| 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 toolweb_fetch_exa: fetch one or more URLs as markdownweb_search_advanced_exa: use only when filters or advanced options are needed
Workflow
- Run
list_tools to confirm what the current server exposes.
- For most tasks, start with
web_search_exa.
- If the user already has URLs, or search results need full content, use
web_fetch_exa.
- Use
web_search_advanced_exa only when the task needs filters such as domains, categories, dates, highlights, summaries, or subpage crawling.
- Prefer the current tools above as the main operating path.
Commands
python3 /var/minis/skills/exa-search/scripts/query.py list_tools
python3 /var/minis/skills/exa-search/scripts/query.py call_tool web_search_exa '{"query":"latest changes in Exa MCP docs","numResults":5}'
python3 /var/minis/skills/exa-search/scripts/query.py call_tool web_fetch_exa '{"urls":["https://exa.ai/docs/reference/exa-mcp"]}'
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.
