---
title: Whale External Docs
description: External documentation for Whale Data Center data consumers.
---

# Whale Data Center External Docs

External docs are for data consumers. They explain which platforms Whale covers, which data types are available, and how authorized consumers query and retrieve data through APIs. These pages focus on what can be queried, how to query it, and how to interpret results. They do not explain internal collection, ingest, or operations implementation.

Collector registration, capability declaration, task dispatch, ingest contracts, internal OpenAPI, and operations are protected engineering materials and are not exposed on the public site.

## Recommended Reading Path

```mermaid
flowchart LR
  start[Quickstart] --> portal[Portal and Subscriptions]
  portal --> platforms[Platform Coverage]
  platforms --> access[Data Access]
  access --> mcp[MCP Integration]
  mcp --> production[Production Guide]
```

| Order | Page | Audience | Question answered |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [Quickstart](/en/docs/quickstart) | API integrators | Run the first authenticated query |
| 2 | [Portal and Subscriptions](/en/docs/portal) | Organization owners and developers | Understand applications, subscriptions, keys, and scope |
| 3 | [Platform Coverage](/en/docs/platforms) | Product and solution teams | Understand platforms, content types, and fields |
| 4 | [Data Access](/en/docs/search) | API integrators and data engineers | Search, filter, and retrieve details |
| 5 | [Production Guide](/en/docs/production) | Engineering and operations | Apply timeouts, retries, and compatibility rules |
| 6 | [MCP Integration](/en/docs/mcp) | AI application developers | Connect Whale search tools to an MCP host |
| 7 | [Public API Reference](/en/public-api-reference) | Developers | Browse consumer endpoints and schemas online |

## Documentation Modules

| Module | Description |
| --- | --- |
| Platform Coverage | Supported platforms, content types, common fields, and platform-specific mapping |
| Data Access | How consumers query, search, and retrieve authorized data with API keys |
| Versions and Snapshots | How body changes, transcript changes, and metric updates are represented |
| Metrics Dimensions | How platform, dataset, content type, time windows, and metric semantics are interpreted |

External consumers do not need to understand collector registration, task dispatch, ingest internals, databases, object storage, OpenSearch, Milvus, or internal queues.

## Capability Boundary

| Capability | External meaning |
| --- | --- |
| Platform coverage | Whale returns unified data by platform enum and preserves platform-specific fields |
| Keyword search | Exact keywords, brands, people, URLs, and topics |
| Semantic search | Similar meaning, cross-language, and weak keyword scenarios |
| Hybrid search | Recommended default, combining keyword, vector, quality, and recency |
| Detail loading | Load full content, versions, parts, facts, and snapshots by `document_id` |
| Metrics | Observe volume, platform distribution, metric trends, and processing status within authorization scope |

## Documentation Boundaries

- External docs describe platform coverage, data access, authorization boundaries, and result semantics.
- External docs must not expose collector API keys, internal tasks, databases, object storage, queues, or collector troubleshooting details.
- [Public API Reference](/en/public-api-reference) is generated from consumer-authenticated operations in the primary contract. The complete contract remains internal.