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POST
Run a neural semantic web search.
Search the open web with a natural-language query and get back the most relevant results, ranked by semantic relevance rather than keywords. Tune retrieval with type (from fast up to deep-reasoning), bound the result count with numResults (1–100, default 10), and narrow the set with category, includeDomains/excludeDomains, or a published-date range. Set contents to pull page text, highlights, or an AI summary inline with each result, and supply an outputSchema (optionally with a systemPrompt) to have Exa synthesize a structured output. Billed at a flat $0.08 per successful request; upstream 4xx responses are not billed. When you already know the exact pages you want, post_exa-contents fetches their full text directly.

Authorizations

Authorization
string
header
required

Bearer authentication header of the form Bearer <token>, where <token> is your auth token.

Body

application/json
query
string
required

The natural-language search query.

Example:

"latest evaluation frameworks for AI agents"

type
enum<string>
default:auto

Search mode. auto lets Exa choose; the deep modes trade latency for higher-quality retrieval.

Available options:
auto,
fast,
instant,
deep-lite,
deep,
deep-reasoning
numResults
integer
default:10

Number of results to return.

Required range: 1 <= x <= 100
category
enum<string>

Optional hint about the kind of pages to prioritize.

Available options:
company,
research paper,
news,
personal site,
financial report,
people
includeDomains
string[]

Only return results from these domains.

excludeDomains
string[]

Exclude results from these domains.

startPublishedDate
string<date-time>

Only return results published on or after this ISO 8601 date.

endPublishedDate
string<date-time>

Only return results published on or before this ISO 8601 date.

contents
object

Content options to return alongside each result.

outputSchema
object

JSON Schema used to synthesize a structured output from the results.

systemPrompt
string

Instruction that guides how the structured output is generated.

Response

200 - application/json

Search completed successfully.

requestId
string

Exa request identifier.

results
object[]

Ranked search results.

output
any | null

Structured output, present only when outputSchema was supplied.

costDollars
any | null

Upstream Exa cost breakdown. Informational only; customer billing is the flat $0.08.