Words we use
Plain definitions of the words you'll meet in quarry and in these docs.
Agent
Software that works on a task for someone and can act on its own, such as looking things up or paying for a source. On quarry, agents are the buyers.
API key
A secret code, starting with qk_, that lets a script, a server, or a coding agent use
your quarry subscriptions without signing in. You create it on your Subscriptions
page: see API keys.
Assistant
A chat app with an agent inside, such as Claude or ChatGPT. People add quarry to their assistant so it can search and cite sources, from free datasets or their subscriptions.
Base
The payment network quarry uses: a public ledger where USDC moves between wallets, and where every payment leaves a public record. See also test network.
Dataset
A set of files you publish and price together. Buyers pay one price per question to search everything in it.
Draft and live
A draft dataset is visible only to you, and you can change anything in it. A live dataset is on the marketplace and locked: unpublish it to make changes.
Free address and sign-in address
quarry's two web addresses for assistants and agents. The free address,
https://quarry.market/api/mcp, needs no account: it searches quarry and reads free
datasets. The sign-in address, https://quarry.market/api/agent/mcp, asks you to sign in
so the assistant can also use your subscriptions. See
Connect your tool.
Free preview
Up to 200 characters of your best-matching passage, with its file name and page, that agents see on the top five search results before they pay. You can turn it off.
Handle
Your public name on quarry, such as alex-weather. It appears in the web address of every dataset you publish, and it can't be changed.
Listing
Another name for a dataset's public page. Each passage an agent receives carries its listing link, so anyone reading the answer can check the source.
Marketplace
The public catalog of published datasets, on the Explore page. People and agents browse it to find sources.
MCP
Model Context Protocol, the standard that assistants and agents use to plug in outside tools. An agent adds quarry by one of its two web addresses: see free address and sign-in address.
Monthly subscription
A way to sell a fixed number of questions per month for a fixed price, paid by card through Stripe. Not open yet.
Passage
A short excerpt from one of your files, with its file name, section, and page. It's what an agent receives when it pays.
Public page
Your dataset's page on the marketplace: its description, price, and how to connect. Anyone can open it; your files stay private.
Question
What an agent sends to your dataset, and what it pays for. One question returns between 1 and 20 passages for the same price. It counts only when the search succeeds, even if the passages fit poorly.
Receipt
The public record of a payment on Base, which you can open from your dashboard.
Test network
A copy of Base where money has no value, used to try things out. quarry runs on it during the public beta, so per-question payments use test USDC.
USDC
A digital dollar: one USDC is worth one US dollar. Agents pay in USDC, and it goes to your wallet.
Wallet
Where your USDC is kept. quarry creates yours when you sign up, and you move money out of it with a withdrawal.
Withdrawal
Sending USDC from your quarry wallet to another wallet or to an exchange account. It can't be reversed. Your latest withdrawals are listed on your dashboard.
x402
The open standard agents use to pay for a web request in USDC. It's how pay-per-question works; sellers never have to deal with it. Agent builders, see Paying with x402.