> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.clay.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Searches

> Find companies and people in Clay's proprietary GTM database.

Searches let you find companies and people in Clay's GTM database, then fetch structured records to use in your application, workflow, or agent.

## How you search

Advanced search supports criteria in Clay's field catalog as well as cross-entity filters, such as people at companies matching firmographics, and nested Boolean logic. You fetch the query reference, write a query, create a search, and page through results.

<Card title="Advanced search" href="/searches/advanced">
  Write Clay search queries with cross-entity criteria and nested Boolean logic.
</Card>

## What you can search

| Source type | Use it for |
| - | - |
| `people` | Contacts, titles, locations, and profile data |
| `companies` | Accounts, domains, industries, and firmographics |

## Result limits

Clay caps how many search results a workspace can return through the API. These limits apply to results returned across the CLI and Public API, and they scale with your plan.

| Plan | Results per request | Results per search | Results per period | Reset date |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Free | 50 | 50 | 100 per 30 days | Rolling (ages out daily at midnight UTC) |
| Trial | 50 | 50 | 10,000 for trial duration | Not applicable |
| Paid | 500 | Up to your period limit | 1,000,000 per 30 days | Rolling (ages out daily at midnight UTC) |
| Legacy paid (Starter, Explorer, Pro) | 500 | Up to your period limit | 1,000,000 per year | January 1 (UTC) |
| Enterprise | 500 | Up to your period limit | 10,000,000 per 30 days | Rolling (ages out daily at midnight UTC) |

* **Per request** is the largest limit you can request in a single call.
* **Per search** is the total results you can fetch across all pages of one `search_id`.
* **Reset date** is when the period limit resets. For rolling windows, usage ages out of the window daily at midnight UTC rather than resetting on a fixed calendar date.

Legacy Starter, Explorer, and Pro plans keep the yearly period limit. Legacy Enterprise plans use the Enterprise row. Moving to a current paid plan or Enterprise is what switches a workspace to the rolling 30-day limit.

When you exceed a limit, Clay returns HTTP `402` with a message naming the limit you hit. Period-limit errors also state when the limit resets. Malformed filters or other invalid input still return HTTP `400`. To increase a limit, paid customers can contact Clay Support; Enterprise customers should contact their assigned Clay GTME.

## Related guides

<Card title="Quickstart" href="/quickstart#api">
  Set up your API key.
</Card>

<Card title="Generated API reference" href="/api-reference/search/create-a-search-from-a-clay-search-query">
  See the create-search schema and try-it UI.
</Card>

<Card title="Run a search, then enrich with a function" href="/recipes/search-and-enrich">
  Combine Searches with Clay-managed functions.
</Card>


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