> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://api.tryspecter.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Search person name
> Returns people whose name matches the `query`, each with a Specter person ID and a match confidence. Fetch a full profile with [Get person info by ID](/api-reference/people/get-person-info-by-id).
Costs 1 credit per request, regardless of how many matches are returned.
## Behaviour
- `query` is required and must be at least 3 characters.
- Returns at most 10 matches.
- Results are sorted by `match_confidence` (0–1) descending; only matches at or above 0.5 are returned.
- No matches returns an empty list.
## OpenAPI
````yaml /api-ref/bundle_api.yaml get /people/search
openapi: 3.0.0
info:
title: Specter API
termsOfService: https://tryspecter.com/terms/
contact:
name: API support
email: api-support@tryspecter.com
version: 1.0.0
servers:
- description: Production
url: https://app.tryspecter.com/api/v1
security:
- ApiKeyAuth: []
tags:
- name: Enrichment
description: >
Endpoints which can be used to query for data and, if the data is not
found request that it be retrieved by Specter systems.
- name: Companies
description: >
Endpoints that provide the most up to date information about all the
companies in our data set. Giving the ability to query by a specific
company id, or using a keyword such as the domain.
This also allows us to enrich the data about a company if we either do not
have it or it is older than expected, which means you always have the most
up-to-date information possible.
- name: People
description: >
Endpoints that expose Specter people records — profile data and contact
details — for a known person ID.
- name: Investors
description: >
Endpoints that expose Specter investor records — profile, activity,
targeting, funds, portfolio companies, and the funding rounds they have
participated in — for a known investor ID.
- name: Talent and Interest Signals
description: >
Endpoints for retrieving Specter Talent Signals and Investor Interest
Signals by ID.
- name: News Signals
description: >
Company-level news signals generated from articles monitored by Specter.
Each signal represents a single classified company mention within an
article and includes a summary of the newsworthy update (such as funding,
deals, revenue, profitability, or traction) along with an assigned
importance score.
- name: Revenue Signals
description: >
Revenue and profitability observations for companies, derived from news
coverage and public filings. Each signal captures one data point — the
revenue or profitability metric, the year it refers to, the source, and
the company it is attributed to.
- name: Transactions
description: >
Endpoints that expose transaction detail — funding rounds, acquisitions,
and IPOs — by ID.
- name: Company Lists
description: >
Create, query and maintain lists of companies that are of particular
interest. The endpoints here allow you to interrogate and maintain those
lists using a programmatic interface.
- name: People Lists
description: >
Create, query and maintain lists of people that are of particular
interest. The endpoints here allow you to interrogate and maintain those
lists using a programmatic interface.
- name: Investor Lists
description: >
Create, query and maintain lists of investors that are of particular
interest. The endpoints here allow you to interrogate and maintain those
lists using a programmatic interface.
- name: Network
description: >
Endpoints for accessing your team's LinkedIn network - the people and
companies your teammates are connected to.
- name: Saved Searches
description: >
Manage searches that have been saved via `tryspecter.com`. These endpoints
are useful to programmatically list and delete saved searches. To update a
search the UI should be used at `tryspecter.com`.
- name: Company Saved Searches
description: >
Query and get results for company searches that have been saved via
`tryspecter.com`. These endpoints are useful to programmatically get
results and information for a search. To update a search the UI should be
used at `tryspecter.com`.
- name: People Saved Searches
description: >
Query and get results for people searches that have been saved via
`tryspecter.com` or via the API. These endpoints are useful to
programmatically get results and information for a search. To update a
search the UI should be used at `tryspecter.com`.
- name: Investor Saved Searches
description: >
Query and inspect saved investor searches — metadata (name, match counts)
and paginated results — from searches saved via `tryspecter.com` or shared
with the API.
- name: Talent Signals Saved Searches
description: >
Query and get results for Talent Signals searches that have been saved via
`tryspecter.com`.
- name: Investor Interest Saved Searches
description: >
Query and get results for Investor Interest Signals searches that have
been saved via `tryspecter.com`.
- name: Organization
description: >
Endpoints for accessing your organization's members and org-level
resources.
- name: Customer Data
description: >
Retrieve a log of API calls made by your organization. Useful for auditing
usage, debugging integrations, and monitoring activity.
paths:
/people/search:
get:
tags:
- People
summary: Search person name
description: >
Returns people whose name matches the `query`, each with a Specter
person ID and a match confidence. Fetch a full profile with [Get person
info by ID](/api-reference/people/get-person-info-by-id).
Costs 1 credit per request, regardless of how many matches are
returned.
## Behaviour
- `query` is required and must be at least 3 characters.
- Returns at most 10 matches.
- Results are sorted by `match_confidence` (0–1) descending; only
matches at or above 0.5 are returned.
- No matches returns an empty list.
parameters:
- in: query
name: query
schema:
type: string
minLength: 3
required: true
allowEmptyValue: false
description: |
A name to search people by. Must be at least 3 characters.
responses:
'200':
description: The list of matching people, sorted by descending match confidence.
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: array
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/SearchPersonResult'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'402':
$ref: '#/components/responses/OutOfCredits'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Forbidden'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimits'
components:
schemas:
SearchPersonResult:
properties:
id:
description: >-
The Specter person ID for this person, can be used in people
endpoints.
type: string
example: per_7f8d9e2a1b3c4d5e6f7g8h9i0
full_name:
description: The person's full name.
nullable: true
type: string
example: Patrick Collison
headline:
description: The person's LinkedIn headline.
nullable: true
type: string
example: Co-founder and CEO at Stripe
linkedin_url:
description: URL for the LinkedIn account.
nullable: true
type: string
example: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickcollison
profile_picture_url:
description: A URL for a profile picture if there is one.
nullable: true
type: string
example: >-
https://peopledb-public.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/profile-pictures/per_7f8d9e2a1b3c4d5e6f7g8h9i0.jpg
current_company_name:
description: The name of the person's current employer, when resolvable.
nullable: true
type: string
example: Stripe
match_confidence:
description: >
How closely the person matched the query, from 0 to 1. Only matches
with a confidence of at least 0.5 are returned.
type: number
example: 0.98
required:
- id
- match_confidence
ApiKeyMissing:
properties:
errorCode:
description: API_KEY_MISSING
example: API_KEY_MISSING
type: string
message:
description: No API Key was presented on the header X-API-KEY
example: No API Key was presented on the header X-API-KEY
type: string
ApiKeyNotValid:
properties:
errorCode:
description: API_KEY_NOT_VALID
example: API_KEY_NOT_VALID
type: string
message:
description: API key present, but not valid
example: API key present, but not valid
type: string
responses:
Unauthorized:
description: Unauthorized
content:
application/json:
schema:
oneOf:
- $ref: '#/components/schemas/ApiKeyMissing'
- $ref: '#/components/schemas/ApiKeyNotValid'
OutOfCredits:
description: Out of credits - API credit limit exceeded
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
required:
- errorCode
- message
properties:
errorCode:
type: string
enum:
- OUT_OF_CREDITS
message:
type: string
description: |
There are no more credits available to complete the request.
headers:
X-CreditLimit-Limit:
schema:
type: integer
description: The total number of credits allocated for the current period
X-CreditLimit-Remaining:
schema:
type: integer
description: The number of credits remaining for the current period
X-CreditLimit-Reset:
schema:
type: number
format: float
description: The number of seconds until the credit limit resets
Forbidden:
description: Forbidden - There is no permissions to use the endpoint
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
errorCode:
description: NOT_PERMITTED
type: string
example: NOT_PERMITTED
message:
type: string
description: You do not have permission to access this resource.
example: You do not have permission to access this resource.
required:
- errorCode
- message
RateLimits:
description: Too Many Requests - API Rate limit exceeded
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
required:
- errorCode
- message
properties:
errorCode:
type: string
description: RATE_LIMITED
message:
type: string
description: You have been rate-limited
headers:
X-RateLimit-Limit:
schema:
type: integer
description: The total rate limit allowed for this endpoint
X-RateLimit-Remaining:
schema:
type: integer
description: The number of requests remaining
X-RateLimit-Reset:
schema:
type: number
format: float
description: The number of seconds until the rate limit resets
securitySchemes:
ApiKeyAuth:
type: apiKey
in: header
name: X-API-Key
````