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Governance lets account admins set rules for what Nimble Search returns. Rules apply to the whole account or to a single API key. Manage them in the Nimble dashboard at Settings → Governance.
Governance currently applies to the Search API only. Answer, Extract, Map, Crawl, Agents, and requests made without an API key are not covered. See What governance applies to.

Availability and access

  • Governance is enabled per account. To turn it on, contact your Nimble account manager or support.
  • Only account admins can see the Governance page and change rules. Other team members do not see it.
  • API keys cannot read or change governance rules.
  • Rules are managed in the dashboard only. There is no public API for governance rules yet.
  • Changes take effect within about a minute.

Account rules and API-key rules

Account rules apply to every API key. An API key can also have its own rules. Key rules can only make things stricter than the account rules, for example a stricter safe-search level or more blocked sites.

Locks

An admin can lock a section: Safe search, Websites, or Content types. A locked section is read-only for every API key, and any per-key setting for it is removed.

Controls

Filters adult and toxic content. Choose Off, Moderate, or Strict. The account level is a minimum. The safe_search parameter on a request can only make it stricter, never looser.

Websites

Choose one of two modes: Rules for site lists:
  • A domain covers its subdomains. example.com covers news.example.com.
  • A list holds up to 500 sites.
  • Wildcards are not needed.
  • IP addresses are not supported.
How lists combine with request parameters:
  • With an allow list, a request’s include_domains can only narrow results within the allowed sites. Sites outside the allow list are ignored.
  • A request’s exclude_domains adds to the blocked sites.

Upload a CSV

Add many sites at once with a .csv or .txt file.
  • Every cell of every row is read. A file with other columns, such as names, notes, or headers, still works. Cells that are not website addresses are skipped and counted.
  • Full URLs are reduced to their host. https://www.example.com/page becomes example.com.
  • Subdomain URLs keep the subdomain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X becomes en.wikipedia.org, which covers only that subdomain.
  • Separate cells with commas. Semicolon-separated files are not supported.
  • An upload adds to the current list. It does not replace it.
  • The page shows how many sites were added and how many were skipped.

Content types

Block whole categories of sites:
  • User-generated content (reviews, comments, Q&A)
  • Blogs
  • Forums
  • News
  • Government websites
  • Paywalled content
A block applies to known sites of each type. Sites that have not been categorized can still appear.

Spend

Account level only. Shows month-to-date spend, updated hourly and up to 2 hours behind.
  • Set a monthly limit and alert thresholds at 50%, 80%, and 100%.
  • The limit does not block calls.
  • Alert emails are coming soon. Until they are sent, the page shows a note.

Activity

A log of every governance change.

Effect on results

Blocked results are removed, not replaced. A search can return fewer results than max_results.

What governance applies to

Limitations

  • No public API to manage governance rules.
  • Search only. See the table above.
  • Spend alert emails are not sent yet.
  • IP addresses are not supported in website lists.
  • Semicolon-separated CSV files are not supported.

Search

The Search API that governance rules apply to.