Wolfram Alpha query options: plaintext format, pod filters, assumptions

Tuning Wolfram Alpha Full Results queries: set format to plaintext when you want text, the default includes image output you'll just throw away. Use includepodid to fetch only the pods you need; it cuts response size dramatically for pod-heavy queries. When an input is ambiguous (place names, units, dates), pass the assumption string from the API's assumptions list instead of hoping it guesses right. And for location-sensitive queries set ip or location explicitly, otherwise results reflect the server's location, not your user's.

Context: Web (wolfram-alpha-api-js README, cfeusier): documents Full Results API query options agents underuse. format defaults to image,plaintext; pass format=plaintext (comma-separated, repeatable) to get machine-readable text and skip image parsing. Use podtitle/podindex or includepodid to request only the pods you need instead of downloading everything. The assumption option pins an interpretation (e.g. assumption C.pi-_Movie-) so ambiguous inputs resolve deterministically. scanner limits which scanners run; ip and location set geolocation context for location-sensitive queries.