SerpAPI Client Installation and Authentication

Overview

Select an official client, keep the private key server-side, and prove access with the free Account API before spending a search.

Prerequisites

• A SerpAPI account and private key from the account dashboard
• Python or Node.js project ownership and an approved secret store
• A named environment and owner for usage, rotation, and revocation

Tool Discipline

Use Read, Glob, and Grep to inspect dependency and configuration files, WebFetch to re-check official client and Account API documentation, Write or Edit for secretless configuration, and Bash(python3:*), Bash(npm:*), or Bash(curl:*) only after the operator approves installation or a live check.

Current Contract

SerpAPI's current official packages are serpapi for Python and serpapi for JavaScript. Search and Account APIs authenticate with the private api_key. The Account API reports current quota and throughput fields and does not count against the monthly search allowance.

Authentication

Store the key as SERPAPI_KEY in a server-side secret manager. Never commit it, expose it to browser code, print it, place it in a fixture, or persist a command containing it in shell history. Do not assume OAuth, scopes, or multiple independently scoped keys unless current account documentation confirms them.

Instructions

1. Inspect the runtime, package manager, existing SerpAPI packages, .gitignore, secret-loading convention, and deployment environment.
2. Re-fetch the official Python or JavaScript client documentation and pin a version under the repository's dependency policy.
3. Present the dependency and secret-store changes before installing anything.
4. Install with python3 -m pip install serpapi or npm install serpapi after approval.
5. Add SERPAPI_KEY to the approved local and deployment secret stores; add only variable names and redacted examples to tracked files.
6. Verify access through the official client Account API and retain only non-secret fields such as account status, plan name, searches left, and hourly throughput.
7. Run a live search only when the operator explicitly accepts that it may consume allowance.

Output

Return the selected client and pinned version, changed files, secret-store location, redacted Account API receipt, live-search decision, and rotation/revocation owner.

Error Handling

Example

import os
import serpapi

client = serpapi.Client(api_key=os.environ["SERPAPI_KEY"], timeout=10)
account = client.account()
print({key: account.get(key) for key in (
    "account_status", "plan_name", "plan_searches_left",
    "account_rate_limit_per_hour",
)})

Resources

• Official Python client
• Official JavaScript client
• Account API

Next Steps

Run the hello-world workflow with a harmless query and record its search ID without recording the key.