Search: 2 credits per search (including find-more)
Research: 1 credit per completed research
Check balance with GET /v1/usage
Purchase credits at https://happenstance.ai/settings/api

Available Operations

1. Search Your Network

Search for people across groups and connections. Searches run asynchronously.

Start a search:

curl -s -X POST https://api.happenstance.ai/v1/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HAPPENSTANCE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "text": "engineers who have worked on AI infrastructure",
    "include_my_connections": true,
    "include_friends_connections": true
  }'

You can also search within specific groups by adding "group_ids": ["uuid1", "uuid2"]. Get group IDs from GET /v1/groups.

At least one search source is required: group_ids, include_my_connections: true, or include_friends_connections: true.

Response:

{"id": "search-uuid", "url": "https://happenstance.ai/search/search-uuid"}

Poll for results (every 5-10 seconds until status is COMPLETED or FAILED):

curl -s https://api.happenstance.ai/v1/search/SEARCH_ID \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HAPPENSTANCE_API_KEY"

Completed response includes:

status: RUNNING, COMPLETED, or FAILED
results: array of people, each with id, name, current_title, current_company, summary, weighted_traits_score, socials (with happenstance_url, linkedin_url, twitter_url), mutuals, and traits
has_more: boolean indicating if more results are available
mutuals: top-level array of mutual connections (results reference these by index)
traits: top-level array of trait definitions (results reference these by index)

2. Find More Results

When has_more is true on a completed search, get additional results that exclude all previously returned people. Costs 2 credits.

curl -s -X POST https://api.happenstance.ai/v1/search/SEARCH_ID/find-more \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HAPPENSTANCE_API_KEY"

Response:

{"page_id": "page-uuid", "parent_search_id": "search-uuid"}

Then poll with the page_id:

curl -s "https://api.happenstance.ai/v1/search/SEARCH_ID?page_id=PAGE_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HAPPENSTANCE_API_KEY"

3. Research a Person

Get a detailed professional profile for a specific person. Runs asynchronously.

Start research:

curl -s -X POST https://api.happenstance.ai/v1/research \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HAPPENSTANCE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"description": "Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator, @garrytan on Twitter"}'

Include as many details as possible (full name, company, title, location, social handles) for best results.

Response:

{"id": "research-uuid"}

Poll for results (every 5-10 seconds until status is COMPLETED, FAILED, or FAILED_AMBIGUOUS):

curl -s https://api.happenstance.ai/v1/research/RESEARCH_ID \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HAPPENSTANCE_API_KEY"

Completed response includes a profile object with:

person_metadata: full_name, alternate_names, profile_urls, current_locations, tagline
employment: array of jobs with company_name, job_title, start_date, end_date, description
education: array with university_name, degree, start_date, end_date
projects: array with title, description, urls
writings: array of publications with title, description, date, urls
hobbies: array with description
summary: overall text summary with supporting urls

4. List Groups

Get the groups you can search within:

curl -s https://api.happenstance.ai/v1/groups \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HAPPENSTANCE_API_KEY"

Returns {"groups": [{"id": "uuid", "name": "Group Name"}, ...]}.

5. Check Credits and Usage

curl -s https://api.happenstance.ai/v1/usage \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HAPPENSTANCE_API_KEY"

Returns balance_credits, has_credits, purchases, usage history, and auto_reload settings.

Error Handling

Errors use RFC 7807 format:

{"type": "about:blank", "title": "Bad Request", "status": 400, "detail": "Description must not be empty", "instance": "/v1/research"}

Key status codes:

401: Invalid or missing API key
402: Insufficient credits
429: Too many concurrent requests (max 10 running searches or research requests)
500/503: Server error, retry with backoff

Tips

Always check credits before starting multiple searches or research requests.
Search typically completes in 30-60 seconds. Research takes 1-3 minutes.
Each search returns up to 30 results. Use find-more for additional pages.
When presenting search results, include the person's name, title, company, summary, and Happenstance profile link.
When presenting research, summarize the profile and link to sources.
The more data sources the user connects, the better the search results.

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