Exa Semantic Search Skill

Exa Semantic Search

Overview

Exa.ai provides neural semantic search optimized for AI consumption. Use when meaning matters more than keywords.

Decision Flowchart

digraph exa_decision {
    rankdir=TB;
    node [shape=box];

    start [label="Need to search the web?" shape=diamond];
    known_url [label="Do you have\na specific URL?" shape=diamond];
    semantic [label="Is this semantic/conceptual?\n(meaning > keywords)" shape=diamond];
    recent [label="Need very recent\nnews/events?" shape=diamond];
    code [label="Is this a coding/\nAPI question?" shape=diamond];

    webfetch [label="WebFetch" shape=box style=filled fillcolor=lightblue];
    websearch [label="WebSearch" shape=box style=filled fillcolor=lightgreen];
    exa_web [label="mcp__exa__web_search_exa" shape=box style=filled fillcolor=lightyellow];
    exa_code [label="mcp__exa__get_code_context_exa" shape=box style=filled fillcolor=lightyellow];

    start -> known_url [label="yes"];
    start -> known_url [label="no" style=invis];
    known_url -> webfetch [label="yes"];
    known_url -> semantic [label="no"];
    semantic -> code [label="yes"];
    semantic -> recent [label="no"];
    code -> exa_code [label="yes"];
    code -> exa_web [label="no"];
    recent -> websearch [label="yes"];
    recent -> websearch [label="no"];
}

Quick Reference

| Scenario | Tool | Why | |----------|------|-----| | "Find papers on emergent AI behavior" | mcp__exa__web_search_exa | Semantic discovery | | "Companies similar to Anthropic" | mcp__exa__web_search_exa | Similar content | | "How to use React hooks" | mcp__exa__get_code_context_exa | Coding context | | "Latest news on X" | WebSearch | Recency matters | | "Read this URL: [link]" | WebFetch | Known URL | | "error: module not found XYZ" | WebSearch | Exact keyword match | | "CVE-2024-12345" | WebSearch | Specific identifier |

Tool Usage

mcpexaweb_search_exa

query: "semantic query describing concepts"
numResults: 8 (default, adjust as needed)
type: "auto" | "fast" | "deep"

mcpexaget_code_context_exa

query: "React useState hook examples" | "Express middleware patterns"
tokensNum: 5000 (default, 1000-50000 range)

Integration Patterns

Discovery + Extraction:

Exa finds relevant sources semantically
WebFetch extracts full content from best URLs

Multi-perspective research:

Exa: "academic perspectives on X"
Exa: "industry implementation of X"
Exa: "critiques of X"
Synthesize

Fallback:

Try Exa for semantic search
If results poor, fall back to WebSearch with keywords

Anti-Patterns

| Don't | Do Instead | |-------|------------| | "python pandas filter dataframe" | Use WebSearch (keyword query) | | Run 10 similar queries | Consolidate into 2-3 well-crafted queries | | "what is React" | Use knowledge or WebSearch | | "breaking news today" | Use WebSearch |

When Results Are Poor

Switch search type: auto vs fast vs deep
Rephrase: more semantic/descriptive
Add domain filters via allowed_domains
Fall back to WebSearch for keyword matching

Agent Skills: Exa Semantic Search

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