1 00:00:00,900 --> 00:00:03,968 How much does the University of Arkansas publish each year? 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:07,487 Ask your agent, and it asks OpenAlex. 3 00:00:10,356 --> 00:00:15,826 25,613 works in ten years, counted by one web address. 4 00:00:16,277 --> 00:00:20,665 No key, and the answer even says what it cost: a hundredth of a cent. 5 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,884 AI for 6 00:00:28,235 --> 00:00:31,538 Research Efficiency. Episode 10: Research APIs, a ladder of keys. 7 00:00:33,900 --> 00:00:39,388 Last time: what never goes to an agent, and why keys live in a .env file. 8 00:00:40,088 --> 00:00:44,620 In this episode: three research services, and the three kinds of key they take: 9 00:00:44,992 --> 00:00:49,142 none, a free key you limit, and a key that spends money. 10 00:00:53,300 --> 00:00:56,622 One: an API is a door for programs. 11 00:00:57,498 --> 00:01:00,861 You ask with a web address, and the answer comes back as JSON: 12 00:01:01,091 --> 00:01:03,393 plain text that a program can read. 13 00:01:05,136 --> 00:01:09,793 OpenAlex adds what each answer cost, and how much of today's allowance is left. 14 00:01:12,500 --> 00:01:14,422 Two: no key at all. 15 00:01:15,184 --> 00:01:20,234 OpenAlex catalogs the world's research: works, authors, institutions. 16 00:01:20,565 --> 00:01:23,530 Its data is free to reuse, for anything. 17 00:01:24,777 --> 00:01:27,241 Ask the agent to read the documentation first. 18 00:01:27,552 --> 00:01:31,939 Names are ambiguous, so it finds the university's ID before it counts. 19 00:01:34,149 --> 00:01:36,917 One request groups ten years of works by year. 20 00:01:37,269 --> 00:01:41,299 It's only a web address: open it in a browser, and the numbers are the same. 21 00:01:43,266 --> 00:01:47,979 Without a key, you get ten cents of use a day: about 1,000 of these requests. 22 00:01:48,330 --> 00:01:50,695 A free key gives you ten times that. 23 00:01:55,700 --> 00:01:58,243 Three: a free key you limit. 24 00:01:59,045 --> 00:02:01,126 Your reference library is private. 25 00:02:01,397 --> 00:02:04,309 Zotero's API needs a key to read it, 26 00:02:04,359 --> 00:02:07,781 and you choose what the key may do: read, and nothing else. 27 00:02:09,361 --> 00:02:14,665 The key goes in the .env file, never into the chat, even where a guide suggests it. 28 00:02:14,915 --> 00:02:17,377 The agent gets only the variable's name. 29 00:02:18,817 --> 00:02:21,862 Then ask: is anything in my library retracted? 30 00:02:22,253 --> 00:02:25,709 Here the library is exported as a list of DOIs, 31 00:02:25,820 --> 00:02:30,387 and the agent checks each one against OpenAlex. Single lookups are free. 32 00:02:32,308 --> 00:02:37,222 One comes back retracted, a flag OpenAlex takes from the Retraction Watch database. 33 00:02:37,554 --> 00:02:39,860 Open the notice, and confirm it yourself. 34 00:02:41,500 --> 00:02:46,110 Notice the agent's note, too: it calls OpenAlex's email lane optional. 35 00:02:46,361 --> 00:02:48,094 That lane closed in February, 36 00:02:48,205 --> 00:02:51,512 which is why you ask an agent to read the current documentation. 37 00:02:52,832 --> 00:02:55,184 When the work is done, delete the key. 38 00:02:58,100 --> 00:03:00,239 Four: where a key can go. 39 00:03:01,140 --> 00:03:06,066 Claude Code can be told never to read the .env file, and here it refused. 40 00:03:06,276 --> 00:03:08,739 But a script it ran could still read the key. 41 00:03:10,479 --> 00:03:13,663 Codex has a setting for which variables reach its commands, 42 00:03:13,813 --> 00:03:18,318 and by default it doesn't remove names with KEY, SECRET or TOKEN in them. 43 00:03:19,618 --> 00:03:24,026 Antigravity's sandbox blocks .env files, but in its command line, 44 00:03:24,076 --> 00:03:26,720 the sandbox is off until you turn it on. 45 00:03:28,064 --> 00:03:31,154 So in all three: the key stays in the file, 46 00:03:31,345 --> 00:03:35,397 the agent gets its name, and you read what a script prints. 47 00:03:38,900 --> 00:03:41,567 Five: a key that spends money. 48 00:03:42,330 --> 00:03:44,813 ElevenLabs turns text into speech. 49 00:03:45,144 --> 00:03:48,568 It's paid, and it's the service that narrates this series. 50 00:03:49,963 --> 00:03:52,389 Before a paid request, estimate. 51 00:03:52,781 --> 00:03:56,701 This summary of the practice folder's paper is 401 characters: 52 00:03:56,992 --> 00:03:58,716 about 45 credits. 53 00:04:00,441 --> 00:04:04,811 Make a key for this job only: text to speech, with a credit limit. 54 00:04:05,143 --> 00:04:09,713 The request names the key's variable, and the key itself never appears. 55 00:04:11,330 --> 00:04:13,580 Then listen before you use it. 56 00:04:14,539 --> 00:04:16,327 summary.mp3: Draining rice paddies now and then, 57 00:04:16,478 --> 00:04:19,208 instead of keeping them flooded, cuts methane. 58 00:04:21,189 --> 00:04:25,979 And check the license: ElevenLabs' free plan is for non-commercial use, 59 00:04:26,110 --> 00:04:30,198 with its name in the title. Paid plans include a commercial license. 60 00:04:34,100 --> 00:04:35,889 Six: manners. 61 00:04:36,754 --> 00:04:41,063 401 or 403 means no key, or the wrong one. 62 00:04:41,334 --> 00:04:47,005 429 means too many requests: wait, and try again, more slowly. 63 00:04:48,765 --> 00:04:50,788 And data comes with a license. 64 00:04:51,118 --> 00:04:56,435 OpenAlex's is free for any use; some services allow only non-commercial use, 65 00:04:56,746 --> 00:05:01,672 and Google Scholar has no API at all. The companion page lists them. 66 00:05:05,300 --> 00:05:06,882 Pause here, and try one: 67 00:05:07,272 --> 00:05:10,826 ask your agent for your campus's works per year from OpenAlex. 68 00:05:11,197 --> 00:05:14,460 No key needed. Then open the address it used. 69 00:05:19,700 --> 00:05:23,847 So: no key, a key you limit, a key that spends. 70 00:05:24,278 --> 00:05:26,472 Each key in the .env file, 71 00:05:26,803 --> 00:05:30,489 each paid request estimated, each answer checked. 72 00:05:33,900 --> 00:05:37,137 Next: Map a research field with OpenAlex.