# Sources and AI answer engines

> Research source names, options, and Laravel-specific retrieval services.

The shared catalog has 16 research sources: `brave`, `claude`, `exa`, `firecrawl`, `gemini`, `google`, `grok`, `jina`, `kagi`, `openai`, `openrouter`, `parallel`, `perplexity`, `tavily`, `valyu`, and `you`.

`Librarium::sources()` reports local configured state, variants, options, and offline price hints. A catalog entry is not proof of credentials or current provider access. PHP and JS options and retrieval-service availability differ.

## Source options

Options select behavior under a source name: Brave answers/search, Gemini grounded/chat, Grok web/X/both, OpenRouter grounded/chat, Parallel turbo/search and processor, Perplexity quick variant/deep effort, Valyu mode/output, You.com answer/research, Google retrieval service/vertical, and OpenAI model/effort. Validate against the shared catalog and local discovery.

Deep Exa, Gemini, OpenAI, Parallel, Perplexity, Valyu, and You.com support recovery. Sources without a deep variant are skipped. See [costs and limits](/docs/php/costs-and-limits) before paid research.

## AI answer engines chosen by name

ChatGPT (`chatgpt`), Gemini (`gemini-app`), Google AI Mode (`google-ai-mode`), Google AI Overview (`google-ai-overview`), and Copilot (`copilot`) return observations of consumer AI answers. Select them by name with `only()` or a saved group at quick depth.

SearchAPI retrieves AI answers; DataForSEO supports selected PHP engines with standard/live priority and required location/language controls. Standard tasks can support recovery even at quick depth. Configure the retrieval service separately from the source name. Inspect the package reference for exact controls; account availability and paid acceptance are separate from offline support.

## Firecrawl

Firecrawl search is built into core using Laravel HTTP. The optional `jkudish/laravel-ai-librarium-firecrawl` package retrieves AI answer-engine observations through a browser using SDK Interact or Agent and lets apps declare custom engines by URL. Recovery details live in private Run state; webhooks prompt a check, while polling retrieves the completed report.

Engine output is `observation: surface`, distinct from a research API answer and potentially different from a particular account. Preserve retrieval-service provenance and treat a shared service as correlated evidence.