Streaming

Overview

When using the Tavily Research API, you can stream responses in real-time by setting stream: true in your request. This allows you to receive research progress updates, tool calls, and final results as they’re generated, providing a better user experience for long-running research tasks. Streaming is particularly useful for:

Displaying research progress to users in real-time
Monitoring tool calls and search queries as they execute
Receiving incremental updates during lengthy research operations
Building interactive research interfaces

Enabling Streaming

To enable streaming, set the stream parameter to true when making a request to the Research endpoint:

{
  "input": "What are the latest developments in AI?",
  "stream": true
}

The API will respond with a text/event-stream content type, sending Server-Sent Events (SSE) as the research progresses.

Event Structure

Each streaming event follows a consistent structure compatible with the OpenAI chat completions format:

{
  "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174111",
  "object": "chat.completion.chunk",
  "model": "mini",
  "created": 1705329000,
  "choices": [
    {
      "delta": {
        // Event-specific data here
      }
    }
  ]
}

Core Fields

Field	Type	Description
`id`	string	Unique identifier for the stream event
`object`	string	Always `"chat.completion.chunk"` for streaming events
`model`	string	The research model being used (`"mini"` or `"pro"`)
`created`	integer	Unix timestamp when the event was created
`choices`	array	Array containing the delta with event details

Event Types

The streaming response includes different types of events in the delta object. Here are the main event types you’ll encounter:

1. Tool Call Events

When the research agent performs actions like web searches, you’ll receive tool call events:

{
  "id": "evt_002",
  "object": "chat.completion.chunk",
  "model": "mini",
  "created": 1705329005,
  "choices": [
    {
      "delta": {
        "role": "assistant",
        "tool_calls": {
          "type": "tool_call",
          "tool_call": [
            {
              "name": "WebSearch",
              "id": "fc_633b5932-e66c-4523-931a-04a7b79f2578",
              "arguments": "Executing 5 search queries",
              "queries": ["latest AI developments 2024", "machine learning breakthroughs", "..."]
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Tool Call Delta Fields:

Field	Type	Description
`type`	string	Either `"tool_call"` or `"tool_response"`
`tool_call`	array	Details about the tool being invoked
`name`	string	Name of the tool (see Tool Types below)
`id`	string	Unique identifier for the tool call
`arguments`	string	Description of the action being performed
`queries`	array	(WebSearch only) The search queries being executed
`parent_tool_call_id`	string	(Pro mode only) ID of the parent tool call for nested operations

2. Tool Response Events

After a tool executes, you’ll receive response events with discovered sources:

{
  "id": "evt_003",
  "object": "chat.completion.chunk",
  "model": "mini",
  "created": 1705329010,
  "choices": [
    {
      "delta": {
        "role": "assistant",
        "tool_calls": {
          "type": "tool_response",
          "tool_response": [
            {
              "name": "WebSearch",
              "id": "fc_633b5932-e66c-4523-931a-04a7b79f2578",
              "arguments": "Completed executing search tool call",
              "sources": [
                {
                  "url": "https://example.com/article",
                  "title": "Example Article",
                  "favicon": "https://example.com/favicon.ico"
                }
              ]
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Tool Response Fields:

Field	Type	Description
`name`	string	Name of the tool that completed
`id`	string	Unique identifier matching the original tool call
`arguments`	string	Completion status message
`sources`	array	Sources discovered by the tool (with `url`, `title`, `favicon`)
`parent_tool_call_id`	string	(Pro mode only) ID of the parent tool call

3. Content Events

The final research report is streamed as content chunks:

{
  "id": "evt_004",
  "object": "chat.completion.chunk",
  "model": "mini",
  "created": 1705329015,
  "choices": [
    {
      "delta": {
        "role": "assistant",
        "content": "# Research Report\n\nBased on the latest sources..."
      }
    }
  ]
}

Content Field:

Can be a string (markdown-formatted report chunks) when no output_schema is provided
Can be an object (structured data) when an output_schema is specified

4. Sources Event

After the content is streamed, a sources event is emitted containing all sources used in the research:

{
  "id": "evt_005",
  "object": "chat.completion.chunk",
  "model": "mini",
  "created": 1705329020,
  "choices": [
    {
      "delta": {
        "role": "assistant",
        "sources": [
          {
            "url": "https://example.com/article",
            "title": "Example Article Title",
            "favicon": "https://example.com/favicon.ico"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

Source Object Fields:

Field	Type	Description
`url`	string	The URL of the source
`title`	string	The title of the source page
`favicon`	string	URL to the source’s favicon

5. Done Event

Signals the completion of the streaming response:

event: done

Tool Types

During research, you’ll encounter the following tool types in streaming events:

Tool Name	Description	Model
`Planning`	Initializes the research plan based on the input query	Both
`Generating`	Generates the final research report from collected information	Both
`WebSearch`	Executes web searches to gather information	Both
`ResearchSubtopic`	Conducts deep research on specific subtopics	Pro only

Research Flow Example

A typical streaming session follows this sequence:

Planning tool_call → Initializing research plan
Planning tool_response → Research plan initialized
WebSearch tool_call → Executing search queries (with queries array)
WebSearch tool_response → Search completed (with sources array)
(Pro mode) ResearchSubtopic tool_call/response cycles for deeper research
Generating tool_call → Generating final report
Generating tool_response → Report generated
Content events → Streamed report chunks
Sources event → Complete list of all sources used
Done event → Stream complete

Handling Streaming Responses

Python Example

from tavily import TavilyClient

# Step 1. Instantiating your TavilyClient
tavily_client = TavilyClient(api_key="tvly-YOUR_API_KEY")

# Step 2. Creating a streaming research task
stream = tavily_client.research(
    input="Research the latest developments in AI",
    model="pro",
    stream=True
)

for chunk in stream:
    print(chunk.decode('utf-8'))

JavaScript Example

const { tavily } = require("@tavily/core");

const tvly = tavily({ apiKey: "tvly-YOUR_API_KEY" });

const stream = await tvly.research("Research the latest developments in AI", {
  model: "pro",
  stream: true,
});

for await (const chunk of result as AsyncGenerator<Buffer, void, unknown>) {
    console.log(chunk.toString('utf-8'));
}

Structured Output with Streaming

When using output_schema to request structured data, the content field will contain an object instead of a string:

{
  "delta": {
    "role": "assistant",
    "content": {
      "company": "Acme Corp",
      "key_metrics": ["Revenue: $1M", "Growth: 50%"],
      "summary": "Company showing strong growth..."
    }
  }
}

Error Handling

If an error occurs during streaming, you may receive an error event:

{
  "id": "1d77bdf5-38a4-46c1-87a6-663dbc4528ec",
  "object": "error",
  "error": "An error occurred while streaming the research task"
}

Always implement proper error handling in your streaming client to gracefully handle these cases.

Non-Streaming Alternative

If you don’t need real-time updates, set stream: false (or omit the parameter) to receive a single complete response:

{
  "request_id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174111",
  "created_at": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "status": "pending",
  "input": "What are the latest developments in AI?",
  "model": "mini",
  "response_time": 1.23
}

You can then poll the status endpoint to check when the research is complete.

API Reference

Core Endpoints

Research Endpoint

Account

Enterprise API Reference

Python SDK

JavaScript SDK

Best Practices

Overview

Enabling Streaming

Event Structure

Core Fields

Event Types

1. Tool Call Events

2. Tool Response Events

3. Content Events

4. Sources Event

5. Done Event

Tool Types

Research Flow Example

Handling Streaming Responses

Python Example

JavaScript Example

Structured Output with Streaming

Error Handling

Non-Streaming Alternative

API Reference

Core Endpoints

Research Endpoint

Account

Enterprise API Reference

Python SDK

JavaScript SDK

Best Practices

Documentation Index

​Overview

​Enabling Streaming

​Event Structure

​Core Fields

​Event Types

​1. Tool Call Events

​2. Tool Response Events

​3. Content Events

​4. Sources Event

​5. Done Event

​Tool Types

​Research Flow Example

​Handling Streaming Responses

​Python Example

​JavaScript Example

​Structured Output with Streaming

​Error Handling

​Non-Streaming Alternative

Overview

Enabling Streaming

Event Structure

Core Fields

Event Types

1. Tool Call Events

2. Tool Response Events

3. Content Events

4. Sources Event

5. Done Event

Tool Types

Research Flow Example

Handling Streaming Responses

Python Example

JavaScript Example

Structured Output with Streaming

Error Handling

Non-Streaming Alternative