Ask Targets

The registry

An Ask Target is an AI engine a Cited Ask can be handed to. Each target declares how to open the engine with the prompt.

Field schema

Field	Meaning
id	Stable engine key (e.g. chatgpt)
label	Display name
method	direct (URL prefills the prompt) or copy (copy prompt, open home)
url	direct: a template with {q} = URL-encoded prompt. copy: home URL

Registry (v1.0 shipped set)

id	label	method	url
claude	Claude	direct	https://claude.ai/new?q={q}
gemini	Gemini	copy	https://gemini.google.com/app
chatgpt	ChatGPT	direct	https://chatgpt.com/?q={q}
copilot	Copilot	copy	https://copilot.microsoft.com/
grok	Grok	direct	https://grok.com/?q={q}
perplexity	Perplexity	direct	https://www.perplexity.ai/search?q={q}
mistral	Mistral	direct	https://chat.mistral.ai/chat?q={q}
deepseek	DeepSeek	copy	https://chat.deepseek.com/
duckduckgo	DuckDuckGo	direct	https://duck.ai/?q={q}
brave	Brave	direct	https://search.brave.com/ask?q={q}
kagi	Kagi	direct	https://kagi.com/assistant?q={q}
consensus	Consensus	direct	https://consensus.app/?q={q}
scispace	SciSpace	direct	https://scispace.com/?q={q}
andisearch	Andi	direct	https://andisearch.com/?q={q}

{q} is always the URL-encoded Cited Ask prompt text.

Clipboard-fallback contract

For copy targets, the required behavior is:

1. Open the engine’s home URL synchronously, on the user gesture — this is what lets pop-up blockers allow the new tab/window.
2. In parallel, write the prompt to the clipboard.
3. Prompt the user to paste it into the engine.

This exists for engines without a working prompt-prefill URL of their own (currently DeepSeek, Gemini, and Copilot).

Canonical registry

The canonical machine-readable registry is published at /protocol/targets.json, so any implementer stays correct when an engine changes its URL scheme rather than hardcoding a copy that can drift.

Roadmap (v1.x): a “submit your engine” contribution process for adding new targets to the registry.

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Next: Ask Policy — how publishers permit engines to use their content.