---
title: "Autonomous research/extraction from a natural-language prompt — no URLs required. Plans search queries, fetches and filters relevant pages, and returns a prose or structured answer under hard safety caps. Agent runs can exceed the REST API's ~50s window (the MCP tool allows 120s) — keep maxSteps/maxUrls small, or use the CrawlForge MCP server for long runs."
method: POST
path: "/tools/agent"
tags: ["tools"]
---

# Autonomous research/extraction from a natural-language prompt — no URLs required. Plans search queries, fetches and filters relevant pages, and returns a prose or structured answer under hard safety caps. Agent runs can exceed the REST API's ~50s window (the MCP tool allows 120s) — keep maxSteps/maxUrls small, or use the CrawlForge MCP server for long runs.

`POST /tools/agent`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://www.crawlforge.dev/api/v1`
- URL: `https://www.crawlforge.dev/api/v1/tools/agent`
- Auth: API key in header `X-API-Key`

## Request body

- AgentRequest
  - `prompt` string, required: Natural-language task or question (1-2000 chars)
  - `urls` unknown[]: Optional seed URLs to include (max 20)
    - unknown
  - `schema` object: Optional JSON schema for structured output
  - `model` 'default' | 'pro': "default" = built-in planning loop. "pro" requires interactive confirmation and is rejected by the REST API — use the CrawlForge MCP server for pro runs.
  - `maxSteps` number: Max fetch iterations (hard cap: 10)
  - `maxUrls` number: Max URLs to fetch (hard cap: 20)
  - `max_inline_chars` number: Largest result returned inline, in characters of its JSON (1000-10000000; env CRAWLFORGE_MAX_INLINE_CHARS sets the default). Over it, the result is stored for 1 hour and the response carries a preview, a result_handle, total_chars and truncated: true; read the rest with read_result (1 credit).

## Response `200`

The tool's result; 18 credits charged (see x-credits-note and x-extra for add-ons).

- ToolSuccess: The envelope every tool returns on success. Credits are deducted only after the tool succeeded, so credits_used is the price of this call and an error response never charges.
  - `success` true, required
  - `data` object, required: The tool's result. Its shape is tool-specific and documented on the tool's docs page (x-docs-url on the operation).
  - `credits_used` integer, required: Credits charged for this call: the operation's x-credits, plus any add-on x-credits-note or x-extra describes.
  - `credits_remaining` integer, required: The account's credit balance after this call.
  - `processing_time` integer, required: Server-side processing time in milliseconds.
  - `warnings` string[]: Non-fatal notes: a robots.txt override that was recorded, a format that could not be produced, a redaction that changed the payload.

## Other responses

- `400`: VALIDATION_ERROR: the body does not match the request schema.
- `401`: MISSING_API_KEY or INVALID_API_KEY.
- `402`: INSUFFICIENT_CREDITS: the balance does not cover the tool's base price. X-Auto-Recharge-Triggered says whether an automatic recharge was started; retry once it lands.
- `429`: RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED: your plan's rate limit. Retry-After: 60.
- `500`: TOOL_ERROR, INTERNAL_ERROR or CREDIT_DEDUCTION_FAILED.
- `default`: Any other error. Which of 403, 404, 413, 422, 501, 502, 503 and 504 a tool can return depends on what it does (fetching a page, calling the execution backend, reading stored results); the code vocabulary is listed on the ErrorResponse schema.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/crawlforge/apis/crawlforge-rest-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/crawlforge/apis/crawlforge-rest-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/crawlforge/apis/crawlforge-rest-api/revisions/a5532fa8d5d5?raw)