# API Returning empty search\_results object **URL:** \ **Category:** Bug Reports\ **Created:** [August 4, 2025, 8:51am UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/api-returning-empty-search-results-object/861 "2025-08-04T08:51:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mike](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/community.perplexity.ai/mike/32/427_2.png) [@Mike](https://community.perplexity.ai/u/Mike)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2025, 8:51am UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/api-returning-empty-search-results-object/861/1 "2025-08-04T08:51:00Z")
## 🐛 Describe the Bug For a particular domain the API has suddenly stopped returning a search\_results object – i.e. there are no citations returned. See: curl --request POST --url [https://api.perplexity.ai/chat/completions](https://api.perplexity.ai/chat/completions) --header “accept: application/json” --header “authorization: Bearer pplx-xxx” --header “content-type: application/json” --data “{\“model\”:\“sonar-pro\”,\“messages\”:[{\“role\”:\“user\”,\“content\”:\“What is a TIA \”}],\“search\_results\”:true,\“search\_domain\_filter\”:[\“[stroke.org.uk](http://stroke.org.uk)\”]}” The problem seems to be limited to only this site which has worked fine until now. Nothing else has changed at our end. ✅ Expected Behavior What you expected to happen. ## ❌ Actual Behavior What actually happened. ## 🔄 Steps to Reproduce 1. Call the API with the following request: 2. Observe the unexpected behavior. ## 📌 API Request & Response (if applicable) ## 🌍 Environment - **API Version:** [e.g., sonar-3.1] - **SDK (if applicable):** [e.g., Python SDK v0.5] - **Operating System:** [e.g., MacOS, Linux, Windows] ## 📎 Logs or Screenshots (if applicable) Add any logs or screenshots that can help debug the issue. ## 📝 Additional Context Add any other context about the problem here. ---
**Author:** ![Vasanth\_S](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/community.perplexity.ai/vasanth_s/32/577_2.png) [@Vasanth\_S](https://community.perplexity.ai/u/Vasanth_S)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/api-returning-empty-search-results-object/861/2 "2025-08-05T17:09:50Z")
I am also facing an issue with the API. I am getting the Citations field as empty. It was working on 1st August. Any update? “citations”: , “search\_results”: , “object”: “chat.completion”, ---
**Author:** ![Mike](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/community.perplexity.ai/mike/32/427_2.png) [@Mike](https://community.perplexity.ai/u/Mike)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/api-returning-empty-search-results-object/861/3 "2025-08-05T17:26:49Z")
Vasanth - I’ve had email from Perplexity suggesting this might be a robots.txt issue. It isn’t. Not sure what it is. Perhaps it is connected with Cloudflare’s move yesterday to block Perplexity. See [Perplexity is using stealth, undeclared crawlers to evade website no-crawl directives](https://blog.cloudflare.com/perplexity-is-using-stealth-undeclared-crawlers-to-evade-website-no-crawl-directives/) ---
**Author:** ![Igor\_Otaviano](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/community.perplexity.ai/igor_otaviano/32/582_2.png) [@Igor\_Otaviano](https://community.perplexity.ai/u/Igor_Otaviano)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/api-returning-empty-search-results-object/861/4 "2025-08-05T19:14:18Z")
Same problem here, empty search results and citations… It’s frustrating. Perplexity searches work really well on the web, but api is not working as it should. ---
**Author:** ![vikvang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/67e7ee/32.png) [@vikvang](https://community.perplexity.ai/u/vikvang)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 7:23pm UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/api-returning-empty-search-results-object/861/5 "2025-08-05T19:23:22Z")
Thanks for bringing this to our attention! Our engineering team is currently investigating this issue. Appreciate your patience! ---
**Author:** ![jamesliounis](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/community.perplexity.ai/jamesliounis/32/897_2.png) [@jamesliounis](https://community.perplexity.ai/u/jamesliounis)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2025, 4:58pm UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/api-returning-empty-search-results-object/861/7 "2025-08-06T16:58:04Z")
We will be sharing some additional instructions shortly. ---
**Author:** ![Mike](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/community.perplexity.ai/mike/32/427_2.png) [@Mike](https://community.perplexity.ai/u/Mike)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/api-returning-empty-search-results-object/861/8 "2025-08-06T17:52:41Z")
Confirmed Cloudflare issue. ---
**Author:** ![Mike](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/community.perplexity.ai/mike/32/427_2.png) [@Mike](https://community.perplexity.ai/u/Mike)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 4:35pm UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/api-returning-empty-search-results-object/861/9 "2025-08-07T16:35:38Z")
Come on guys, we need some answers please! Even if it’s just simple instructions how to allow Perplexity bot through Cloudflare. ---
**Author:** ![vikvang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/67e7ee/32.png) [@vikvang](https://community.perplexity.ai/u/vikvang)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/api-returning-empty-search-results-object/861/10 "2025-08-07T16:44:04Z")
Hi! Will get back to you shortly! The team is still working on this. Thank you for your patience! ---
**Author:** ![Mike](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/community.perplexity.ai/mike/32/427_2.png) [@Mike](https://community.perplexity.ai/u/Mike)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 12:25pm UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/api-returning-empty-search-results-object/861/11 "2025-08-12T12:25:52Z")
AWS WAF may have stopped allowing Perplexity through for one of our websites. Has anyone else seen this? Maybe, but not necessarily, related to Cloudflare’s 4 August block on Perplexity. Adding WAF rule _(http.user\_agent contains “PerplexityBot”) or (http.user\_agent contains “Perplexity-User”)_ to AWS WAF allowlist has not helped.