Parallel

Use Parallel's web search API as a BitRouter web_search backend — bring a Parallel key and any routed model can search the web.

Parallel is a web search and research API built for AI agents — you give it an objective and queries, and it returns ranked results with excerpts. BitRouter speaks it natively as a backend for the built-in web search tool.

Get a key

Create an API key in the Parallel dashboard and export it:

export PARALLEL_API_KEY=...

Add Parallel to BitRouter

Declare a parallel backend under server_tools.web_search. The key resolves from an explicit api_key (which supports ${VAR}) or, when omitted, the conventional PARALLEL_API_KEY:

# bitrouter.yaml
server_tools:
  web_search:
    backends:
      - kind: parallel     # key from api_key or PARALLEL_API_KEY

Preference and failover. backends is an ordered list — the first whose key resolves is the default, and a failing backend falls over to the next. List Parallel alongside Exa, Firecrawl, or Tavily to chain them.

Use it

A request turns the tool on by declaring it; pin Parallel with args.backend:

{ "tools": [ { "type": "bitrouter:web_search", "args": { "backend": "parallel" } } ] }

The model then calls web_search with a query; BitRouter mirrors it into Parallel's objective plus search query, runs it, and feeds the results back inside the tool loop. Parallel fills title, snippet (excerpts), and published on each result.

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