Answer Endpoint Reference
Grounded answer generation surface via POST /answer.
Canonical Docs Links
- Base docs URL:
https://exa.ai/docs
- Answer reference:
/reference/answer
- OpenAI-compatible guide:
/reference/openai-sdk
Contents
- Overview
- Request shape
- When to prefer
/answer
- Structured output
- Streaming
- Response shape
- Critical pitfalls
Overview
Use the answer endpoint when you want Exa to:
- run the retrieval step
- generate a direct answer or concise summary
- attach citations in one API response
This is the best fit when the application wants a grounded answer, not just ranked results.
Request Shape
Core Parameters
When To Prefer /answer
Use the answer endpoint when:
- you need a grounded answer with citations
- you do not need to manually inspect or rank raw results first
- the app interface is question-driven rather than retrieval-driven
Prefer the search endpoint when:
- your application needs the result list itself
- you want explicit control over
contents modes on each result
- you want deeper synthesized search flows via
deep or deep-reasoning
Structured Output
Use small, explicit schemas. The answer endpoint is good for question-shaped structured output, while the search endpoint is often the better fit for broader synthesized retrieval.
Streaming
When stream: true, the answer endpoint returns server-sent events. In SDKs, use the dedicated streaming helpers instead of passing stream=True into ordinary non-streaming helper calls.
TypeScript:
Response Shape
Typical non-streaming response fields:
answer
citations
requestId
costDollars
Each citation object may include URL, title, author, published date, and optionally text if requested.
Critical Pitfalls
- Use the answer endpoint for answer-shaped output, not as a substitute for full search result inspection.
- If you need rich per-result extraction controls, prefer the search endpoint.
- For SDK streaming, prefer
stream_answer or streamAnswer helpers over ad hoc raw flags.
Last modified on June 26, 2026