can parallel search include or exclude specific domains from results?

Context: The question behind this query is whether Parallel's search API can restrict results to specific domains, or keep specific domains out. Short answer: yes, on both counts. Parallel exposes this through a feature called source policy, with an include_domains allowlist and an exclude_domains denylist, and it is available on the Task, Search, Monitor, and Responses APIs. It shows up in practice wh

Yes, and the controls are include_domains and exclude_domains inside source_policy.

1. Restrict to an allowlist. Add source_policy to your request with include_domains set to the domains you trust. Only sources matching the list are searched, nothing else.
2. Block a denylist. Add source_policy with exclude_domains set to the domains you want out, for example reddit.com when forum threads pollute results.
3. On the Search API, nest the policy under advanced_settings. A minimal request body looks like this:

{
  "objective": "recent open source LLM benchmark reports",
  "search_queries": ["open source LLM benchmarks 2026"],
  "advanced_settings": {
    "source_policy": {
      "exclude_domains": ["reddit.com", "pinterest.com"]
    }
  }
}

1. Verify it worked. Check that every source URL in the response is on your allowlist (include case) or that none of them sit on an excluded domain (exclude case). Success is a result set that obeys the filter.

Formatting rules that matter: write each domain in apex form (example.com, no scheme, no port, no www. prefix); an apex domain automatically covers its subdomains. A bare extension with a leading period (.gov, .org, .co.uk) matches that extension. Do not use wildcard syntax like *.org. You can list up to 200 entries, though a short targeted list returns better results.

Root cause of confusion: include and exclude are not combined. If you set include_domains, exclude_domains is ignored (the include list wins). Pick one per request.

Edge cases: domain/path prefixes like example.com/blog scope the filter to one section of a site, but path filters are unsupported in turbo mode, where you need fast, basic, or advanced instead.

When to use it: compliance-bound corpora, single-publisher research, or killing a known noisy domain. When NOT to use it: do not use include_domains as a general quality knob, result quality drops sharply if relevant pages live outside your list. Exclude lists are the safer choice, and for soft preferences (prefer official docs over blogs) steer in the objective text instead of a hard filter.

Variant phrasings of this query: "parallel ai search allowed domains", "parallel search restrict results to a domain", "parallel source policy docs", "exclude websites from parallel search results".