Search API Reference

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Overview

Endpoint: POST https://api.exa.ai/search Auth: Pass your API key via the x-api-key header. Get one at https://dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys

Installation

pip install exa-py    # Python
npm install exa-js    # JavaScript

Minimal Working Example

curl -X POST "https://api.exa.ai/search" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"query": "latest developments in LLMs", "contents": {"highlights": {"maxCharacters": 4000}}}'

from exa_py import Exa
exa = Exa(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")
result = exa.search("latest developments in LLMs", contents={"highlights": {"max_characters": 4000}})

import Exa from "exa-js";
const exa = new Exa("YOUR_API_KEY");
const result = await exa.search("latest developments in LLMs", { contents: { highlights: { maxCharacters: 4000 } } });

Request Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`query`	string	(required)	Natural language search query. Supports long, semantically rich descriptions.
`type`	string	`"auto"`	Search method: `auto`, `fast`, `instant`, `deep`, `deep-reasoning`.
`numResults`	integer	`10`	Number of results (1-100).
`category`	string	—	Focus on specific content: `company`, `people`, `research paper`, `news`, `tweet`, `personal site`, `financial report`.
`userLocation`	string	—	Two-letter ISO country code (e.g. `"US"`).
`includeDomains`	string[]	—	Only return results from these domains. Max 1200.
`excludeDomains`	string[]	—	Exclude results from these domains. Max 1200.
`startPublishedDate`	string	—	ISO 8601 date. Only return links published after this date.
`endPublishedDate`	string	—	ISO 8601 date. Only return links published before this date.
`startCrawlDate`	string	—	ISO 8601 date. Only return links crawled after this date.
`endCrawlDate`	string	—	ISO 8601 date. Only return links crawled before this date.
`includeText`	string[]	—	Strings that must appear in results. Max 1 string, up to 5 words.
`excludeText`	string[]	—	Strings that must NOT appear in results. Max 1 string, up to 5 words. Checks first 1000 words.
`moderation`	boolean	`false`	Filter unsafe content from results.
`additionalQueries`	string[]	—	Extra query variations for deep search only. Used alongside main query.
`systemPrompt`	string	—	Deep search only. Instructions guiding search planning and result synthesis.
`outputSchema`	object	—	Deep search only. JSON schema for structured `output.content`. See Deep Output Schema section.

Contents Parameters (nested under `contents`)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`contents.text`	boolean or object	—	Return full page text as markdown. Object form: `{maxCharacters, includeHtmlTags, verbosity, includeSections, excludeSections}`.
`contents.highlights`	boolean or object	—	Return key excerpts relevant to query. Object form: `{maxCharacters, query}`.
`contents.summary`	boolean or object	—	Return LLM-generated summary. Object form: `{query, schema}`.
`contents.livecrawlTimeout`	integer	`10000`	Timeout for livecrawling in milliseconds.
`contents.maxAgeHours`	integer	—	Max age of cached content in hours. `0` = always livecrawl. `-1` = never livecrawl. Omit for default (livecrawl as fallback).
`contents.subpages`	integer	`0`	Number of subpages to crawl per result.
`contents.subpageTarget`	string or string[]	—	Keywords to prioritize when selecting subpages.
`contents.extras.links`	integer	`0`	Number of URLs to extract from each page.
`contents.extras.imageLinks`	integer	`0`	Number of image URLs to extract from each page.

Text Object Options

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`maxCharacters`	integer	—	Character limit for returned text.
`includeHtmlTags`	boolean	`false`	Preserve HTML tags in output.
`verbosity`	string	`"compact"`	`compact`, `standard`, or `full`. Should use `maxAgeHours: 0` for fresh content.
`includeSections`	string[]	—	Only include these page sections: `header`, `navigation`, `banner`, `body`, `sidebar`, `footer`, `metadata`. Should use `maxAgeHours: 0` for fresh content.
`excludeSections`	string[]	—	Exclude these page sections. Same options as `includeSections`. Should use `maxAgeHours: 0` for fresh content.

Highlights Object Options

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`maxCharacters`	integer	—	Maximum characters for highlights.
`query`	string	—	Custom query to direct highlight selection.

Summary Object Options

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`query`	string	—	Custom query for the summary.
`schema`	object	—	JSON Schema for structured summary output.

Token Efficiency

Choosing the right content mode can significantly reduce token usage while maintaining answer quality.

Mode	Best For
`text`	Deep analysis, when you need full context, broad research
`highlights`	Factual questions, specific lookups, multi-step agent workflows
`summary`	Quick overviews, structured extraction, when you want tighter output size control

Use highlights for agent workflows. When building multi-step agents that make repeated search calls, highlights provide the most relevant excerpts without flooding context windows. For real-time information, set contents.maxAgeHours: 0 to force livecrawl, knowing that this may increase latency.

{
  "query": "What is the current Fed interest rate?",
  "contents": {
    "highlights": {
      "maxCharacters": 4000
    },
    "maxAgeHours": 0
  }
}

Use full text for deep research. When the task requires deeper understanding or when you’re unsure which parts of the page matter, request full text and cap it with maxCharacters.

{
  "query": "detailed analysis of transformer architecture innovations",
  "numResults": 5,
  "contents": {
    "text": {
      "maxCharacters": 15000
    }
  }
}

Combine modes strategically. You can request both highlights and text together. Use highlights for quick answers and fall back to full text only when needed.

Search Types

auto (default): Balance of speed and quality
fast: Low latency. Optimized search models. Good balance of speed and quality.
instant: Lowest latency. Optimized for real-time apps (e.g., chat, voice)
deep: Multi-step search with reasoning and structured outputs
deep-reasoning: Deep search with maximum reasoning capability for every step

Category	Best For	Restrictions
`company`	Company pages, LinkedIn company profiles	Does NOT support: `startPublishedDate`, `endPublishedDate`, `startCrawlDate`, `endCrawlDate`, `includeText`, `excludeText`, `excludeDomains`.
`people`	Multi-source people data, LinkedIn profiles	Does NOT support: `startPublishedDate`, `endPublishedDate`, `startCrawlDate`, `endCrawlDate`, `includeText`, `excludeText`, `excludeDomains`. `includeDomains` only accepts LinkedIn domains.
`research paper`	Academic papers, arXiv	—
`news`	Current events, journalism	—
`tweet`	Posts from X/Twitter	—
`personal site`	Blogs, personal pages	—
`financial report`	SEC filings, earnings reports	—

Deep Output Schema

For type: "deep" or type: "deep-reasoning", use outputSchema to control the shape of output.content:

{"type": "text", "description": "..."} — returns plain text output
{"type": "object", "properties": {...}, "required": [...]} — returns structured JSON

Limits: max nesting depth 2, max total properties 10. Do NOT include citation or confidence fields in your schema — deep search returns grounding data automatically in output.grounding.

Response Schema

{
  "requestId": "b5947044c4b78efa9552a7c89b306d95",
  "searchType": "neural",
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "Page Title",
      "url": "https://example.com/page",
      "id": "https://example.com/page",
      "publishedDate": "2024-01-15T00:00:00.000Z",
      "author": "Author Name",
      "image": "https://example.com/image.png",
      "favicon": "https://example.com/favicon.ico",
      "text": "Full page content as markdown...",
      "highlights": [
        "Key excerpt from the page..."
      ],
      "highlightScores": [0.46],
      "summary": "LLM-generated summary...",
      "subpages": [],
      "extras": {
        "links": ["https://example.com/related"]
      }
    }
  ],
  "output": {
    "content": "Synthesized answer or structured object (deep search only)",
    "grounding": [
      {
        "field": "content",
        "citations": [
          {"url": "https://example.com", "title": "Source Title"}
        ],
        "confidence": "high"
      }
    ]
  },
  "costDollars": {
    "total": 0.007
  }
}

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
`requestId`	string	Unique request identifier.
`searchType`	string	Which search type was used (for `auto` queries).
`results`	array	List of result objects.
`results[].title`	string	Page title.
`results[].url`	string	Page URL.
`results[].id`	string	Document ID (same as URL). Use with `/contents` endpoint.
`results[].publishedDate`	string or null	Estimated publication date (YYYY-MM-DD format).
`results[].author`	string or null	Author if available.
`results[].image`	string	Associated image URL if available.
`results[].favicon`	string	Favicon URL for the domain.
`results[].text`	string	Full page text (if `contents.text` requested).
`results[].highlights`	string[]	Key excerpts (if `contents.highlights` requested).
`results[].highlightScores`	float[]	Cosine similarity scores for each highlight.
`results[].summary`	string	LLM summary (if `contents.summary` requested).
`results[].subpages`	array	Nested results from subpage crawling.
`results[].extras.links`	string[]	Extracted links from the page.
`output`	object	Deep search synthesized output (only for `deep`/`deep-reasoning`).
`output.content`	string or object	Synthesized answer. String by default, object when `outputSchema` is provided.
`output.grounding`	array	Field-level citations and confidence scores.
`output.grounding[].field`	string	Field path (e.g. `"content"`, `"companies[0].funding"`).
`output.grounding[].citations`	array	Sources: `{url, title}`.
`output.grounding[].confidence`	string	`"low"`, `"medium"`, or `"high"`.
`costDollars.total`	float	Total dollar cost for the request.

Error Handling

HTTP Status	Meaning
400	Bad request — invalid parameters, unsupported filter for category.
401	Invalid or missing API key.
422	Validation error — check parameter types and constraints.
429	Rate limit exceeded.
500	Internal server error.

Error response shape:

{
  "error": "Error message describing the issue"
}

Common Mistakes

LLMs frequently generate these incorrect parameters. Do NOT use any of the following:

Wrong	Correct
`useAutoprompt: true`	Remove it. `useAutoprompt` is deprecated and does nothing.
`includeUrls` / `excludeUrls`	Use `includeDomains` / `excludeDomains` instead. There are no URL-level include/exclude filters.
`stream: true`	Remove it. The `/search` endpoint does not support streaming.
`text: true` (top-level)	Nest under `contents`: `"contents": {"text": true}`. The `/search` endpoint requires content params inside `contents`.
`summary: true` (top-level)	Nest under `contents`: `"contents": {"summary": true}`. Same nesting rule as `text`.
`highlights: {...}` (top-level)	Nest under `contents`: `"contents": {"highlights": {...}}`.
`numSentences`	Remove it. This highlights parameter is deprecated. Use `maxCharacters` instead.
`highlightsPerUrl`	Remove it. This highlights parameter is deprecated. Use `maxCharacters` instead.
`tokensNum`	Remove it. This parameter does not exist. Use `contents.text.maxCharacters` to limit text length.
`livecrawl: "always"`	Use `contents.maxAgeHours: 0` instead. The `livecrawl` parameter is deprecated.
`excludeDomains` with `category: "company"` or `"people"`	Remove `excludeDomains`. These categories do not support `excludeDomains`, `startPublishedDate`, `endPublishedDate`, `startCrawlDate`, `endCrawlDate`, `includeText`, or `excludeText`. Using them returns a 400 error.

Remember: On the /search endpoint, text, highlights, and summary must all be nested inside the contents object. This is different from the /contents endpoint where they are top-level.

Patterns and Gotchas

Use highlights over text for agent workflows. Highlights return 10x fewer tokens with the most relevant excerpts. Set maxCharacters to control budget.
auto is almost always the right type. Only use fast/instant when latency matters more than quality, or deep for complex multi-step queries.
maxAgeHours: 0 forces livecrawl on every result. This increases latency. Omit maxAgeHours for the default (livecrawl only when no cache exists).
category: "company" and category: "people" disable many filters. Date filters, text filters, and excludeDomains are not supported. Using them returns a 400 error.
outputSchema only works with type: "deep" or type: "deep-reasoning". It is ignored for other search types.
Deep search systemPrompt controls behavior, outputSchema controls shape. Use systemPrompt for instructions like “prefer official sources”; use outputSchema for the JSON structure you want.
Python SDK uses snake_case — including dictionary keys. numResults → num_results, maxCharacters → max_characters, outputSchema → output_schema, etc. This applies inside contents dicts too: contents={"highlights": {"max_characters": 4000}}, NOT {"highlights": {"maxCharacters": 4000}}. JavaScript SDK and raw JSON (cURL) use camelCase: contents: { highlights: { maxCharacters: 4000 } }.
Combine content modes. You can request text, highlights, and summary in the same call — all nested under contents.
useAutoprompt is deprecated. Do not include it in requests.

Complete Examples

Basic search with highlights

{
  "query": "recent breakthroughs in quantum computing",
  "type": "auto",
  "numResults": 5,
  "contents": {
    "highlights": {
      "maxCharacters": 4000
    }
  }
}

Domain-filtered news search

{
  "query": "AI regulation policy updates",
  "type": "auto",
  "category": "news",
  "numResults": 10,
  "includeDomains": ["reuters.com", "nytimes.com", "bbc.com"],
  "startPublishedDate": "2025-01-01",
  "contents": {
    "highlights": {
      "maxCharacters": 2000
    }
  }
}

Deep search with structured output

{
  "query": "compare the latest frontier AI model releases",
  "type": "deep",
  "systemPrompt": "Prefer official sources and avoid duplicate results",
  "outputSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "required": ["models"],
    "properties": {
      "models": {
        "type": "array",
        "items": {
          "type": "object",
          "required": ["name", "notable_claims"],
          "properties": {
            "name": {"type": "string"},
            "notable_claims": {"type": "array", "items": {"type": "string"}}
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Company research

{
  "query": "agtech companies in the US that have raised series A",
  "type": "auto",
  "category": "company",
  "numResults": 10,
  "contents": {
    "highlights": {
      "maxCharacters": 4000
    }
  }
}

API

MCP

SDKs

Integrations

Admin

Additional Resources

Search API Reference

Overview

Installation

Minimal Working Example

Request Parameters

Contents Parameters (nested under `contents`)

Text Object Options

Highlights Object Options

Summary Object Options

Token Efficiency

Search Types

Category Filters

Deep Output Schema

Response Schema

Response Fields

Error Handling

Common Mistakes

Patterns and Gotchas

Complete Examples

Basic search with highlights

Domain-filtered news search

Deep search with structured output

Company research

API

MCP

SDKs

Integrations

Admin

Additional Resources

​Overview

​Installation

​Minimal Working Example

​Request Parameters

​Contents Parameters (nested under contents)

​Text Object Options

​Highlights Object Options

​Summary Object Options

​Token Efficiency

​Search Types

​Category Filters

​Deep Output Schema

​Response Schema

​Response Fields

​Error Handling

​Common Mistakes

​Patterns and Gotchas

​Complete Examples

​Basic search with highlights

​Domain-filtered news search

​Deep search with structured output

​Company research

Overview

Installation

Minimal Working Example

Request Parameters

Contents Parameters (nested under `contents`)

Text Object Options

Highlights Object Options

Summary Object Options

Token Efficiency

Search Types

Category Filters

Deep Output Schema

Response Schema

Response Fields

Error Handling

Common Mistakes

Patterns and Gotchas

Complete Examples

Basic search with highlights

Domain-filtered news search

Deep search with structured output

Company research