Exa Tool

Exa MCP integration for advanced search, research, and crawling.

Exa MCP Tool

This skill provides access to Exa's powerful search and research capabilities through the Exa MCP server.

Available Tools

General Purpose

• exa-search <tool> '{"json":"args"}' - Generic wrapper for any Exa MCP tool

Specialized Wrappers

• exa-web-search '{"query":"...", "count":10, "freshness":"pw", ...}' - Web search with optional filters

Full Tool List (via exa-search)

All tools from the Exa MCP server are available:

Tool	Description
web_search_exa	Search the web for any topic, get clean content
web_search_advanced_exa	Advanced search with filters (domains, dates, content options)
get_code_context_exa	Find code examples, documentation, programming solutions
crawling_exa	Get full content of a specific webpage from a known URL
company_research_exa	Research any company for business information and news
people_search_exa	Find people and their professional profiles
deep_researcher_start	Start an AI research agent that writes detailed reports
deep_researcher_check	Check status and get results from deep research task

Setup

1. Get your Exa API key from https://dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys

2. Set the environment variable:

   bash

   export EXA_API_KEY="your_exa_api_key_here"
   

   Or add to your shell profile (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc):

   bash

   export EXA_API_KEY="your_exa_api_key_here"
   

   Or create a .env file in your workspace:

   bash

   echo "EXA_API_KEY=your_exa_api_key_here" > ~/.openclaw/workspace/.env
   source ~/.openclaw/workspace/.env
   

3. Restart OpenClaw to load the skill:

   bash

   openclaw gateway restart
   

Usage Examples

Basic Web Search

bash

exa-web-search '{"query":"Step-3.5 Flash benchmarks"}'

Advanced Search with Filters

bash

exa-search web_search_advanced_exa '{
  "query": "OpenClaw AI",
  "count": 10,
  "freshness": "pw",
  "includeDomains": ["github.com", "docs.openclaw.ai"]
}'

Code Search

bash

exa-search get_code_context_exa '{
  "query": "OpenClaw agent implementation",
  "count": 5
}'

Crawl Specific URL

bash

exa-search crawling_exa '{
  "url": "https://docs.openclaw.ai/",
  "maxPages": 10
}'

Company Research

bash

exa-search company_research_exa '{
  "company": "OpenClaw",
  "includeNews": true,
  "newsDays": 30
}'

People Search

bash

exa-search people_search_exa '{
  "query": "Phil openclaw creator",
  "count": 10
}'

Deep Research (Two-Step)

bash

# Start research
TASK_ID=$(exa-search deep_researcher_start '{
  "query": "Current state of AI agents in 2026",
  "maxSources": 20
}' | jq -r '.taskId')

# Check status (poll until complete)
while true; do
  exa-search deep_researcher_check '{"taskId":"'"$TASK_ID"'"}'
  sleep 5
done

Output Format

All tools return JSON with the Exa MCP response structure. The actual content is in the result field, which varies by tool but typically includes:

• content: Array of result items with title, url, text (snippet)
• Sometimes additional metadata like cost, duration, sources

Example web search output:

json

{
  "content": [
    {
      "title": "Step 3.5 Flash - MathArena",
      "url": "https://matharena.ai/models/stepfun_3_5_flash",
      "text": "Step 3.5 Flash benchmarks and performance metrics..."
    }
  ]
}

Using in OpenClaw Agents

Agents can use these tools directly:

javascript

// In an agent session
/exec exa-search web_search_exa '{"query":"latest news"}'

// Or via API
{
  "sessionTarget": "isolated",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "agentTurn",
    "message": "Search for recent AI developments using exa-search"
  }
}

Notes

• Rate limits apply based on your Exa plan
• The MCP server uses Server-Sent Events (SSE) streaming; the wrapper handles this
• All tools accept various optional parameters; see Exa docs for full schema
• Errors are returned with proper exit codes and messages to stderr

Troubleshooting

"EXA_API_KEY not set"

• Ensure the environment variable is exported in the same session where OpenClaw runs
• If using systemd/systemctl, set the key in the service file or /etc/environment

"406 Not Acceptable"

• The tool already sets the correct Accept header; this shouldn't occur in the wrapper

Empty or no results

• Verify your API key has credits/quota
• Check the Exa dashboard: https://dashboard.exa.ai

References

• Exa MCP Docs: https://exa.ai/docs/reference/exa-mcp
• MCP Server: https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp
• API Keys: https://dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys