---
ref: tool:people-data-labs/search-people
name: Search for people
company: company:people-data-labs
workflows: []
access: [api]
tags: [capability:build-audience, category:data-provider, has:api]
docs: https://docs.peopledatalabs.com/docs/reference-person-search-api
updated: 2026-09-27
---

# Search for people

Returns up to 100 person records per call that match an Elasticsearch or SQL query over PDL's person fields, such as job title, employer, location and skills.

Send either `query` (Elasticsearch) or `sql`, not both. Each record returned
costs one credit, so set `size` (1 to 100, default 1) and fetch the next page
with the `scroll_token` from the previous response. The default rate limit is
10 requests per minute.

## Set up

Use the first option your agent supports.

### API (official)

- Base URL: https://api.peopledatalabs.com
- Endpoint: `POST /v5/person/search`
- Auth: send the header `X-Api-Key: $PDL_API_KEY`
- Get a key: https://dashboard.peopledatalabs.com/api-keys
- Docs: https://docs.peopledatalabs.com/docs/authentication

Before doing anything else, make one read-only call to confirm access.

## Rules

- Ask the user before anything that sends messages, costs money, or changes data.
- Never print API keys.