exa-search（前搜索）

Exa Search

Use Exa directly over HTTP through the bundled cross-platform Python CLI.

Entry point

Cross-platform:

uv run --script <skill-dir>/scripts/cli.py ...

Set <skill-dir> to this skill directory. Do not rely on shell sourcing, executable bits, or shebang dispatch.

Credential check policy: run the documented CLI entrypoint first; it auto-loads a skill-local .env using the lookup order below. Only report missing credentials if the CLI itself fails after that lookup.

When to use

• Deeper web research with richer retrieval than lightweight search
• Fetching full-page contents from known URLs
• Grounded answer generation from web results
• Exa research mode for bigger synthesis tasks

Quick start

uv run --script <skill-dir>/scripts/cli.py search "best sqlite backup strategy" 5
uv run --script <skill-dir>/scripts/cli.py contents https://sqlite.org/backup.html
uv run --script <skill-dir>/scripts/cli.py answer "What is the capital of France?"
uv run --script <skill-dir>/scripts/cli.py research "Summarize the current state of OpenTelemetry in the Java ecosystem" exa-research

Credentials

• Keep .env beside this skill.
• CLI lookup order:

- EXA_SEARCH_ENV_FILE - skill .env - $SKILLS_DIR/exa-search/.env - nearest ancestor skills/exa-search/.env

• Tracked template: .env.example

Failure handling

• If a CLI run says EXA_API_KEY required, retry once with the documented uv run --script command; do not assume the parent shell env is authoritative.
• If env loading still fails, set EXA_SEARCH_ENV_FILE to the skill-local .env dynamically from the skill path rather than hard-coding a home directory.
• Distinguish env lookup failures from provider failures:

- EXA_API_KEY required means local env discovery failed. - HTTP 401, 402, 403, or similar means the API responded and the key/account/quota is the issue.

• When the API responds with an auth/billing/quota error, report that explicitly instead of claiming the skill lacks credentials.

Notes

• Auth header: x-api-key: $EXA_API_KEY
• search is the best default entrypoint.
• Use contents when you already know the target URL(s).
• Use post for advanced payloads not covered by convenience wrappers.
• For code-specific public usage patterns, prefer grep-app, gh, and context7 before forcing Exa.

Raw examples

uv run --script <skill-dir>/scripts/cli.py post /search '{"query":"rust async channels","numResults":5}'
uv run --script <skill-dir>/scripts/cli.py post /contents '{"urls":["https://example.com/article"]}'
uv run --script <skill-dir>/scripts/cli.py post /answer '{"query":"What is Bun?"}'

Validation

uv run --script <skill-dir>/scripts/cli.py --help

Query templates

See assets/query-templates.json.

Reference

See reference.md.