# Run the Design-flow explore agent (propose a manifest)

`POST /contexts/{slug}/explore`

:::code-group
```bash title="cURL"
curl --request POST \
  --url https://{host}/api/contexts/{slug}/explore \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
  "guide": "<string>",
  "pinecone_api_key": "<string>"
}'
```

```json title="200"
{
  "task_id": "<string>",
  "state": "<string>",
  "exploring": true,
  "profiling": true,
  "importing": true
}
```
:::

## Authorizations

- `Authorization` (header, string, required) — Bearer authentication header of the form `Bearer <token>`.

## Path Parameters

- `slug` (path, string, required) — Context slug or UUID.

## Headers

- `X-Pinecone-Api-Version` (header, string) — Date-based contract version, echoed back on the same header. Omit for the default (`2026-07`); send `unstable` for the in-development surface. An unrecognized value is rejected with `400 unsupported_api_version`.

## Body

- `guide` (body, string) — High-level guidance to steer the proposal
- `pinecone_api_key` (body, string) — Task-token override; normally not needed

## Response

- `200` — Explore enqueued (`state: exploring`)
- `404` — Not found
- `409` — An explore is already in progress

## Related pages

- [List contexts (newest first, with stats)](./data-plane-contexts-list-contexts-newest-first-with-stats.md)
- [Create a context](./data-plane-contexts-create-a-context.md)
- [Get a context](./data-plane-contexts-get-a-context.md)
- [Update a context](./data-plane-contexts-update-a-context.md)
- [Delete a context (and its Pinecone indexes)](./data-plane-contexts-delete-a-context-and-its-pinecone-indexes.md)
- [Per-context task statistics](./data-plane-contexts-per-context-task-statistics.md)
- [Trigger an on-demand self-tuning optimize](./data-plane-contexts-trigger-an-on-demand-self-tuning-optimize.md)
- [Estimate the token + time cost of curating the in-progress manifest](./data-plane-contexts-estimate-the-token-time-cost-of-curating-the-in-progress-manifest.md)

# Agent Instructions

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