# Exa Search
`ExaToolkit` gives an agent four related tools powered by the [Exa](https://exa.ai/) neural search engine: web search, find-similar, content retrieval, and AI-powered answers — all sharing a single client.
Note
Requires the `exa-py` package and an API key: `pip install "exa-py>=2.12.1,<3"`
| | |
| --- | --- |
| ```
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
``` | ```
import os
from autogen.beta import Agent
from autogen.beta.config import AnthropicConfig
from autogen.beta.extensions.tools.search import ExaToolkit
agent = Agent(
"researcher",
config=AnthropicConfig(model="claude-sonnet-4-6"),
tools=[ExaToolkit(api_key=os.environ["EXA_API_KEY"])],
)
``` |
If `api_key` is omitted, the Exa SDK reads `EXA_API_KEY` from the environment automatically.
## Tools
| Tool | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `exa_search` | Neural web search with filters (domains, dates, type, category) |
| `exa_find_similar` | Find pages similar to a given URL |
| `exa_get_contents` | Fetch full text content for specific URLs |
| `exa_answer` | Get an AI-generated answer with citations |
## Shared defaults
`num_results` and `max_characters` on the constructor are applied to the default `exa_search` and `exa_find_similar` tools:
| | |
| --- | --- |
| ```
1
2
3
4
5
``` | ```
toolkit = ExaToolkit(
api_key=...,
num_results=10, # applies to search & find_similar
max_characters=2000, # per-result text cap for search; None = metadata-only
)
``` |
## Picking a subset of tools
Each tool is exposed as a factory method on the toolkit (`toolkit.search()`, `toolkit.find_similar()`, `toolkit.get_contents()`, `toolkit.answer()`). Call the method to get a ready-to-use tool, then pass only the ones you need to the agent:
| | |
| --- | --- |
| ```
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
``` | ```
toolkit = ExaToolkit(api_key=...)
agent = Agent(
"researcher",
config=config,
tools=[toolkit.search(), toolkit.answer()],
)
``` |
## Per-tool configuration
Per-call parameters (filters, domains, dates, `num_results`, `max_characters`, etc.) live on the factory methods, not on the toolkit itself:
| | |
| --- | --- |
| ```
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
``` | ```
toolkit = ExaToolkit(api_key=...)
search_tool = toolkit.search(
num_results=5,
max_characters=2000, # triggers search_and_contents for full text
search_type="neural", # "neural" | "keyword" | "hybrid" | "auto" | "fast" | "deep"
category="research paper", # e.g. "news", "github", "pdf", ...
include_domains=["arxiv.org"],
exclude_domains=["medium.com"],
start_published_date="2024-01-01",
end_published_date="2024-12-31",
use_autoprompt=True,
livecrawl="always", # "never" | "fallback" | "always" | "preferred"
)
agent = Agent("researcher", config=config, tools=[search_tool, toolkit.answer()])
``` |
When `max_characters` is set, `exa_search` calls Exa's `search_and_contents` endpoint so each result carries `text`. When `max_characters` is `None`, only metadata is returned (cheaper and faster).
All runtime parameters accept `Variable` for deferred context resolution.