adolf/docs/tools/exa-search.md

summary, read_when, title

summary	read_when	title
Exa AI search -- neural and keyword search with content extraction	You want to use Exa for web_search You need an EXA_API_KEY You want neural search or content extraction	Exa search

Exa AI is a web_search provider with neural, keyword, and hybrid search modes plus built-in content extraction (highlights, text, summaries).

Install plugin

openclaw plugins install @openclaw/exa-plugin
openclaw gateway restart

Get an API key

Sign up at [exa.ai](https://exa.ai/) and generate an API key from your dashboard. Set `EXA_API_KEY` in the Gateway environment, or configure via:

```bash
openclaw configure --section web
```

Config

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      exa: {
        config: {
          webSearch: {
            apiKey: "exa-...", // optional if EXA_API_KEY is set
            baseUrl: "https://api.exa.ai", // optional; OpenClaw appends /search
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
  tools: {
    web: {
      search: {
        provider: "exa",
      },
    },
  },
}

Environment alternative: set EXA_API_KEY in the Gateway environment. For a gateway install, put it in ~/.openclaw/.env. See Env vars.

Base URL override

Set plugins.entries.exa.config.webSearch.baseUrl to route Exa search requests through a compatible proxy or alternate endpoint. OpenClaw normalizes bare hosts by prepending https:// and appends /search unless the path already ends there. The resolved endpoint is part of the search cache key, so results from different endpoints are never shared.

Tool parameters

Search query. Results to return (1-100, subject to Exa search-type limits). Search mode. Time filter. Cannot be combined with `date_after`/`date_before`. Results after this date (`YYYY-MM-DD`). Results before this date (`YYYY-MM-DD`). Content extraction options (see below).

Content extraction

Pass a contents object to control extracted content in results:

await web_search({
  query: "transformer architecture explained",
  type: "neural",
  contents: {
    text: true, // full page text
    highlights: { numSentences: 3 }, // key sentences
    summary: true, // AI summary
  },
});

Contents option	Type	Description
text	boolean | { maxCharacters }	Extract full page text
highlights	boolean | { maxCharacters, query, numSentences, highlightsPerUrl }	Extract key sentences
summary	boolean | { query }	AI-generated summary

If contents is omitted, Exa defaults to { highlights: true } so results include key-sentence excerpts. Result descriptions resolve from highlights first, then summary, then full text -- whichever is available first. Results also preserve the raw highlightScores and summary fields from the Exa API response when available.

Search modes

Mode	Description
auto	Exa picks the best mode (default)
neural	Semantic/meaning-based search
fast	Quick keyword search
deep	Thorough deep search
deep-reasoning	Deep search with reasoning
instant	Fastest results

Notes

• count accepts up to 100, subject to Exa search-type limits.
• Results are cached for 15 minutes by default. Configure the shared tools.web.search.cacheTtlMinutes (minutes) and tools.web.search.timeoutSeconds (default 30s) to change caching and request timeout for all web_search providers, including Exa.

Related

• Web Search overview -- all providers and auto-detection
• Brave Search -- structured results with country/language filters
• Perplexity Search -- structured results with domain filtering