# Exa Search

> Use Exa Search API via `exa_search` for high-signal web retrieval and citation-ready summaries.

- Skill: `appautomaton/exa-search` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add appautomaton/exa-search`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/appautomaton/exa-search/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Research & Search
- Author: appautomaton (https://skillmd.com/u/appautomaton)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/appautomaton/exa-search

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# Exa Search (Skill)

Use the `exa_search` tool to retrieve high-signal sources from the public web, then write a concise, citation-ready answer.

## When to Activate

Activate when the user:

- Asks for **research**, **sources**, **citations**, or “search online”
- Wants **high-signal** / **less SEO** search results
- Uses a prompt starting with **`/exa`** (treat the rest as the query)

## How to Use

1. Turn the user request into a tight search query (include key entities + constraints).
2. Call `exa_search` with `includeHighlights: true` (default) to get snippets.
3. If deeper reading is needed, set `includeText: true` and keep `textMaxCharacters` small.
4. Summarize findings and **cite** each claim with the URL(s) returned by Exa.

## Recommended Defaults

- `numResults`: 5–10
- `includeHighlights`: true
- `includeText`: false (turn on only when needed)
- `includeSummary`: false (turn on when you want Exa to draft per-URL summaries)

## Notes / Failure Modes

- If the tool errors with “Missing Exa API key”, stop and ask the user to configure host env and restart.
  Do not read/write `.env`, do not restart gateway, and do not kill processes from this skill flow.
  In this repo, the key is expected in `config/.env` and restart is a user/host operation.
- If results are off-topic, tighten the query and/or use `includeDomains` / `excludeDomains`.