exa-search

Exa Search

Requires API key: Get one at https://dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys

Header: x-api-key: $EXA_API_KEY

Use POST https://api.exa.ai/search for semantic web retrieval, ranked results, and optional result-level extraction in one raw HTTP call. Start with type: "auto" for general retrieval. Add contents only when the caller needs page text, highlights, summaries, freshness-controlled crawling, subpages, or extracted links.

Quick Start (cURL)

Basic search

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.exa.ai/search" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: $EXA_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "query": "latest developments in LLMs",
    "type": "auto",
    "numResults": 10
  }'

Search with highlights

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.exa.ai/search" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: $EXA_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "query": "latest developments in LLMs",
    "type": "auto",
    "numResults": 5,
    "contents": {
      "highlights": true
    }
  }'

With filters and freshness

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.exa.ai/search" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: $EXA_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "query": "AI regulation policy updates",
    "type": "auto",
    "category": "news",
    "numResults": 10,
    "includeDomains": ["reuters.com", "bbc.com"],
    "startPublishedDate": "2025-01-01",
    "contents": {
      "text": {
        "maxCharacters": 2000
      },
      "maxAgeHours": 24,
      "livecrawlTimeout": 12000
    }
  }'

Deep search

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.exa.ai/search" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: $EXA_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "query": "map the major technical and commercial tradeoffs in sodium-ion batteries for grid storage",
    "type": "deep",
    "numResults": 8
  }'

Endpoint

POST https://api.exa.ai/search

Authentication: x-api-key: <API_KEY> header. Exa also accepts Authorization: Bearer <API_KEY>, but prefer x-api-key in cURL examples for consistency.