---
title: "Call keyword_research.sweep"
method: POST
path: "/api/v1/tools/keyword_research.sweep"
tags: ["keyword_research"]
---

# Call keyword_research.sweep

`POST /api/v1/tools/keyword_research.sweep`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://app.goosybear.ai`
- URL: `https://app.goosybear.ai/api/v1/tools/keyword_research.sweep`
- Auth: HTTP bearer

Kick off a new keyword sweep on a seed term — 'research keywords for coffee shops near me', 'look up search volume for this term'. Run a NEW keyword sweep on a seed term and file it on a board. This calls a paid provider and CHARGES the workspace credits, so check keyword_research.read first — a sweep we already ran costs nothing to re-read. When the member asked for it themselves it runs; otherwise they see an approve card first. Never say data came back until the tool has returned rows. Not for sweeps already run — that is `keyword_research.read`. Over the API it answers in two calls: without confirmation_id it proposes — says what would happen, returns a confirmation_id and changes, spends and sends nothing; the same arguments again with that confirmation_id, on a member's own API key, do it.

Every result names the workspace it ran in. Say which workspace the answer is about. When the account has more than one workspace and none is selected, this tool refuses with `workspace_ambiguous` and lists the choices — offer them, never pick one.

## Headers

- `x-request-id` string

## Request body

- object
  - `query` string, required: The seed term to sweep, in the operator's own words.
  - `limit` integer: How many keyword rows to ask for. 1-50; defaults to 10.
  - `board_id` string, uuid: The board to file the sweep on, by id. Omit on a board conversation — the board you are standing on is used.
  - `board_name` string: The board to file the sweep on, by NAME — use this off a board when the operator names one (e.g. 'Launch ideas'). If neither this nor board_id is given and you are not on a board, the tool answers with the boards to choose from.
  - `confirmation_id` string, uuid: Omit to propose: the first call says what would happen, returns a confirmation_id and changes nothing. To go ahead, send the same arguments again with that confirmation_id, on a member's own API key; a service account's key can propose but never confirm.
  - `workspace` string: Which workspace to run in — its slug. Omit to use your default. With more than one reachable workspace and no default, the call is refused and the choices are listed.

## Response `200`

The call was admitted and dispatched. `ok` says whether the tool succeeded — a refusal the tool itself produced is still a 200, exactly as it is a successful JSON-RPC result over MCP.

- union
  - object: The tool ran and answered.
    - `ok` true, required
    - `state` 'confirmation_required'
    - `confirmation_id` string, uuid
    - `expires_in_seconds` integer
    - `request_summary` string: What will happen, in one sentence, for a person to approve before confirming.
    - `sweep` object
      - `sweep_id` string, required
      - `query` string, required
      - `status` string, required
      - `ran_at` string, required
      - `rows` object[], required
        - `keyword` string, required
        - `volume` number, nullable, required
        - `difficulty` string, nullable, required
      - `serp_results` object[], required
        - `title` string, required
        - `url` string, required
        - `snippet` string, nullable, required
      - `total_row_count` integer, required
    - `board_id` string
    - `board_item_id` string
    - `credits_consumed_thousandths` integer
    - `workspace` string, required: The slug of the workspace this call ran in.
    - `working_in` object, required: Which workspace this call ran in, and how that was decided. Present on every workspace-scoped result.
      - `label` string, required: The chip words — e.g. "working in: Acme Main".
      - `note` string, required: Why this workspace — e.g. "your default", "this call only".
      - `workspace` string, required: The resolved workspace's slug.
      - `source` 'call-override' | 'key-pin' | 'stored-default' | 'sole-reachable', required: Which rung of the R7 precedence resolved the workspace.
  - ToolRefusal: A call that was admitted and dispatched, and did not succeed.
    - `ok` false, required
    - `code` string, required: The typed reason — e.g. `workspace_ambiguous`, `invalid_arguments`, or the tool's own failure code.
    - `message` string, required: A sentence a person can act on.
    - `workspaces` string[]: On a workspace refusal: the slugs this key may pass as `workspace`.
    - `issues` object[]: On `invalid_arguments`: which fields failed, and why.
      - `path` string, required
      - `message` string, required
    - `path` string: On an authoring refusal: where in your call's input it points, e.g. `steps.<key>.params.<field>`.
    - `fix` string: On an authoring refusal: the change to your call that would pass.
    - `instruction` string: On an authoring refusal: what to do next with it.

## Other responses

- `400`: The request could not be used: the body is present but not a JSON object (`tenant_api.malformed_body`); it is a top-level array carrying more messages than this endpoint accepts (`tenant_mcp.batch_too_large`); or the `Idempotency-Key` header is malformed (`tenant_api.idempotency_key_invalid`), disagrees with the body's `idempotency_key` (`tenant_api.idempotency_key_conflict`), or was sent to an action that cannot replay a retry (`tenant_api.idempotency_unsupported`). Nothing ran.
- `401`: No bearer credential, or one that did not resolve. Deliberately ONE undifferentiated answer for absent / unknown / revoked / expired, so the endpoint is never an oracle over the key space.
- `403`: The credential is good but the surface is not open to it — the platform or account API switch is off, or the holder lacks the `api.access` capability. The `code` says which.
- `404`: No such tool. The body names no tool and is identical for every unrecognised name.
- `429`: Over this key's per-minute cap. Carries `Retry-After` and `error.retry_after_seconds`.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/goosybear/apis/goosy-bear-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/goosybear/apis/goosy-bear-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/goosybear/apis/goosy-bear-api/revisions/bd8f793b36b5?raw)