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Serply

Google search results as JSON. Use Serply in your Vellum assistant when you want the same organic results a person would see in Google, with a title, link, and snippet for each.

What it does

Serply is a search API that runs your query against Google and returns the organic results as structured JSON. Each result carries the page title, URL, and the snippet Google shows under it, in the order Google ranked them. Because the index is Google's, it covers the long tail of the web well and tracks news and recently changed pages closely.

When configured, Vellum sends web search calls to Serply and feeds the results back to your assistant in context. The model can cite the snippets, open a source with web fetch, or synthesize an answer across several results.

Prerequisites

  • A running Vellum assistant. Cloud, self-hosted, or the desktop apps all work.
  • A Serply API key. Create one at serply.io. New accounts start with free credits and no card is required. Serply keys are opaque strings with no fixed prefix.

Setup

Serply is BYOK (bring your own key). You stay in control of the key and pay Serply directly for usage.

  1. Open assistant settings. In Vellum, head to Settings → Models & Services.
  2. Add your Serply API key. Under the Web Search section, choose Serply as the provider and paste your API key. Vellum stores the key in your local secure store and never writes it to disk in plaintext.
  3. Try it. Start a new conversation and ask a question that needs fresh or hard-to-find information. Vellum calls Serply under the hood and feeds the Google results back to the model in context.

Prefer the CLI? From any shell where the assistant daemon is running:

assistant keys set serply <your-serply-api-key>
assistant config set services.web-search.provider serply

Swap or revoke the key at any time with assistant keys delete serply.

Best practices

  • Google operators work. Serply passes the query to Google unchanged, so site:, quoted phrases, and the other Google search operators narrow results the same way they do in a browser.
  • Result counts cap at ten. Serply returns one page of Google results per call, up to ten organic entries. Vellum requests at most ten and trims to the count the assistant asked for.
  • Recency filters use Google's time filter. When the assistant asks for results from the past day, week, month, or year, Vellum passes that window to Serply as Google's time filter, so filtered searches behave the same as choosing a time range under Google's Tools menu.
  • Fallback behavior. Serply participates in the web search fallback chain after the other BYOK providers. The chain skips any provider without a key connected; if none are connected, the search returns an error. See the Web Search page for the full fallback rules.
  • Billing. Serply usage is billed per request directly by Serply under the account that owns the key, separately from Vellum credits. Credits are prepaid and do not expire, and repeated identical requests served from Serply's cache are free.
  • Privacy. Search queries leave your assistant and reach Serply servers. Review the Serply privacy policy for details.

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