# Utility Data API (https://www.socialcrawl.dev/platforms/utility)

> The Utility API is SocialCrawl's developer-experience surface. Four free, registry-derived endpoints let developers and AI agents self-onboard: the full catalog of 679 endpoints, a usage guide for any one of them, a quickstart covering auth, billing, and errors, and the llms.txt agent context served over the API.

TL;DR: SocialCrawl's Utility API exposes 13 endpoints, 0 to 1 credits per call, all returning one unified JSON schema with computed fields such as engagement rate, language and content category. Single x-api-key auth, 100 free credits on signup.

## Endpoints

| Endpoint | Method | Path | Credits | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Browse Endpoint Catalog | GET | `/v1/utility/endpoints` | 0 | List every available endpoint |
| Endpoint Usage Guide | GET | `/v1/utility/endpoint` | 0 | How to use any endpoint |
| Browse Capabilities | GET | `/v1/utility/capabilities` | 0 | List the parameters that work across endpoints |
| Call Planner | GET | `/v1/utility/plan` | 0 | Plan the calls for a job |
| Resolve Input | GET | `/v1/utility/resolve` | 0 | Identify a URL, handle or id |
| Estimate Cost | GET | `/v1/utility/estimate` | 0 | Quote the credit cost of a call or a plan |
| Explain Error | GET | `/v1/utility/explain-error` | 0 | Explain a failed API response |
| Detect AI Text | GET | `/v1/utility/ai-detection` | 1 | Check how likely a text was written by AI |
| Search Docs | GET | `/v1/utility/docs-search` | 0 | Search the docs |
| Find Endpoint | GET | `/v1/utility/find` | 0 | Find the endpoint for a task |
| Task Recipes | GET | `/v1/utility/recipes` | 0 | List task recipes with their cost |
| API Quickstart | GET | `/v1/utility/quickstart` | 0 | Get started in one call |
| AI Agent Context | GET | `/v1/utility/llms` | 0 | AI-agent context payload |

## Code example

```bash
curl "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/utility/endpoints" \
  -H "x-api-key: sc_YOUR_API_KEY"
```

Every response shares one JSON envelope: `{ success, platform, endpoint, data, credits_used, credits_remaining }`.

## SocialCrawl vs Scraping docs + inventing paths

| Feature | SocialCrawl | Scraping docs + inventing paths |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Discovery | One free GET lists every callable path, cost, and parameter | Crawl HTML docs or guess /v1/{platform}/{resource} paths |
| First call | /v1/utility/quickstart returns auth, envelope, billing, and a copy-paste curl | Read auth, errors, and pricing pages separately |
| Agent onboarding | /v1/utility/llms serves the llms.txt corpus as API JSON or markdown | Scrape documentation pages and risk drift |
| Accuracy | Generated from the live registry that routes and bills requests | Stale docs when endpoints ship or retire |
| Cost to browse | 0 credits for catalog, guide, quickstart, and agent context | Time and token cost of reading the wrong page |

## FAQ

### What is the SocialCrawl Utility API?

The Utility platform hosts 13 free developer-experience endpoints generated from the endpoint registry: a machine-readable catalog of the full 679-endpoint surface, a per-endpoint usage guide, a quickstart covering auth and billing, and the llms.txt agent context served over the API.

### Which Utility endpoints are free to call?

All of them. /v1/utility/endpoints (the catalog), /v1/utility/endpoint (the usage guide), /v1/utility/quickstart (first-call setup), and /v1/utility/llms (agent context) cost 0 credits. They still require an x-api-key, but calling them never spends credits, so tooling and agents can browse the surface freely.

### Can AI agents self-onboard with the Utility API?

Yes, that is what these free endpoints are for. An agent holding an API key calls /v1/utility/quickstart for auth, billing, and error rules, /v1/utility/llms for the full context corpus, and /v1/utility/endpoints to discover the catalog, then follows each entry's how_to_use link to /v1/utility/endpoint for exact parameters. No documentation scraping is involved.

### How does the endpoint catalog stay accurate?

It is generated from the running endpoint registry on each request, the same registry the API router uses. New endpoints appear as soon as they ship, retired ones drop out, and the advertised credit costs match billing.

### What is the fastest way to make a first SocialCrawl call?

Two requests: GET /v1/utility/quickstart for the rules and a copy-paste first_call curl, then run that curl. Auth, envelope, billing tiers, error codes, and rate limits are all in one free response.

### Does SocialCrawl provide an API for AI agents to learn the surface?

Yes. GET /v1/utility/llms serves the same context corpus as llms.txt through the API as markdown or structured JSON, so an agent with a key can bootstrap itself in one call instead of scraping documentation pages. It is free at 0 credits.

## Pricing

- Standard endpoints: 1 credit per call
- Advanced endpoints: 5 credits per call
- Premium endpoints: 10 credits per call
- 100 free credits on signup, no credit card required. Cached responses cost 0 credits. Credit packs never expire.
- Full pricing: https://www.socialcrawl.dev/pricing

## Explore with AI

Questions this API answers, phrased for an AI assistant:

- Which SocialCrawl endpoints are free to call?
- How can an AI agent discover every SocialCrawl API endpoint?
- What is the fastest way to onboard onto the SocialCrawl API?
- How do I list every endpoint the SocialCrawl API offers?
- Which API returns auth, billing, and error rules in one response?