POST /api/ask

Request	`POST /api/ask`
Authentication	Session cookie required
Handler	`backend/server.py`

What it does

A question answered from the catalog evidence for the named products. With no question the engine abstains by name rather than guessing.

Authentication

Session cookie required. Send the ff_session cookie. Without one the engine treats the caller as a new visitor with no holds and no claims, and returns a new cookie to use from then on.

Parameters

Parameter	In	Type	Required	Description
`ff_session`	cookie	`string`	Optional	The session identifier. Omit it on the first call and store the value the response sets; every later call must send the same one or the engine treats the caller as a new visitor with no holds and no claims.
`q`	body	`string`	Required	The question. Empty input is refused as `no_question`.
`product_ids`	body	`string[]`	Optional	Products to answer against. Defaults to the session's own resolution.

Request

The cookie jar carries the session between calls. Angle-bracketed values are the parameter types from the table above.

cURLJavaScriptPython

curl -s -b cookies.txt -c cookies.txt \
  -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"q":"<string>","product_ids":"<string[]>"}' \
  "https://flowfinds.ai/api/ask"

const res = await fetch("https://flowfinds.ai/api/ask", {
  method: "POST",
  credentials: "include",
  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "q": "<string>",
    "product_ids": "<string[]>"
  }),
});
const data = await res.json();

import requests

s = requests.Session()
r = s.post("https://flowfinds.ai/api/ask", json={
    "q": "<string>",
    "product_ids": "<string[]>"
  })
data = r.json()

Recorded example

curl -s -b cookies.txt -c cookies.txt \
  -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"q":"…","product_ids":["…"]}' \
  "$FLOWFINDS_ORIGIN/api/ask"

Responses

`200` — The question was answered, or abstained on by name.

Errors

Status	Reason	When
`400`	—	The body is not JSON.

GET /api/find — Serve this session's product, minting a hold if it does not have one.
GET /api/feed — Serve the whole field: this session's find first, then what it beat.
POST /api/select — Move this session's hold onto a named product from the field.
POST /api/pass — Claim the held product, or pass on it and be shown the next one.
POST /api/analyze — Run the analyser over any product description, claimed or not.
GET /api/analysis — The analysis of the product this session holds.
POST /api/discover — Run the discovery script and return its terminal output verbatim.
GET /api/discovery-research — Read the state of the external discovery research job.

Back to the API reference index, or read the cookbook for recipes that compose this endpoint with others.