exa-search

name	exa-search
description	Search the web, read webpages as markdown, and run filtered web retrieval with Exa MCP. Use this skill whenever the user asks for current web information, web research, domain/date/category-filtered search, company or people lookup via search filters, or extracting clean page content from one or more URLs.

Exa Search

Use this skill for Exa MCP web retrieval.

When to Use

• Current web search
• Web research that needs clean LLM-ready results
• Domain, date, and category filtered search
• Company or people lookup through search filters
• Read full page content from known URLs as markdown

Preferred Tools

• web_search_exa: default search tool
• web_fetch_exa: fetch one or more URLs as markdown
• web_search_advanced_exa: use only when filters or advanced options are needed

Workflow

1. Run list_tools to confirm what the current server exposes.
2. For most tasks, start with web_search_exa.
3. If the user already has URLs, or search results need full content, use web_fetch_exa.
4. Use web_search_advanced_exa only when the task needs filters such as domains, categories, dates, highlights, summaries, or subpage crawling.
5. Prefer the current tools above as the main operating path.

Commands

# Inspect current MCP tools
python3 /var/minis/skills/exa-search/scripts/query.py list_tools

# General search
python3 /var/minis/skills/exa-search/scripts/query.py call_tool web_search_exa '{"query":"latest changes in Exa MCP docs","numResults":5}'

# Fetch page content
python3 /var/minis/skills/exa-search/scripts/query.py call_tool web_fetch_exa '{"urls":["https://exa.ai/docs/reference/exa-mcp"]}'

# Advanced search with filters
python3 /var/minis/skills/exa-search/scripts/query.py call_tool web_search_advanced_exa '{"query":"Exa MCP documentation","includeDomains":["exa.ai"],"numResults":5,"enableHighlights":true}'

Notes

• Base MCP URL: https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp
• Do not assume optional tools are enabled in every deployment; verify with list_tools.
• If the server exposes only the default tools, use web_search_exa + web_fetch_exa as the primary path.

Environment Variables

• EXA_API_KEY: optional for basic use, recommended for higher limits and better reliability.
• If missing when needed, prompt the user to Set EXA_API_KEY.