Exa Common Errors Skill

Exa Common Errors

Overview

Quick reference for Exa API errors by HTTP status code and error tag. All error responses include a requestId field — include it when contacting Exa support at hello@exa.ai.

Error Reference

400 — Bad Request

| Error Tag | Cause | Solution | |-----------|-------|----------| | INVALID_REQUEST_BODY | Malformed JSON or missing required fields | Validate JSON structure and required query field | | INVALID_REQUEST | Conflicting parameters | Remove contradictory options (e.g., date filters with company category) | | INVALID_URLS | Malformed URLs in getContents | Ensure URLs have https:// protocol | | INVALID_NUM_RESULTS | numResults > 100 with highlights | Reduce to <= 100 or remove highlights | | INVALID_JSON_SCHEMA | Bad schema in summary.schema | Validate JSON schema syntax | | NUM_RESULTS_EXCEEDED | Exceeds plan limit | Check your plan's max results | | NO_CONTENT_FOUND | No content at provided URLs | Verify URLs are accessible |

401 — Unauthorized

# Verify your API key is set and valid
echo "Key set: ${EXA_API_KEY:+yes}"

# Test with curl
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" \
  -X POST https://api.exa.ai/search \
  -H "x-api-key: $EXA_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query":"test","numResults":1}'

Fix: Regenerate API key at dashboard.exa.ai.

402 — Payment Required

| Error Tag | Cause | Solution | |-----------|-------|----------| | NO_MORE_CREDITS | Account balance exhausted | Top up at dashboard.exa.ai | | API_KEY_BUDGET_EXCEEDED | Spending limit reached | Increase budget in API key settings |

403 — Forbidden

| Error Tag | Cause | Solution | |-----------|-------|----------| | ACCESS_DENIED | Feature not available on plan | Upgrade plan or contact Exa | | FEATURE_DISABLED | Endpoint not enabled | Check plan capabilities | | ROBOTS_FILTER_FAILED | URL blocked by robots.txt | Use a different URL | | PROHIBITED_CONTENT | Content blocked by moderation | Review query for policy violations |

429 — Rate Limited

// Default rate limit: 10 QPS (queries per second)
// Error response format: { "error": "rate limit exceeded" }

// Fix: implement exponential backoff
async function searchWithBackoff(exa: Exa, query: string, opts: any) {
  for (let attempt = 0; attempt < 5; attempt++) {
    try {
      return await exa.search(query, opts);
    } catch (err: any) {
      if (err.status !== 429) throw err;
      const delay = 1000 * Math.pow(2, attempt) + Math.random() * 500;
      console.log(`Rate limited. Waiting ${delay.toFixed(0)}ms...`);
      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, delay));
    }
  }
  throw new Error("Rate limit retries exhausted");
}

422 — Unprocessable Entity

| Error Tag | Cause | Solution | |-----------|-------|----------| | FETCH_DOCUMENT_ERROR | URL could not be crawled | Verify URL is accessible and not paywalled |

5xx — Server Errors

| Code | Tag | Action | |------|-----|--------| | 500 | DEFAULT_ERROR / INTERNAL_ERROR | Retry after 1-2 seconds | | 501 | UNABLE_TO_GENERATE_RESPONSE | Rephrase query (answer endpoint) | | 502 | Bad Gateway | Retry with delay | | 503 | Service Unavailable | Check status page, retry later |

Content Fetch Errors (per-URL status in getContents)

| Tag | Cause | Resolution | |-----|-------|-----------| | CRAWL_NOT_FOUND | Content unavailable at URL | Verify URL correctness | | CRAWL_TIMEOUT | Fetch timed out | Retry or increase livecrawlTimeout | | CRAWL_LIVECRAWL_TIMEOUT | Live crawl exceeded timeout | Set livecrawlTimeout: 15000 or use livecrawl: "fallback" | | SOURCE_NOT_AVAILABLE | Paywalled or blocked | Try cached content with livecrawl: "never" | | UNSUPPORTED_URL | Non-HTTP URL scheme | Use standard HTTPS URLs |

Quick Diagnostic Script

set -euo pipefail

echo "=== Exa Diagnostics ==="
echo "API Key: ${EXA_API_KEY:+SET (${#EXA_API_KEY} chars)}"

# Test basic connectivity
echo -n "API connectivity: "
HTTP_CODE=$(curl -s -o /tmp/exa-test.json -w "%{http_code}" \
  -X POST https://api.exa.ai/search \
  -H "x-api-key: $EXA_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query":"connectivity test","numResults":1}')
echo "$HTTP_CODE"

if [ "$HTTP_CODE" != "200" ]; then
  echo "Error response:"
  cat /tmp/exa-test.json | python3 -m json.tool 2>/dev/null || cat /tmp/exa-test.json
fi

Instructions

Check the HTTP status code from the error response
Match the error tag to the tables above
Apply the documented solution
Include requestId from error responses when contacting support

Resources

Next Steps

For comprehensive debugging, see exa-debug-bundle. For rate limit patterns, see exa-rate-limits.

Agent Skills: Exa Common Errors

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