# Nova Research Brief API

> Nova Research Brief API is a paid API for AI agents from nova-agent-output-recovery.onrender.com, paid per call via x402, $0.99/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-27).

Generates a cited research memo answering a business or technical question about a specific company using public sources, returned as structured JSON with scored citations and a markdown narrative.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://nova-agent-output-recovery.onrender.com/v1/research-brief?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.99/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-27
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/nova-research-brief-api-aad1d6b4
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_Co6o_38mhZT4S1yhr_xJP

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability nova-research-brief-api-aad1d6b4 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Can you pull together a cited research memo on Stripe's stablecoin payments product — what do public sources say about their partnerships and roadmap over the past year? Use deep retrieval depth.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need a structured, citation-backed research memo about a specific company or organization, especially when source credibility and traceability matter. It is preferable over generic web search when you need scored and ranked citations with confidence ratings, a synthesized markdown narrative, and structured JSON output ready for downstream agent consumption. Best suited for due diligence, competitive intelligence, and investor research tasks where cited evidence is required. Use the deep depth option when breadth of sources matters more than speed.

## Known failure modes

- Missing or too-short question field (minLength 8) returns validation error
- Payment header missing or invalid triggers HTTP 402 with payment challenge
- Company domain not publicly indexed returns sparse or zero citations
- Deep retrieval depth may timeout on slow provider responses
- Time window constraints may yield no results if the topic has no recent coverage
- Provider (Tavily) rate limits or outages cause upstream failures

## How this service works

Paid x402 v2 API for source-linked company research and deterministic recovery of malformed AI-agent output. Configured network: eip155:8453. Agent output recovery is $0.01. Company intelligence reports are $0.25. Cited research memos are $0.99. Prices are fixed exact USDC payments. Call without a payment header first and follow the HTTP 402 PAYMENT-REQUIRED challenge. MCP Streamable HTTP is at https://nova-agent-output-recovery.onrender.com/mcp. The free nova_catalog tool lists prices. Paid MCP tools return an x402 payment-required tool result until payment is verified and settled.

## Output

A JSON object containing a status field, echoed request parameters, an array of scored and ranked source citations (each with URL, title, domain, snippet, confidence rating, source type, and published date), a markdown-formatted research decision memo with an executive answer and inline citations, and metadata about the underlying provider search (cache hit, number of searches, response time, credits used, and request IDs).

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "depth": {
   "enum": [
    "quick",
    "standard",
    "deep"
   ],
   "type": "string",
   "description": "Optional retrieval depth. Defaults to standard. Deep uses a deeper provider search and still returns 5 to 8 citations."
  },
  "domain": {
   "type": "string",
   "maxLength": 2048,
   "minLength": 4,
   "description": "Optional public company domain or website, such as https://example.com."
  },
  "company": {
   "type": "string",
   "maxLength": 200,
   "minLength": 1,
   "description": "Optional company or organization name used to focus public-source retrieval."
  },
  "question": {
   "type": "string",
   "maxLength": 2000,
   "minLength": 8,
   "description": "Public business, technical, or general research question the memo should answer with cited sources."
  },
  "time_window": {
   "enum": [
    "24h",
    "day",
    "7d",
    "week",
    "30d",
    "month",
    "90d",
    "1y",
    "year",
    "all"
   ],
   "type": "string",
   "description": "Optional evidence window. Defaults to year. Values map to the research provider where supported; 90d is applied as a query constraint."
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "status": "complete",
  "request": {
   "depth": "standard",
   "domain": "northwind.example",
   "company": "Northwind",
   "question": "What public evidence describes Northwind's payments product and its Contoso partnership?",
   "timeWindow": "year",
   "providerTimeRange": "year"
  },
  "sources": [
   {
    "id": "s1",
    "url": "https://www.northwind.example/payments",
    "score": 0.91,
    "title": "Northwind payments overview",
    "domain": "northwind.example",
    "snippet": "Northwind announced a partnership with Contoso that expanded its payments product in 2026.",
    "confidence": "high",
    "sourceType": "external",
    "publishedDate": "2026-06-01"
   },
   {
    "id": "s2",
    "url": "https://www.northwind.example/about",
    "score": 0.88,
    "title": "About Northwind",
    "domain": "northwind.example",
    "snippet": "Northwind builds checkout software for retailers.",
    "confidence": "high",
    "sourceType": "company-owned",
    "publishedDate": null
   },
   {
    "id": "s3",
    "url": "https://www.northwind.example/product",
    "score": 0.84,
    "title": "Product page",
    "domain": "northwind.example",
    "snippet": "The payments product supports card checkout for merchants.",
    "confidence": "high",
    "sourceType": "company-owned",
    "publishedDate": "2026-03-01"
   },
   {
    "id": "s4",
    "url": "https://journal.example.org/payments-2026",
    "score": 0.81,
    "title": "Industry journal",
    "domain": "journal.example.org",
    "snippet": "Public filings describe Northwind payments as merchant checkout software.",
    "confidence": "high",
    "sourceType": "external",
    "publishedDate": "2026-05-12"
   },
   {
    "id": "s5",
    "url": "https://news.example.org/northwind-contoso",
    "score": 0.77,
    "title": "Trade press",
    "domain": "news.example.org",
    "snippet": "Northwind denied a partnership with Contoso and said the payments product was not expanded.",
    "confidence": "high",
    "sourceType": "external",
    "publishedDate": "2026-06-04"
   }
  ],
  "markdown": "# Cited Research Decision Memo\n\n## Executive answer\nSix public sources describe Northwind's payments product.\n",
  "research": {
   "cacheHit": false,
   "provider": "Tavily",
   "searches": 2,
   "requestIds": [
    "broad-1",
    "focused-1"
   ],
   "creditsUsed": 2,
   "responseTimeMs": 1600,
   "citedSourceCount": 5,
   "retrievedSourceCount": 5
  },
  "confidence": {
   "level": "
… (truncated)
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/nova-research-brief-api-aad1d6b4/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from nova-agent-output-recovery.onrender.com](https://www.zero.xyz/host/nova-agent-output-recovery.onrender.com/llms.txt)