> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.apollospace.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Scout — the researcher

> The persona that finds public information, analyzes companies, and consolidates cited snippets.

## What it's for

**Scout** is the **public research** agent. When you need to know something that lives **outside your org** — a company, a market, a product, a public figure, a recent article — Scout is who you talk to.

It's not the right agent for:

* Touching your CRM (that's [Marcus](/en/agents/marcus) or
  [Athena](/en/agents/athena))
* Making decisions or acting on behalf of the company (that's Athena)
* Talking to customers (Marcus, or the leader's Digital Twin)

## How it works

<Steps>
  <Step title="You describe what you want to know">
    Examples:

    * *"Research Magazine Luiza — business model + team size"*
    * *"Who are the top 3 competitors of Linx?"*
    * *"Has Stone's CEO made any public statements about crypto in 2026?"*
  </Step>

  <Step title="Scout searches the web">
    The first choice is the [Tavily](/en/integrations/tavily) engine (grounded
    public-web search). If Tavily returns nothing useful — or if your org
    doesn't have a key configured — Scout automatically falls back to a
    built-in web search as a secondary option.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Scout assembles the answer">
    The response comes with **cited snippets**: every claim is linked to the
    URL that was its source. No citation = Scout is not asserting that point
    (it appears as an explicit hypothesis).
  </Step>

  <Step title="You can ask for a deeper dive">
    *"Go deeper on item 2"* or *"Read the full article 1"* — Scout fires a
    `read_url` against the specific link and comes back with the unpacked
    content.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Scout's tools

| Tool                    | Purpose                                                    |
| ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Web search**          | Public web research (primary engine + automatic fallback)  |
| **URL reader**          | Reads the content of a specific URL in depth               |
| **Structured scraping** | Extracts data from complex pages when search isn't enough  |
| **Pain-point mining**   | Extracts repeated patterns from public Google Maps reviews |
| **Site evaluation**     | Checks whether a URL matches an ICP / persona for your org |

Every call generates a trace and an entry in the org's usage history —
auditable via "View trace" in chat or in the Billing panel. The cost of
each tool is charged in [Stars](/en/billing/stars) according to the
current pricing table in the panel.

## Rate limits

To protect your org's key from accidental exhaustion:

* **Per-org cap** — a searches-per-second ceiling is enforced per
  organization. When it's hit, Scout automatically falls back to an
  alternative engine for a short period, then resumes.
* **Cap-fire audit** — every time the cap fires, it's recorded in the
  org's event history so you can track it.

## Examples of effective prompts

### Company research

```
Research the company Petrobras:
1. Business model
2. Top 3 products by revenue
3. Recent ESG initiatives (past year)

Answer in short bullets. Cite the URL for each item.
```

### Competitive analysis

```
Who are the 3 main competitors of Pipefy today?
For each, include: ICP served, average price, main
technical differentiator.
```

### Fact verification

```
This article claims Stone had a 40% drop in Q1/2026.
URL: [link]
Confirm or refute with alternative sources.
```

### Review mining (pain-points)

```
Mine pain-points from public Google Maps reviews of the
10 largest gyms in São Paulo. Focus on repeated patterns.
```

## When Scout fails (and what to do)

| Symptom                       | Likely cause                                   | What to do                                                          |
| ----------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Vague response / no citations | Search engine key not configured               | Set the vendor key in the integrations panel                        |
| Recurring "I found nothing"   | Query too broad or wrong language              | Rephrase in specific pt-BR OR in English                            |
| Cap fires for minutes         | Search loop in the chat                        | Pause + review the prompt — Scout doesn't normally loop on its own  |
| Cites example.com as a source | Test (dry-run) mode enabled in the environment | Check with the org admin — in production the default is already off |

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Search engine" icon="magnifying-glass" href="/en/integrations/tavily">
    How to connect your public search engine key.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Marcus — outbound" icon="paper-plane" href="/en/agents/marcus">
    When Scout finishes the research, Marcus takes over and writes the
    commercial outreach.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Athena — operator" icon="user-tie" href="/en/agents/athena">
    For research + action in the same turn, Athena usually orchestrates
    better than Scout alone.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Costs" icon="star" href="/en/billing/stars">
    Each Scout call charges Stars from the org's wallet.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>