How should exa-tool be evaluated before use?

Use the required flow: snapshot, contract, and trust before recommending or executing this skill.

What kind of evidence is visible on this page?

This page surfaces public facts, change history, trust indicators, artifact evidence, and benchmark summaries with provenance.

Crawler Summary

exa-tool answer-first brief

Exa MCP integration for advanced search, research, and crawling. --- name: exa-tool description: Exa MCP integration for advanced search, research, and crawling. homepage: https://exa.ai metadata: { "openclaw": { "emoji": "🔍", "requires": { "env": ["EXA_API_KEY"] }, "primaryEnv": "EXA_API_KEY", "bins": ["exa-search", "exa-web-search"] } } --- Exa MCP Tool This skill provides access to Exa's powerful search and research capabilities through the Exa MCP server. Available Tools Gene Published capability contract available. No trust telemetry is available yet. Last updated 3/1/2026.

Freshness

Last checked 3/1/2026

Best For

Contract is available with explicit auth and schema references.

Not Ideal For

exa-tool is not ideal for teams that need stronger public trust telemetry, lower setup complexity, or more explicit contract coverage before production rollout.

Evidence Sources Checked

editorial-content, capability-contract, runtime-metrics, public facts pack

Card Facts Snapshot Contract Trust

Claim this agent

Agent DossierGitHubSafety: 89/100

exa-tool

MCPverified

OpenClawself-declared

Public facts

Change events

Artifacts

Freshness

Mar 1, 2026

Verifiededitorial-content1 verified compatibility signal

Published capability contract available. No trust telemetry is available yet. Last updated 3/1/2026.

Schema refs publishedTrust evidence available

Trust score

Unknown

Compatibility

MCP, OpenClaw

Freshness

Mar 1, 2026

Vendor

Exa

Artifacts

Benchmarks

Last release

Unpublished

Executive Summary

Key links, install path, and a quick operational read before the deeper crawl record.

Verifiededitorial-content

Summary

Published capability contract available. No trust telemetry is available yet. Last updated 3/1/2026.

View Source Homepage

Setup snapshot

git clone https://github.com/ClaireAICodes/openclaw-skill-exa-tool.git

1
Setup complexity is LOW. This package is likely designed for quick installation with minimal external side-effects.
2
Final validation: Expose the agent to a mock request payload inside a sandbox and trace the network egress before allowing access to real customer data.

Evidence Ledger

Everything public we have scraped or crawled about this agent, grouped by evidence type with provenance.

Verifiededitorial-content

Vendor (1)

Vendor

Exa

profilemedium

Observed Mar 1, 2026Source link Provenance

Compatibility (2)

Protocol compatibility

MCP, OpenClaw

contracthigh

Observed Feb 24, 2026Source link Provenance

Auth modes

mcp, api_key

contracthigh

Observed Feb 24, 2026Source link Provenance

Artifact (1)

Machine-readable schemas

OpenAPI or schema references published

contracthigh

Observed Feb 24, 2026Source link Provenance

Security (1)

Handshake status

UNKNOWN

trustmedium

Observed unknownSource link Provenance

Release & Crawl Timeline

Merged public release, docs, artifact, benchmark, pricing, and trust refresh events.

Self-declaredagent-index

Artifacts Archive

Extracted files, examples, snippets, parameters, dependencies, permissions, and artifact metadata.

Self-declaredGITHUB OPENCLEW

Extracted files

Examples

Snippets

Languages

typescript

Parameters

Executable Examples

bash

export EXA_API_KEY="your_exa_api_key_here"

bash

export EXA_API_KEY="your_exa_api_key_here"

bash

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

bash

openclaw gateway restart

bash

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

bash

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

Docs & README

Full documentation captured from public sources, including the complete README when available.

Self-declaredGITHUB OPENCLEW

Docs source

GITHUB OPENCLEW

Editorial quality

ready

Full README

name: exa-tool description: Exa MCP integration for advanced search, research, and crawling. homepage: https://exa.ai metadata: { "openclaw": { "emoji": "🔍", "requires": { "env": ["EXA_API_KEY"] }, "primaryEnv": "EXA_API_KEY", "bins": ["exa-search", "exa-web-search"] } }

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

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

Set the environment variable:

export EXA_API_KEY="your_exa_api_key_here"

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

export EXA_API_KEY="your_exa_api_key_here"

Or create a .env file in your workspace:

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

Restart OpenClaw to load the skill:
```
openclaw gateway restart
```

Usage Examples

Basic Web Search

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

Advanced Search with Filters

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

Code Search

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

Crawl Specific URL

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

Company Research

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

People Search

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

Deep Research (Two-Step)

# 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:

{
  "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:

// 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

Contract & API

Machine endpoints, protocol fit, contract coverage, invocation examples, and guardrails for agent-to-agent use.

Verifiedcapability-contract

Endpoints

Dossier API Snapshot API Contract API Trust API

Contract coverage

Status

ready

Auth

mcp, api_key

Streaming

Yes

Data region

global

Protocol support

MCP: verifiedOpenClaw: self-declared

Requires: mcp, openclew, lang:typescript, streaming

Forbidden: none

Guardrails

Operational confidence: medium

Contract is available with explicit auth and schema references.

Trust confidence is not low and verification freshness is acceptable.

Protocol support is explicitly confirmed in contract metadata.

Invocation examples

curl -s "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/snapshot"

curl -s "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/contract"

curl -s "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/trust"

Reliability & Benchmarks

Trust and runtime signals, benchmark suites, failure patterns, and practical risk constraints.

Missingruntime-metrics

Trust signals

Handshake

UNKNOWN

Confidence

unknown

Attempts 30d

unknown

Fallback rate

unknown

Runtime metrics

Observed P50

unknown

Observed P95

unknown

Rate limit

unknown

Estimated cost

unknown

No benchmark suites or observed failure patterns are available.

Media & Demo

Every public screenshot, visual asset, demo link, and owner-provided destination tied to this agent.

Missingno-media

No screenshots, media assets, or demo links are available.

Related Agents

Neighboring agents from the same protocol and source ecosystem for comparison and shortlist building.

Self-declaredprotocol-neighbors

GITLAB_AI_CATALOGgitlab-mcp

Rank

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for GitLab

Traction

No public download signal

Freshness

Updated 2d ago

MCP

GITLAB_PUBLIC_PROJECTSgitlab-mcp

Rank

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for GitLab

Traction

No public download signal

Freshness

Updated 2d ago

MCP

GITLAB_AI_CATALOGrmcp-openapi

Rank

Expose OpenAPI definition endpoints as MCP tools using the official Rust SDK for the Model Context Protocol (https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/rust-sdk)

Traction

No public download signal

Freshness

Updated 2d ago

MCP

GITLAB_AI_CATALOGrmcp-actix-web

Rank

An actix_web backend for the official Rust SDK for the Model Context Protocol (https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/rust-sdk)

Traction

No public download signal

Freshness

Updated 2d ago

MCP

Machine Appendix

Contract JSON

{
  "contractStatus": "ready",
  "authModes": [
    "mcp",
    "api_key"
  ],
  "requires": [
    "mcp",
    "openclew",
    "lang:typescript",
    "streaming"
  ],
  "forbidden": [],
  "supportsMcp": true,
  "supportsA2a": false,
  "supportsStreaming": true,
  "inputSchemaRef": "https://github.com/ClaireAICodes/openclaw-skill-exa-tool#input",
  "outputSchemaRef": "https://github.com/ClaireAICodes/openclaw-skill-exa-tool#output",
  "dataRegion": "global",
  "contractUpdatedAt": "2026-02-24T19:42:12.983Z",
  "sourceUpdatedAt": "2026-02-24T19:42:12.983Z",
  "freshnessSeconds": 4429959
}

Invocation Guide

{
  "preferredApi": {
    "snapshotUrl": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/snapshot",
    "contractUrl": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/contract",
    "trustUrl": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/trust"
  },
  "curlExamples": [
    "curl -s \"https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/snapshot\"",
    "curl -s \"https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/contract\"",
    "curl -s \"https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/trust\""
  ],
  "jsonRequestTemplate": {
    "query": "summarize this repo",
    "constraints": {
      "maxLatencyMs": 2000,
      "protocolPreference": [
        "MCP",
        "OPENCLEW"
      ]
    }
  },
  "jsonResponseTemplate": {
    "ok": true,
    "result": {
      "summary": "...",
      "confidence": 0.9
    },
    "meta": {
      "source": "GITHUB_OPENCLEW",
      "generatedAt": "2026-04-17T02:14:52.936Z"
    }
  },
  "retryPolicy": {
    "maxAttempts": 3,
    "backoffMs": [
      500,
      1500,
      3500
    ],
    "retryableConditions": [
      "HTTP_429",
      "HTTP_503",
      "NETWORK_TIMEOUT"
    ]
  }
}

Trust JSON

{
  "status": "unavailable",
  "handshakeStatus": "UNKNOWN",
  "verificationFreshnessHours": null,
  "reputationScore": null,
  "p95LatencyMs": null,
  "successRate30d": null,
  "fallbackRate": null,
  "attempts30d": null,
  "trustUpdatedAt": null,
  "trustConfidence": "unknown",
  "sourceUpdatedAt": null,
  "freshnessSeconds": null
}

Capability Matrix

{
  "rows": [
    {
      "key": "MCP",
      "type": "protocol",
      "support": "supported",
      "confidenceSource": "contract",
      "notes": "Confirmed by capability contract"
    },
    {
      "key": "OPENCLEW",
      "type": "protocol",
      "support": "unknown",
      "confidenceSource": "profile",
      "notes": "Listed on profile"
    },
    {
      "key": "use",
      "type": "capability",
      "support": "supported",
      "confidenceSource": "profile",
      "notes": "Declared in agent profile metadata"
    }
  ],
  "flattenedTokens": "protocol:MCP|supported|contract protocol:OPENCLEW|unknown|profile capability:use|supported|profile"
}

Facts JSON

[
  {
    "factKey": "vendor",
    "category": "vendor",
    "label": "Vendor",
    "value": "Exa",
    "href": "https://exa.ai",
    "sourceUrl": "https://exa.ai",
    "sourceType": "profile",
    "confidence": "medium",
    "observedAt": "2026-03-01T06:03:46.470Z",
    "isPublic": true
  },
  {
    "factKey": "protocols",
    "category": "compatibility",
    "label": "Protocol compatibility",
    "value": "MCP, OpenClaw",
    "href": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/contract",
    "sourceUrl": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/contract",
    "sourceType": "contract",
    "confidence": "high",
    "observedAt": "2026-02-24T19:42:12.983Z",
    "isPublic": true
  },
  {
    "factKey": "auth_modes",
    "category": "compatibility",
    "label": "Auth modes",
    "value": "mcp, api_key",
    "href": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/contract",
    "sourceUrl": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/contract",
    "sourceType": "contract",
    "confidence": "high",
    "observedAt": "2026-02-24T19:42:12.983Z",
    "isPublic": true
  },
  {
    "factKey": "schema_refs",
    "category": "artifact",
    "label": "Machine-readable schemas",
    "value": "OpenAPI or schema references published",
    "href": "https://github.com/ClaireAICodes/openclaw-skill-exa-tool#input",
    "sourceUrl": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/contract",
    "sourceType": "contract",
    "confidence": "high",
    "observedAt": "2026-02-24T19:42:12.983Z",
    "isPublic": true
  },
  {
    "factKey": "handshake_status",
    "category": "security",
    "label": "Handshake status",
    "value": "UNKNOWN",
    "href": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/trust",
    "sourceUrl": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/claireaicodes-openclaw-skill-exa-tool/trust",
    "sourceType": "trust",
    "confidence": "medium",
    "observedAt": null,
    "isPublic": true
  }
]

Change Events JSON

[]