Exa Search via Composio

Exa is an AI-native search engine that understands meaning. Unlike keyword search, Exa finds what you're looking for even if your query doesn't match exact words on the page.

Environment

COMPOSIO_API_KEY      # API key
COMPOSIO_USER_ID      # Entity ID (required for all requests)
COMPOSIO_CONNECTIONS  # JSON with .exa connection ID

Core Pattern

CONNECTION_ID=$(echo $COMPOSIO_CONNECTIONS | jq -r '.exa')

curl -s "https://backend.composio.dev/api/v3/tools/execute/ACTION_NAME" \
  -H "x-api-key: $COMPOSIO_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "connected_account_id": "'$CONNECTION_ID'",
    "entity_id": "'$COMPOSIO_USER_ID'",
    "arguments": {}
  }' | jq '.data'

Quick Start

# Semantic search
curl -s "https://backend.composio.dev/api/v3/tools/execute/EXA_SEARCH" \
  -H "x-api-key: $COMPOSIO_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "connected_account_id": "'$CONNECTION_ID'",
    "entity_id": "'$COMPOSIO_USER_ID'",
    "arguments": {
      "query": "best practices for building AI agents",
      "numResults": 10,
      "type": "auto"
    }
  }' | jq

# Get citation-backed answer
curl -s "https://backend.composio.dev/api/v3/tools/execute/EXA_ANSWER" \
  -H "x-api-key: $COMPOSIO_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "connected_account_id": "'$CONNECTION_ID'",
    "entity_id": "'$COMPOSIO_USER_ID'",
    "arguments": {
      "query": "What are the key differences between RAG and fine-tuning?"
    }
  }' | jq

Query Tips

Exa understands natural language. Write queries as if asking a knowledgeable person:

Instead of	Try
"LLM fine tuning"	"tutorials on how to fine-tune large language models"
"react hooks"	"best practices for using React hooks in production"
"startup funding"	"guides for raising seed funding for AI startups"

Best Practices

1. Use EXA_ANSWER for questions: When you need a direct answer with citations
2. Use EXA_SEARCH for exploration: When you need multiple results to analyze
3. Be specific: "Python libraries for PDF text extraction" > "PDF Python"
4. Use filters: Narrow by domain or date for recent/authoritative sources

All Actions

See references/actions.md for complete API reference including:

• EXA_SEARCH: Semantic web search with filtering
• EXA_ANSWER: Citation-backed answers to questions
• EXA_FIND_SIMILAR: Find pages similar to a URL
• EXA_GET_CONTENTS_ACTION: Get full content from results

Discover Actions

curl -s "https://backend.composio.dev/api/v2/actions?apps=exa" \
  -H "x-api-key: $COMPOSIO_API_KEY" | jq '.items[] | {name, description}'