# People Research

> People research using Exa search. Finds LinkedIn profiles, professional backgrounds, experts, team members, and public bios across the web.

- Skill: `majiayu000/people-research` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add majiayu000/people-research`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/majiayu000/people-research/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Research & Search
- Author: majiayu000 (https://skillmd.com/u/majiayu000)
- Updated: 2026-09-09
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/majiayu000/people-research

---


# People Research

## Tool Restriction (Critical)

ONLY use `web_search_advanced_exa`. Do NOT use `web_search_exa` or any other Exa tools.

## Token Isolation (Critical)

Never run Exa searches in main context. Always spawn Task agents:
- Agent runs Exa search internally
- Agent processes results using LLM intelligence
- Agent returns only distilled output (compact JSON or brief markdown)
- Main context stays clean regardless of search volume

## Dynamic Tuning

No hardcoded numResults. Tune to user intent:
- User says "a few" → 10-20
- User says "comprehensive" → 50-100
- User specifies number → match it
- Ambiguous? Ask: "How many profiles would you like?"

## Query Variation

Exa returns different results for different phrasings. For coverage:
- Generate 2-3 query variations
- Run in parallel
- Merge and deduplicate

## Categories

Use appropriate Exa `category` depending on what you need:
- `people` → LinkedIn profiles, public bios (primary for discovery)
- `personal site` → personal blogs, portfolio sites, about pages
- `news` → press mentions, interviews, speaker bios
- No category (`type: "auto"`) → general web results, broader context

Start with `category: "people"` for profile discovery, then use other categories or no category with `livecrawl: "fallback"` for deeper research on specific individuals.

### Category-Specific Filter Restrictions

When using `category: "people"`, these parameters cause errors:
- `startPublishedDate` / `endPublishedDate`
- `startCrawlDate` / `endCrawlDate`
- `includeText` / `excludeText`
- `excludeDomains`
- `includeDomains` — **LinkedIn domains only** (e.g., "linkedin.com")

When searching without a category, all parameters are available (but `includeText`/`excludeText` still only support single-item arrays).

## LinkedIn

Public LinkedIn via Exa: `category: "people"`, no other filters.
Auth-required LinkedIn → use Claude in Chrome browser fallback.

## Browser Fallback

Auto-fallback to Claude in Chrome when:
- Exa returns insufficient results
- Content is auth-gated
- Dynamic pages need JavaScript

## Models

- haiku: fast extraction (listing, discovery)
- opus: synthesis, analysis, browser automation

## Examples

### Discovery: find people by role
```
web_search_advanced_exa {
  "query": "VP Engineering AI infrastructure",
  "category": "people",
  "numResults": 20,
  "type": "auto"
}
```

### With query variations
```
web_search_advanced_exa {
  "query": "machine learning engineer San Francisco",
  "category": "people",
  "additionalQueries": ["ML engineer SF", "AI engineer Bay Area"],
  "numResults": 25,
  "type": "deep"
}
```

### Deep dive: research a specific person
```
web_search_advanced_exa {
  "query": "Dario Amodei Anthropic CEO background",
  "type": "auto",
  "livecrawl": "fallback",
  "numResults": 15
}
```

### News mentions
```
web_search_advanced_exa {
  "query": "Dario Amodei interview",
  "category": "news",
  "numResults": 10,
  "startPublishedDate": "2024-01-01"
}
```

## Output Format

Return:
1) Results (name, title, company, location if available)
2) Sources (Profile URLs)
3) Notes (profile completeness, verification status)