---
id: mxyhi/ok-skills/exa-search
version: "b0eb5ab3"
license: Apache-2.0
install: manual
updated: 2026-07-23
---

# exa-search — exa-search connects to Exa's MCP endpoint for live web queries, code documentation lookup, and full-page retrieval. Use the simple search tool for basic queries or the advanced variant for filtered results by date, domain, category, or content. Fetch complete pages when search highlights aren't enough.

Publisher: mxyhi · Stars: 458 · Updated: 2026-07-23

Install (manual): `git clone https://github.com/mxyhi/ok-skills`

## SKILL.md

# Exa MCP Search

Use this skill when online search, page fetch, code/docs lookup, company research, people research, or Exa MCP parameter checks are needed.

## Current Source Of Truth

- Hosted MCP endpoint: `https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp`
- Official source: `exa-labs/exa-mcp-server@0de23f94b7e8539192bdc2008c16592156ada870`
- Current npm package checked: `exa-mcp-server@3.2.1`; verified tarball SHA-256 `675688dffcd746b8bb6ac7f077b64b7382c4a305f948d44ba526e67be50396df`
- Tool schemas can change. Before adding new parameters, verify with `tools/list` through a normal HTTP client.

Direct MCP HTTP is the required invocation model for this skill. `curl` is fine, but keep the session and SSE parsing in small shell helpers instead of repeating low-level flags at every call site.

## Tool Choice

| Need | Prefer | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| General current web search | `web_search_exa` | Simple search. Only `query` and `numResults`. |
| Filtered search, dates, domains, categories, summaries, highlights, subpages | `web_search_advanced_exa` | Enable explicitly in `tools=`. Use this for company/people/papers/news filters. |
| Read known URLs fully | `web_fetch_exa` | Use after search when highlights are insufficient. |
| Code examples/docs | `web_search_exa` | `get_code_context_exa` still exists but is deprecated. |
| Company research | `web_search_advanced_exa` with `category:"company"` | `company_research_exa` still exists but is deprecated. |
| People/profiles | `web_search_advanced_exa` with `category:"people"` | `people_search_exa` still exists but is deprecated. |

## Core Parameters

### `web_search_exa`

- `query` required: semantically rich natural-language query. Can include `category:company` or `category:people`.
- `numResults` optional: default `10`.
- No `type`, `livecrawl`, `contextMaxCharacters`, or `tokensNum` on current hosted schema.

```json
{"query":"latest AI safety research June 2026","numResults":10}
```

### `web_search_advanced_exa`

- `query` required.
- Common optional filters: `numResults`, `type` (`auto` | `fast` | `instant`), `category`, `includeDomains`, `excludeDomains`, `startPublishedDate`, `endPublishedDate`, `startCrawlDate`, `endCrawlDate`, `includeText`, `excludeText`, `userLocation`, `moderation`, `additionalQueries`.
- Content controls: `textMaxCharacters`, `contextMaxCharacters`, `enableSummary`, `summaryQuery`, `enableHighlights`, `highlightsMaxCharacters`, `highlightsQuery`, `maxAgeHours`, `livecrawlTimeout`, `subpages`, `subpageTarget`.
- Deprecated highlight controls: `highlightsNumSentences`, `highlightsPerUrl`; prefer `highlightsMaxCharacters`.
- Categories include `company`, `publication`, `news`, `pdf`, `github`, `personal site`, `people`, `financial report`.

```json
{
  "query":"Anthropic funding valuation 2026",
  "category":"news",
  "includeDomains":["techcrunch.com","bloomberg.com"],
  "startPublishedDate":"2026-01-01",
  "numResults":10,
  "type":"auto",
  "enableHighlights":true
}
```

### `web_fetch_exa`

- `urls` required: array of URLs. Batch multiple URLs in one call.
- `maxCharacters` optional: default `3000`.

```json
{"urls":["https://docs.exa.ai/reference"],"maxCharacters":5000}
```

### Deprecated But Still Available

- `get_code_context_exa`: use `web_search_exa` instead. Current schema is `query`, `numResults`; old `tokensNum` is obsolete.
- `company_research_exa`: use `web_search_advanced_exa` with `category:"company"` instead. Schema is `companyName`, `numResults`; default `3`.
- `people_search_exa`: use `web_search_advanced_exa` with `category:"people"` instead.
- `crawling_exa`: use `web_fetch_exa` instead.
- `deep_search_exa`: use `web_search_advanced_exa` instead; current hosted MCP requires OAuth or an API key when this tool is requested.
- `deep_researcher_start` / `deep_researcher_check`: deprecated; use Exa Research API directly when needed.

## Curl Pattern

1. POST `initialize`; keep returned `Mcp-Session-Id` response header.
2. POST `notifications/initialized` with that header.
3. POST `tools/list` or `tools/call` with that header.
4. If response is `text/event-stream`, parse JSON from `data:` lines.

### Minimal Curl Helper

```bash
EXA_URL="https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?tools=web_search_exa,web_search_advanced_exa,web_fetch_exa"
EXA_SESSION_ID=""

exa_rpc() {
  local payload="$1"
  local session_header=()
  local response

  if [ -n "$EXA_SESSION_ID" ]; then
    session_header=(-H "Mcp-Session-Id: $EXA_SESSION_ID")
  fi

  response="$(curl -isS "$EXA_URL" \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H 'Accept: application/json, text/event-stream' \
    "${session_header[@]}" \
    --data "$payload")"

  if [ -z "$EXA_SESSION_ID" ]; then
    EXA_SESSION_ID="$(printf '%s\n' "$response" | awk 'tolower($0) ~ /^mcp-session-id:/ { sub(/^[^:]+:[[:space:]]*/, ""); gsub(/\r/, ""); print; exit }')"
  fi

  printf '%s\n' "$response" | sed -n 's/^data: //p'
}

exa_init() {
  exa_rpc '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2025-06-18","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"exa-curl","version":"0.1.0"}}}' >/dev/null
  exa_rpc '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"notifications/initialized"}' >/dev/null
}

exa_call() {
  local tool_name="$1"
  local arguments_json="$2"
  jq -nc --arg name "$tool_name" --argjson arguments "$arguments_json" \
    '{jsonrpc:"2.0",id:2,method:"tools/call",params:{name:$name,arguments:$arguments}}' |
    while IFS= read -r payload; do exa_rpc "$payload"; done
}

exa_init
exa_call web_search_exa '{"query":"latest AI safety research","numResults":5}'
```

Tool output format differs: `web_search_exa` returns formatted text, `web_search_advanced_exa` returns JSON text, and `web_fetch_exa` returns fetched page text.

## Research Practice

- For simple lookup, run one targeted `web_search_exa` call.
- For dated/current questions, calculate exact date ranges first and pass `startPublishedDate` / `endPublishedDate` through `web_search_advanced_exa`.
- For source-heavy tasks, fetch only the best URLs with `web_fetch_exa`; do not dump raw results into the final answer.
- For company/people/paper/news workflows, prefer `web_search_advanced_exa` categories rather than deprecated specialized tools.
- Mention source uncertainty when Exa returns sparse, conflicting, or old results.

## References

- Tool fields: `references/exa-tools.md`


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