> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.milliseconds.ai/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.milliseconds.ai/_mcp/server.

# Answer questions from the text

POST https://api.milliseconds.ai/v1/decision-machine-1/answer
Content-Type: application/json

Extractive question answering: each answer is a span of the text, with its position. Null when nothing fits. On an `image` the vision model answers directly and `start` and `end` are null.

Send `text` for one result, `texts` for a batch wrapped as `{ results: [...] }`, or `image` (one image, at most 5 MB decoded, optionally with `text`; never with `texts`). The response carries `x-input-chars` (input characters) and `x-input-tokens` (input tokens billed for this call) headers. Each item of `texts` (and each of `statements` or `questions`) counts as one request against the requests-per-minute limit.

Reference: https://docs.milliseconds.ai/api/decision-machine-1/answer

## Authentication

- `Authorization` header (bearer token, required) — A milliseconds API key, test\_sk-\{namespace}-\{entropy} or prod\_sk-\{namespace}-\{entropy}. Every /v1 route requires it.

## Request

### Body (application/json)

This endpoint expects an AnswerRequest.

- `text` (string, optional) — The text to decide about.
- `texts` (list of string, optional) — Batch form: one result per text.
- `image` (string, optional) — One image: a `data:image/(jpeg|png|webp);base64,` URL, or bare base64 of a JPEG, PNG or WebP. 5 MB decoded at most. URLs are never fetched. May travel with `text` (extra context), never with `texts`.
- `detail` (enum, optional) — Image resolution: `low` 512 px, `medium` 768 px (default), `high` 1024 px longest edge. Higher sees more and bills more.
  - Allowed values: `low`, `medium`, `high`
- `question` (string, optional)
- `questions` (list of string, optional)

## Response

### 200

Result, or \{ results } for a batch

- `decision-machine-1_answer_Response_200`
  - DecisionMachine1AnswerResponse2000
  - DecisionMachine1AnswerResponse2001

## Errors

### 400 Bad Request Error

Invalid request

- `error` (ErrorError, required)

### 502 Bad Gateway Error

Inference failed twice

- `error` (ErrorError, required)

## Types

### DecisionMachine1AnswerResponse2000

- AnswerResult: AnswerResult
- DecisionMachine1AnswerResponse20001

### DecisionMachine1AnswerResponse2001

- `results` (list of V1DecisionMachine1AnswerPostResponsesContentApplicationJsonSchemaOneOf1ResultsItems, required)

### ErrorError

- `code` (string, required)
- `message` (string, required)

### AnswerResult

- `question` (string, required)
- `answer` (string, required, nullable) — A span of the text, null when nothing fits
- `probability` (double, required)
- `start` (integer, required, nullable)
- `end` (integer, required, nullable)

### DecisionMachine1AnswerResponse20001

- `results` (list of AnswerResult, required)

### V1DecisionMachine1AnswerPostResponsesContentApplicationJsonSchemaOneOf1ResultsItems

- AnswerResult: AnswerResult
- V1DecisionMachine1AnswerPostResponsesContentApplicationJsonSchemaOneOf1ResultsItems1

### V1DecisionMachine1AnswerPostResponsesContentApplicationJsonSchemaOneOf1ResultsItems1

- `results` (list of AnswerResult, required)

## Examples

**Request**

```json
{
  "text": "John Ternus announced the iPhone Duo in Cupertino on Tuesday. Pre-orders start Friday at $1,999.",
  "questions": [
    "Who announced the product?",
    "How much does it cost?"
  ]
}
```

**Response**

```json
{
  "results": [
    {
      "answer": "John Ternus",
      "end": 11,
      "probability": 0.998,
      "question": "Who announced the product?",
      "start": 0
    },
    {
      "answer": "$1,999",
      "end": 95,
      "probability": 0.989,
      "question": "How much does it cost?",
      "start": 89
    }
  ]
}
```

**SDK Code**

```python decision-machine-1_answer_example
import requests

url = "https://api.milliseconds.ai/v1/decision-machine-1/answer"

payload = {
    "text": "John Ternus announced the iPhone Duo in Cupertino on Tuesday. Pre-orders start Friday at $1,999.",
    "questions": ["Who announced the product?", "How much does it cost?"]
}
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

print(response.json())
```

```javascript decision-machine-1_answer_example
const url = 'https://api.milliseconds.ai/v1/decision-machine-1/answer';
const options = {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {Authorization: 'Bearer <token>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
  body: '{"text":"John Ternus announced the iPhone Duo in Cupertino on Tuesday. Pre-orders start Friday at $1,999.","questions":["Who announced the product?","How much does it cost?"]}'
};

try {
  const response = await fetch(url, options);
  const data = await response.json();
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}
```

```go decision-machine-1_answer_example
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://api.milliseconds.ai/v1/decision-machine-1/answer"

	payload := strings.NewReader("{\n  \"text\": \"John Ternus announced the iPhone Duo in Cupertino on Tuesday. Pre-orders start Friday at $1,999.\",\n  \"questions\": [\n    \"Who announced the product?\",\n    \"How much does it cost?\"\n  ]\n}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(res)
	fmt.Println(string(body))

}
```

```ruby decision-machine-1_answer_example
require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://api.milliseconds.ai/v1/decision-machine-1/answer")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = 'Bearer <token>'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'
request.body = "{\n  \"text\": \"John Ternus announced the iPhone Duo in Cupertino on Tuesday. Pre-orders start Friday at $1,999.\",\n  \"questions\": [\n    \"Who announced the product?\",\n    \"How much does it cost?\"\n  ]\n}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body
```

```java decision-machine-1_answer_example
import com.mashape.unirest.http.HttpResponse;
import com.mashape.unirest.http.Unirest;

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://api.milliseconds.ai/v1/decision-machine-1/answer")
  .header("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
  .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .body("{\n  \"text\": \"John Ternus announced the iPhone Duo in Cupertino on Tuesday. Pre-orders start Friday at $1,999.\",\n  \"questions\": [\n    \"Who announced the product?\",\n    \"How much does it cost?\"\n  ]\n}")
  .asString();
```

```php decision-machine-1_answer_example
<?php
require_once('vendor/autoload.php');

$client = new \GuzzleHttp\Client();

$response = $client->request('POST', 'https://api.milliseconds.ai/v1/decision-machine-1/answer', [
  'body' => '{
  "text": "John Ternus announced the iPhone Duo in Cupertino on Tuesday. Pre-orders start Friday at $1,999.",
  "questions": [
    "Who announced the product?",
    "How much does it cost?"
  ]
}',
  'headers' => [
    'Authorization' => 'Bearer <token>',
    'Content-Type' => 'application/json',
  ],
]);

echo $response->getBody();
```

```csharp decision-machine-1_answer_example
using RestSharp;

var client = new RestClient("https://api.milliseconds.ai/v1/decision-machine-1/answer");
var request = new RestRequest(Method.POST);
request.AddHeader("Authorization", "Bearer <token>");
request.AddHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
request.AddParameter("application/json", "{\n  \"text\": \"John Ternus announced the iPhone Duo in Cupertino on Tuesday. Pre-orders start Friday at $1,999.\",\n  \"questions\": [\n    \"Who announced the product?\",\n    \"How much does it cost?\"\n  ]\n}", ParameterType.RequestBody);
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);
```

```swift decision-machine-1_answer_example
import Foundation

let headers = [
  "Authorization": "Bearer <token>",
  "Content-Type": "application/json"
]
let parameters = [
  "text": "John Ternus announced the iPhone Duo in Cupertino on Tuesday. Pre-orders start Friday at $1,999.",
  "questions": ["Who announced the product?", "How much does it cost?"]
] as [String : Any]

let postData = JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: parameters, options: [])

let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: NSURL(string: "https://api.milliseconds.ai/v1/decision-machine-1/answer")! as URL,
                                        cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy,
                                    timeoutInterval: 10.0)
request.httpMethod = "POST"
request.allHTTPHeaderFields = headers
request.httpBody = postData as Data

let session = URLSession.shared
let dataTask = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: { (data, response, error) -> Void in
  if (error != nil) {
    print(error as Any)
  } else {
    let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse
    print(httpResponse)
  }
})

dataTask.resume()
```