Exa Search Skill | Agent Skills

Exa Search

High-precision semantic search via Exa API. Standalone CLI only (no MCP dependency).

Execution Method

Run scripts/exa_cli.py via Bash:

# Prerequisites: pip install httpx tenacity
# Environment: EXA_API_KEY (required), EXA_API_URL (optional, default: https://api.exa.ai)

Available Tools

Search Tools

# Basic semantic search
python scripts/exa_cli.py web_search_exa --query "emerging patterns in TypeScript" [--num-results 10] [--type auto|keyword|neural] [--livecrawl always|fallback|never]

# Advanced search with filters
python scripts/exa_cli.py web_search_advanced_exa --query "machine learning papers" \
  [--include-domains arxiv.org,github.com] [--exclude-domains medium.com] \
  [--start-date 2024-01-01] [--end-date 2024-12-31] \
  [--text] [--highlights] [--summary] [--out results.json]

# Deep search with query expansion
python scripts/exa_cli.py deep_search_exa --objective "foundations of quantum error correction" [--additional-queries "query1|query2"]

# Company research
python scripts/exa_cli.py company_research_exa --company "Anthropic" [--num-results 10]

# LinkedIn profile search
python scripts/exa_cli.py linkedin_search_exa --query "AI researchers at Stanford" [--num-results 10]

Content Tools

# Extract content from URL
python scripts/exa_cli.py crawling_exa --url "https://example.com/article" \
  [--max-chars 5000] [--livecrawl always|fallback|never] \
  [--text] [--highlights] [--summary] [--out content.json]

# Get code context (documentation, examples)
python scripts/exa_cli.py get_code_context_exa --query "React useState hook examples" [--tokens-num 10000] [--out code.json]

Research Tools

# Start AI research task
python scripts/exa_cli.py deep_researcher_start --instructions "Analyze the impact of LLMs on software development" [--model exa-research|exa-research-pro]
# Returns: {"taskId": "abc123", ...}

# Check research status
python scripts/exa_cli.py deep_researcher_check --task-id "abc123" [--out report.json]
# Status: running → completed | failed

Configuration

# Check config and test connection
python scripts/exa_cli.py get_config_info [--no-test]

Tool Capability Matrix

| Tool | Required | Optional | Output | |------|----------|----------|--------| | web_search_exa | query | num-results, type, livecrawl | Search results JSON | | web_search_advanced_exa | query | include-domains, exclude-domains, start-date, end-date, text, highlights, summary | Filtered results JSON | | deep_search_exa | objective | additional-queries | Expanded search results | | company_research_exa | company | num-results | Company info JSON | | linkedin_search_exa | query | num-results | LinkedIn profiles JSON | | crawling_exa | url | max-chars, livecrawl, text, highlights, summary | Page content JSON | | get_code_context_exa | query | tokens-num (1000-50000) | Code context JSON | | deep_researcher_start | instructions | model | Task ID | | deep_researcher_check | task-id | - | Status + report |

Tool Routing Guide

Exa vs Grok-Search

| Use Case | Recommended Tool | |----------|------------------| | Real-time news, current events | grok-search | | Semantic/conceptual research | exa | | Code documentation lookup | exa (get_code_context_exa) | | Company/professional research | exa | | General web content fetch | grok-search | | Academic papers, technical docs | exa | | AI-powered deep research | exa (deep_researcher_*) |

Workflow Patterns

Pattern 1: Quick Semantic Search

python scripts/exa_cli.py web_search_exa --query "best practices for React hooks" --num-results 5

Pattern 2: Filtered Research

python scripts/exa_cli.py web_search_advanced_exa --query "transformer architecture" \
  --include-domains arxiv.org,papers.nips.cc --start-date 2023-01-01 --text --summary

Pattern 3: Deep Research Task

# Start research
python scripts/exa_cli.py deep_researcher_start --instructions "Compare RAG vs fine-tuning for domain adaptation"
# Poll until completed
python scripts/exa_cli.py deep_researcher_check --task-id "<taskId>" --out research_report.json

Error Handling

| Error | Recovery | |-------|----------| | EXA_API_KEY not configured | Set environment variable or use --api-key | | HTTP 429 (Rate limit) | Automatic retry with exponential backoff | | HTTP 401 (Unauthorized) | Verify API key is valid | | Timeout | Retry or reduce num-results |

Output Format

All commands output JSON to stdout. Use --out <file> to write to file instead.

{
  "results": [
    {"title": "...", "url": "...", "text": "...", "publishedDate": "..."}
  ]
}

Agent Skills: Exa Search

Install this agent skill to your local

Skill Files