VOL for Developers

Build knowledge maps into your product

Q: How do I get an API key?

Sign in, open Settings → API keys and create a key. The full key is shown only once; store it securely.

A public REST API, a typed TypeScript SDK, React atoms for the graph and the chat, and a script embed. Everything VOL does, available to you.

Read the docs API reference

index.ts

import { VolClient } from "@vol/sdk";

const vol = new VolClient({ apiKey: process.env.VOL_API_KEY });

const cases = await vol.cases();
const { answer, citations, clusters } = await vol.chat({
  case: "cordis",
  question: "Which projects scale green hydrogen electrolysers?",
});

Developer

Everything you need to build

Docs, API, components and OAuth: pick the level of integration that fits your product.

Public API

A clean, predictable REST API

JSON over HTTPS, API-key authentication, consistent errors and binary graph endpoints optimised for the 3D viewer.

API reference

terminal

curl https://vol.com/api/v1/search \
  -H "X-API-Key: $VOL_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"case":"papers","query":"perovskite stability","topK":5}'

POST/v1/chatCited answers, optional SSE streaming
POST/v1/searchSemantic search over a corpus
GET/v1/casesAvailable corpora and sizes
GET/v1/graph/{case}/metaMap metadata and bounds
GET/v1/graph/{case}/nodes/{i}Document details
GET/v1/graph/{case}/neighbors/{i}Local subgraph around a node

Graph & Chat components

React atoms for maps and chat

Drop VolGraph and VolChat into any React app. They share one provider, stream answers and highlight cited nodes automatically.

Themeable with VOL UI tokens
Lazy-loaded 3D viewer
Fully typed props and events

Components docs

Research.tsx

import { VolProvider, VolChat, VolGraph, type VolGraphFocus } from "@vol/atoms";

export function Research() {
  const [focus, setFocus] = useState<VolGraphFocus>();
  return (
    <VolProvider apiKey={import.meta.env.VITE_VOL_KEY} defaultCase="papers">
      <VolGraph focus={focus} height={480} />
      <VolChat
        onAnswer={(r) => setFocus({ citations: r.citations.map((c) => c.nodeIndex), clusters: r.clusters })}
      />
    </VolProvider>
  );
}

Embed

One script tag, anywhere

No framework needed. The embed installs a Web Component with Shadow DOM styles, plus inline, floating-button and modal modes.

~8 kB gzip
Inline, floating or popup
Events for analytics

Embed guide

index.html

<script>
  (function (w, d, src) {
    w.Vol = w.Vol || function () { (w.Vol.q = w.Vol.q || []).push(arguments); };
    var s = d.createElement("script"); s.async = true; s.src = src; d.head.appendChild(s);
  })(window, document, "https://vol.com/embed/embed.js");
  Vol("init", { apiKey: "vol_live_…", case: "papers" });
  Vol("floatingButton", { buttonText: "Ask VOL" });
</script>

OAuth

Create an OAuth client

Let your users connect their VOL workspace to your app with scoped, revocable access. API keys work today for server-to-server use.

01Register your appName, logo and redirect URLs in Settings → Developer.
02Request scopeschat:read, search:read, graph:read, workspaces:read.
03Exchange the codeStandard authorization code flow with PKCE.

OAuth clients are in beta for Organizations and Enterprise plans.Request access.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

These are some of our most frequently asked questions.

Talk to sales Get started

How do I get an API key?

Are there rate limits?

Yes, generous per-plan limits. Responses include rate-limit headers, and the SDK retries politely.

Is there an OpenAPI spec?

Yes. The API reference in the docs is generated from the OpenAPI document served by the API.

Start building with VOL

Get an API key Read the docs

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