OpenClaw

OpenClaw supports Exa as a native web_search provider. Once selected, every OpenClaw agent can use Exa search modes, date filters, and content extraction through the built-in web tool.

Set up Exa

Install the Exa plugin

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

Get an Exa API key

Get your Exa API key

Create a key in the dashboard. New accounts start with free credits.

Store the key

For a gateway installation, add the key to ~/.openclaw/.env:

~/.openclaw/.env

EXA_API_KEY=your-exa-api-key

Restart the gateway after changing its environment.

Select Exa for web search

Run:

openclaw configure --section web

Choose Exa as the web search provider. OpenClaw stores the provider selection in its configuration and reads the credential from EXA_API_KEY.

Configure manually

You can select Exa directly in OpenClaw’s JSON5 configuration:

{
  tools: {
    web: {
      search: {
        provider: "exa",
      },
    },
  },
}

To store the key in configuration instead of the gateway environment:

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      exa: {
        config: {
          webSearch: {
            apiKey: "exa-...",
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Prefer EXA_API_KEY or an OpenClaw SecretRef over committing an API key to a configuration file.

What agents can request

OpenClaw exposes Exa through web_search.

Parameter	Purpose
`query`	The web search query.
`count`	Number of results, up to 100 and subject to the selected search type’s limit.
`type`	Exa search mode, including `auto`, `neural`, `fast`, `instant`, `deep`, and `deep-reasoning`.
`freshness`	Restrict results to a recent day, week, month, or year.
`date_after` / `date_before`	Restrict results with `YYYY-MM-DD` boundaries.
`contents`	Return full text, highlights, or summaries with each result.

If contents is omitted, OpenClaw requests highlights by default. The agent can ask for a different content shape when it needs complete pages or summaries:

await web_search({
  query: "transformer architecture explained",
  type: "neural",
  contents: {
    text: { maxCharacters: 5000 },
    highlights: { numSentences: 3 },
    summary: true,
  },
});

OpenClaw caches web search results for 15 minutes by default. Change tools.web.search.cacheTtlMinutes or set it to 0 when every request must be fresh.

Troubleshooting

OpenClaw does not show Exa as a provider

Install @openclaw/exa-plugin, restart the gateway, and run openclaw configure --section web again.

OpenClaw reports a missing Exa key

Check that EXA_API_KEY is available to the gateway process, not only your interactive shell. For a gateway install, place it in ~/.openclaw/.env and restart the gateway.

Search results appear stale

OpenClaw caches results independently of Exa. Lower tools.web.search.cacheTtlMinutes or set it to 0, then use Exa content freshness options when requesting page contents.

Resources

OpenClaw Exa provider

Review the current plugin configuration and tool parameters.

Exa Search

Compare Exa search modes and response formats.

Content freshness

Control indexed and live-retrieved page contents.

Get Started

Search

Agent

Other APIs

SDKs

Integrations

Admin

Websets

Set up Exa

Get your Exa API key

Configure manually

What agents can request

Troubleshooting

Resources

OpenClaw Exa provider

Exa Search

Content freshness

​Set up Exa

Get your Exa API key

​Configure manually

​What agents can request

​Troubleshooting

​Resources

OpenClaw Exa provider

Exa Search

Content freshness

Set up Exa

Configure manually

What agents can request

Troubleshooting

Resources