Provider setup

Progrid AI Lead Research requires API keys from external service providers to function. This page covers how to obtain and configure API keys for each supported provider, and how to verify that connections are working correctly.

Important

You must have the AI Research Manager security group to access provider configuration settings. See Security for details on user groups.

Accessing provider settings

Navigate to CRM ‣ AI Research ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings to access all provider configuration fields. The settings page is divided into sections for each provider.

Groq (LLM provider)

Groq provides the large language model (Llama 3.1 70B) used for data extraction in the normalize phase and activity scoring in the score phase. It is a required provider – without a valid Groq API key, research jobs cannot process results.

Obtaining an API key

1. Visit Groq Console.

2. Create an account or sign in.

3. Navigate to API Keys in the console sidebar.

4. Click Create API Key.

5. Copy the generated key (it starts with gsk_).

Warning

The API key is only shown once when created. Copy it immediately and store it securely. If you lose the key, you must create a new one.

Configuring in Progrid

1. Navigate to CRM ‣ AI Research ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings.

2. In the Groq Configuration section, paste your API key into the Groq API Key field.

3. The Groq Model field defaults to llama-3.1-70b-versatile. This is the recommended model and should not be changed unless you have a specific reason.

4. Click Save.

Free tier limits

Groq offers a generous free tier with the following approximate limits:

• Requests per minute: 30

• Requests per day: 14,400

• Tokens per minute: 6,000

Note

These limits are subject to change. Check the Groq documentation for current rate limits.

Brave Search

Brave Search is a privacy-focused web search API with strong coverage of business directories and local search results. It is one of two supported search providers.

Obtaining an API key

1. Visit Brave Search API.

2. Click Get Started or Get API Key.

3. Create an account or sign in.

4. Choose the Free plan (2,000-5,000 queries/month) or a paid plan.

5. Copy your API key from the dashboard.

Configuring in Progrid

1. Navigate to CRM ‣ AI Research ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings.

2. In the Brave Search Configuration section, paste your API key into the Brave API Key field.

3. Click Save.

Free tier limits

Limit	Value
Monthly queries	2,000-5,000 (varies by plan)
Rate limit	1 query per second
Results per query	Up to 20

Tavily

Tavily is an AI-optimized search API designed specifically for LLM applications. It returns pre-processed content snippets that are well-suited for AI analysis, often resulting in cleaner data extraction.

Obtaining an API key

1. Visit Tavily.

2. Click Get API Key or Sign Up.

3. Create an account.

4. Navigate to your dashboard to find your API key.

5. Copy the key.

Configuring in Progrid

1. Navigate to CRM ‣ AI Research ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings.

2. In the Tavily Configuration section, paste your API key into the Tavily API Key field.

3. Click Save.

Free tier limits

Limit	Value
Monthly credits	1,000
Credits per search	1 credit per query
Results per query	Up to 10

Testing connections

After configuring API keys, verify that each provider is working correctly.

Provider status page

Navigate to CRM ‣ AI Research ‣ Configuration ‣ Provider Status to see the current status of all configured providers. This page shows:

• Provider name – Brave, Tavily, or Groq

• Status – Whether the API key is configured and the last connection test result

• Last tested – When the connection was last verified

• Error message – If the last test failed, the error details

Testing a provider

From the Provider Status page:

1. Click the Test Connection button next to the provider you want to verify.

2. Wait for the test to complete (typically 2-5 seconds).

3. Check the status indicator:

   • Green / OK – The API key is valid and the provider is responding

   • Red / Error – The connection failed (check the error message for details)

Tip

Test all providers after initial setup and after any API key changes. A failed provider test prevents research jobs from using that provider.

Choosing a search provider

When creating a research job, you select which search provider to use. Here is guidance on choosing:

Provider	Best for	Considerations
Brave	Local business searches, directory-style results, broad coverage	Larger free tier (2-5K queries/month). Good for geographic searches.
Tavily	AI-optimized results, cleaner content extraction, research-focused queries	Smaller free tier (1K credits/month). Better content quality for LLM processing.
Mixed	Maximum coverage, combining results from both providers	Uses credits from both providers. Best when thoroughness is more important than cost.

Note

At least one search provider (Brave or Tavily) must be configured in addition to Groq. If only one search provider is configured, the Mixed option in the wizard will fall back to the single available provider.