# sonar-deep-research (async) returns empty citations/search\_results despite num\_search\_queries=10 — full content, no source attribution (2026-06-13)

**URL:** <https://community.perplexity.ai/t/sonar-deep-research-async-returns-empty-citations-search-results-despite-num-search-queries-10-full-content-no-source-attribution-2026-06-13/5401>\
**Category:** Bug Reports\
**Created:** [June 18, 2026, 8:29pm UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/sonar-deep-research-async-returns-empty-citations-search-results-despite-num-search-queries-10-full-content-no-source-attribution-2026-06-13/5401 "2026-06-18T20:29:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Yeygermeister](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/community.perplexity.ai/yeygermeister/32/3231_2.png) [@Yeygermeister](https://community.perplexity.ai/u/Yeygermeister)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2026, 8:29pm UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/sonar-deep-research-async-returns-empty-citations-search-results-despite-num-search-queries-10-full-content-no-source-attribution-2026-06-13/5401/1 "2026-06-18T20:29:20Z")

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**Bug type:** Missing, invalid, or stale citations/search results  
**Affected API area:** Sonar API (sonar-deep-research, async)

**Summary**  
On the async deep-research endpoint (POST /async/chat/completions), sonar-deep-research returns COMPLETED jobs with a fully populated message.content (10k+ word reports) but EMPTY citations and search\_results arrays — despite usage.num\_search\_queries = 10, confirming searches actually ran. This is the inverse of the current sonar-reasoning-pro thread (empty content / populated citations) and appears related to thread #5074 (empty search\_results, 2026-05-01) and the Mar 26 “sonar-deep-research intermittently fails to activate web search” report.

**Expected behavior**  
citations / search\_results populated with the sources from the searches that ran (num\_search\_queries=10), as in the documented sonar-deep-research response shape.

**Actual behavior**

- status: COMPLETED, no error\_message
- response.usage.num\_search\_queries: 10 (searches ran)
- response.usage.citation\_tokens: null (no citation tokens billed)
- response.citations: (empty array, present)
- response.search\_results: (empty array, present)
- message.content: fully populated, 10k+ words

So searches execute but results never attach to citations/search\_results. Reproduces on two different jobs, both evergreen and current-events queries.

**Request details**

- Endpoint: [https://api.perplexity.ai/async/chat/completions](https://api.perplexity.ai/async/chat/completions)
- Model: sonar-deep-research
- Date/time: 2026-06-13, ~18:15-18:22 UTC
- Job IDs: b510d375-dd1a-4fc7-aeea-70dcf59ea699, ec8a5f71-ce6c-4841-977a-7c10e848d32e
- Consistent: yes, both jobs identical symptom

**Question**  
Is this the same root cause as #5074 / the current sonar-reasoning-pro thread, and will the fix be tracked here or there? Requesting notification when resolved.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![albert\_pplx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@albert\_pplx](https://community.perplexity.ai/u/albert_pplx)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 4:41am UTC](https://community.perplexity.ai/t/sonar-deep-research-async-returns-empty-citations-search-results-despite-num-search-queries-10-full-content-no-source-attribution-2026-06-13/5401/2 "2026-06-19T04:41:31Z")

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Hey Yeygermeister, unfortunately I was unable to reproduce this, are you still getting the empty citations? If so feel free to share a sample request, make sure to remove any sensitive data before doing so .

If you prefer to write directly into support, my colleagues over at api@perplexity.ai will be able to assist you as well!