---

name: exa-search description: > Use the exa CLI to search the web via Exa's API. Use when the user asks to run Exa search, fetch contents, find similar links, or get answers using the exa command-line tool.

Exa Search CLI

Agent-first, non-interactive CLI wrapper for Exa Search API. Default output is JSON.

Quick start

1. Ensure EXA_API_KEY is set.
2. Run exa --help to see all commands and examples.
3. Use exa search, exa contents, exa find-similar, or exa answer.
4. Use --plain for stable, line-based output when needed.

Commands

• exa search <query>: semantic search; supports filters and content options.
• exa contents <url...>: fetch contents for URLs.
• exa find-similar <url>: find similar links to a URL.
• exa answer <query>: grounded Q&A; supports --stream.

Output modes

• Default: JSON to stdout.
• --plain: stable, line-based output.
• Errors: stderr (JSON unless --plain).

Shared content options

Available on search, contents, and find-similar:

• --text, --text-max-characters, --text-include-html-tags
• --highlights, --highlights-num-sentences, --highlights-per-url, --highlights-query
• --summary, --summary-query, --summary-schema <json|@file>
• --context, --context-max-characters
• --livecrawl <never|fallback|preferred|always>, --livecrawl-timeout <ms>
• --subpages, --subpage-target
• --extras-links, --extras-image-links

Examples

Search:

Copyexa search "latest developments in quantum computing"
exa search "AI chips roadmap" --type deep --additional-query "GPU roadmap" --num-results 25
exa search "LLM hallucinations" --include-domain arxiv.org --text --text-max-characters 2000

Find similar:

Copyexa find-similar https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.06435 --num-results 5 --text
exa find-similar https://example.com --exclude-domain example.com --summary

Contents:

Copyexa contents https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.06435 --text --summary --summary-query "key findings"
exa contents https://example.com --highlights --highlights-per-url 2 --highlights-num-sentences 2

Answer:

Copyexa answer "What is the population of New York City?"
exa answer "state of solid-state batteries" --stream

Plain output:

Copyexa search "openai" --num-results 3 --plain
exa find-similar https://openai.com --num-results 3 --plain
exa contents https://openai.com --plain
exa answer "What is the capital of France?" --plain

Dry run:

Copyexa search "openai" --num-results 1 --dry-run
exa contents https://openai.com --text --dry-run