If you are building an end-user application, you can use the `/autocomplete` endpoint alongside `/search` to enable real-time feedback. This type-ahead functionality helps users find what they are looking for, without requiring them to fully specify their search term. Typically, the user starts typing and a drop-down list appears where they can choose the term from the list below.
To build a query with autocomplete, you need a `text` parameter, representing what a user has typed into your application so far. Optionally, you can specify a geographic point where the search is focused, this will allow users to see more local places in the results.
**Requests must be throttled.** Since autocomplete requests generally correspond directly to user input, it's important to account for fast typers and throttle requests when using the autocomplete endpoint. Some devices and networks (for example, mobile phones on a slow connection) may respond poorly when too many requests are sent too quickly, so be sure to do some testing on your own. [Learn more in this interactive demo.](http://jsfiddle.net/missinglink/19e2r2we/)
**Responses are asynchronous.** This means you cannot be sure responses will be returned in the same order they were requested. If you were to send two queries synchronously, first `'Lo'` then `'London'`, you may find the `'London'` response would arrive before the `'Lo'` response. This will result in a quick flash of `'London'` results followed by the results for `'Lo'`, which can confuse the user.
To focus your search based upon a geographical area, such as the center of the user's map or at the device's GPS location, supply the parameters `focus.point.lat` and `focus.point.lon`. This boosts locally relevant results higher. For example, if you search for `Union Square`:
The `/autocomplete` endpoint can promote nearby results to the top of the list, while still allowing important matches from farther away to be visible. For example, searching `hard rock cafe` with a focus on Berlin:
> [/v1/autocomplete?api_key=your-mapzen-api-key&__focus.point.lat=52.5&focus.point.lon=13.3&text=hard rock cafe__](https://mapzen.com/search/explorer/?query=autocomplete&focus.point.lat=52.5&focus.point.lon=13.3&text=hard rock cafe)
Sometimes your work might require that all the search results be from a particular country. To do this, you can set the `boundary.country` parameter value to the alpha-2 or alpha-3 [ISO-3166 country code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1).
