research(
    query="Comprehensive analysis of AI regulation in the EU and US",
    model="core",
)

if result["success"]:
    print(result["response"])  # Full research report
    print(f"Citations: {result['citation_count']}")

Extract (Verification Only)

from parallel_web import ParallelExtract

extractor = ParallelExtract()
result = extractor.extract(
    urls=["https://docs.example.com/api-reference"],
    objective="API authentication methods and rate limits",
)

if result["success"]:
    for r in result["results"]:
        print(r["excerpts"])

MANDATORY: Save All Results to Sources Folder

Every web search and deep research result MUST be saved to the project's sources/ folder.

This ensures all research is preserved for reproducibility, auditability, and context window recovery.

Saving Rules

How to Save (Always Use -o Flag)

CRITICAL: Every call to parallel_web.py MUST include the -o flag pointing to the sources/ folder.

# Web search — ALWAYS save to sources/
python scripts/parallel_web.py search "latest advances in quantum computing 2025" \
  -o sources/search_20250217_143000_quantum_computing.md

# Deep research — ALWAYS save to sources/
python scripts/parallel_web.py research "comprehensive analysis of the global EV battery market" \
  -o sources/research_20250217_144000_ev_battery_market.md

# URL extraction (verification only) — save to sources/
python scripts/parallel_web.py extract "https://example.com/article" --objective "key findings" \
  -o sources/extract_20250217_143500_example_article.md

Why Save Everything

• Reproducibility / audit / peer review: every claim traces back to its raw source material.
• Context recovery: if context is compacted mid-task, re-read saved results from sources/.
• Cost efficiency: check sources/ first to avoid redundant (paid) API calls and reuse results across sections.

Logging

When saving research results, always log:

[HH:MM:SS] SAVED: Search results to sources/search_20250217_143000_quantum_computing.md
[HH:MM:SS] SAVED: Deep research report to sources/research_20250217_144000_ev_battery_market.md

Before Making a New Query, Check Sources First

Before calling parallel_web.py, check if a relevant result already exists in sources/:

ls sources/  # Check existing saved results

Routing

When writing scientific documents: gather background with search/research before drafting a section, verify any specific URL with extract, and route purely academic paper searches to research-lookup. Always check sources/ first and save every result back (see above).

Environment Setup

# Required: Set your Parallel API key
export PARALLEL_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"

# Required Python packages (uv is the toolchain on this machine)
uv pip install openai        # For Chat API (search/research)
uv pip install parallel-web  # For Extract API (verification only)
# Or run the script ad hoc without a venv:
#   uv run --with openai --with parallel-web scripts/parallel_web.py search "query"

The parallel-web PyPI package installs as the parallel import module (used only by extract). Get your API key at https://platform.parallel.ai

Error Handling

The script handles errors gracefully and returns structured error responses:

{
  "success": false,
  "error": "Error description",
  "timestamp": "2025-02-14 12:00:00"
}

Common issues:

• PARALLEL_API_KEY not set: Set the environment variable
• openai not installed: Run uv pip install openai
• parallel-web not installed: Run uv pip install parallel-web (only needed for extract)
• Rate limit exceeded: Wait and retry (default: 300 req/min for Chat API)

Complementary Skills

See the Routing table above for research-lookup (scholarly papers) and citation-management (Scholar/PubMed/CrossRef). Also: