Chat API Overview
Embed asksurf.ai-style conversational crypto research in your application.
Chat API Overview
Surf's Chat API powers the same conversational crypto research experience as asksurf.ai, available as an embeddable endpoint you can drop into your own product.
Ask a question, get a fully-sourced answer: live prices, on-chain activity, social signal, ETF flows, and macro context — assembled into coherent natural-language responses.
Quickstart
curl -X POST https://api.asksurf.ai/gateway/v1/responses \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SURF_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "surf-2.0",
"input": "What happened to BTC today?"
}'When to pick Chat over Data
| Use case | Product |
|---|---|
| "Give me structured market data, let me render it." | Data API |
| "Let my users ask open-ended crypto questions." | Chat API |
| "I'm coding in Claude Code and want crypto tools." | Skills |
Chat is the right pick when your users want answers, not rows. The response is natural language with inline citations, tuned for the same accuracy bar as asksurf.ai.
Pick your model
The Chat API is served by Research 2.0 (POST /v1/responses) in two variants:
| Model | Credits / call | When to use |
|---|---|---|
surf-2.0-instant | 20 | Lower-latency, more concise answers when speed matters more than depth. |
surf-2.0 | 20–200 | Full research engine — pricing scales with reasoning.effort. |
For surf-2.0, omitted reasoning or none costs 20 credits; minimal costs 30; low costs 50; medium costs 120; high costs 150; xhigh costs 200. See Credits & Pricing for USD rates.
The legacy Research 1.5 endpoint (POST /v1/chat/completions) has been retired and now returns 410 Gone. Migrate to POST /v1/responses: move your prompt into the input field, set model to surf-2.0 or surf-2.0-instant, and nest reasoning depth under reasoning.effort.
Next steps
- Research 2.0 reference — request schema, model variants, reasoning effort, streaming, and status codes.
- Authenticate your requests — how to generate and use an API key.
- Credits & pricing — per-call credit costs and USD rates. Check your balance and top up in the Dashboard.
More Chat-specific guides (prompt engineering, streaming, multi-turn sessions) are rolling out — check back, or ping us on Telegram if you have questions.