START HERE for any question that wants a value, figure, or finding: ask one specific data question, get one synthesized answer grounded in the data or web tako cites.
It is the only tool whose single response can finish the job: it reads the cited pages internally, inlines the cited cards' rows, and returns a coverage verdict. Retrieval hands back captions and links you must then chase, and every extra round trip re-sends the whole conversation.
Best for: a single, self-contained data question with one answer. The `answer` is synthesized from the cited sources; the `cards` are its citations. Also the values channel for non-exportable cards: when a card is `exportable: false` (usually license-gated), ask here with its METRIC node id pinned and strict:true to get the figures.
Reach past it only for a different job: `tako_search` for breadth recon (it locates data, it does not carry values), `tako_available_data` when the question is what Tako covers, the Answer Agent for open-ended research.
Grounds over BOTH data and web by default. Run `tako_available_data` first when unsure the data exists — pass `metric` to get the entity+metric pair — then pin the METRIC node id it returns, with strict:true (an entity-only pin, or a pin without strict, does not steer retrieval). Cited cards inline their recent rows (see include_contents/preview_rows), so the series arrives with the answer; for full history or a cited page's text, call `tako_contents` on its url.
Results arrive as markdown: the synthesized answer first, then its cited data cards (headline, exportable flag, node ids, a rows-count pointer) and web citations, then source notes. The cited cards' actual rows ride in structuredContent (cards[].content), not the markdown, alongside machine essentials (usage, guidance, chart-widget fields). The top cited card also renders inline as a chart on hosts that support it — do NOT re-post `image_url` or `embed_url` as a markdown image or link, or it renders twice.