> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://exa.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Common mistakes

# Common Mistakes Reference

Frequent Exa parameter-shape and deprecation mistakes, with corrections.

## Canonical Docs Links

* Base docs URL: `https://exa.ai/docs`
* Search coding-agent reference: `/reference/search-api-guide-for-coding-agents`
* Contents coding-agent reference: `/reference/contents-api-guide-for-coding-agents`
* Monitors coding-agent reference: `/reference/monitors-api-guide-for-coding-agents`

## Corrections

| Wrong                                                                    | Correct                                                                                                                          |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `text: true` at the top level on `/search`                               | Nest it: `"contents": {"text": true}`                                                                                            |
| `highlights: {...}` at the top level on `/search`                        | Nest it: `"contents": {"highlights": {...}}`                                                                                     |
| `summary: true` at the top level on `/search`                            | Nest it: `"contents": {"summary": true}`                                                                                         |
| `contents: { text: ... }` on `/contents`                                 | On `/contents`, `text`, `highlights`, and `summary` are top-level fields                                                         |
| `tokensNum` on `/search` or `/contents`                                  | `tokensNum` belongs to `/context`, not search or contents                                                                        |
| `includeUrls` / `excludeUrls`                                            | Use `includeDomains` / `excludeDomains`                                                                                          |
| `useAutoprompt` in new requests                                          | Remove it; it is deprecated                                                                                                      |
| `numSentences` for highlights                                            | Use `maxCharacters` or `highlights: true`                                                                                        |
| `highlightsPerUrl` for highlights                                        | Remove it; it is deprecated                                                                                                      |
| `livecrawl` as new default guidance                                      | Prefer `maxAgeHours` for new examples                                                                                            |
| `livecrawl: "true"`                                                      | Do not pass the string `"true"`; it can silently fall back to `never`                                                            |
| Stacking `text`, `highlights`, and `summary` on every search             | Pick one. `summary` adds a per-result LLM call; combining `text` and `highlights` doubles billing for two views of the same page |
| `category: "github"`, `"documentation"`, `"qa"`, `"pdf"`                 | Stick to the documented category set. For code queries use `type: "fast"` or the `/context` endpoint                             |
| `stream: true` on `/contents`                                            | `/contents` does not support streaming                                                                                           |
| raw JSON field names copied into core Python SDK methods like `search()` | Convert to `snake_case`                                                                                                          |
| Python `maxCharacters`                                                   | Use `max_characters`                                                                                                             |
| Python `outputSchema`                                                    | Use `output_schema`                                                                                                              |
| Python `numResults`                                                      | Use `num_results`                                                                                                                |
| `searchParams` on monitors                                               | Use `search`                                                                                                                     |
| `schedule: "1h"` on monitors                                             | Use `trigger: { "type": "interval", "period": "1h" }`                                                                            |

## High-Risk Shape Confusions

### Search vs Contents

* search endpoint: nested `contents`
* contents endpoint: top-level `text`, `highlights`, `summary`

### Context vs Search

* context endpoint: `tokensNum`
* search endpoint: content sizing belongs under `contents.text.maxCharacters`