parallel-efficiency

Use the cheapest Parallel product and setting that delivers the answer; never let a default or a forgotten job decide the bill.

Prices and behaviour are a 2026-10-18 snapshot (prices, processors and rate limits re-read against the pricing and rate-limits pages on 2026-11-10, unchanged) of Parallel's docs and pricing page plus a context-size spike through the Search MCP. Billing itself was not measured live (no API key was available). When a figure matters and looks stale, check https://docs.parallel.ai/getting-started/pricing and the response's usage array, trust those, and report the discrepancy.

Hard rules

Never rely on an expensive default. Always send these fields explicitly:
- Search and Image Search mode: unset means advanced at $5/1K. Send "fast" ($1/1K) unless the question needs multi-hop results.
- Responses reasoning.effort: unset means medium at $50/1K. Send "low" ($10/1K) for fact lookups.
- Task and Task Group processor: required. Start from the cheapest that fits (below).
- FindAll generator, match_limit, and enrichment processor: enrichments default to core at $25 per 1,000 matches.
- The Parallel CLI ships pro for research, core for enrich and FindAll, and basic for search. Pass -p/-g/--mode every time.
Price before you spend. Run the estimator on any Task, Task Group, FindAll, Monitor, or Responses request, and respect a nonzero exit:
```
python3 <skill-dir>/scripts/parallel_cost.py estimate tasks/runs body.json --budget-usd 0.10
```