Tool
Call the native MCP tool exa-search__web_search_advanced_exa directly. Parameters go in a JSON object — examples below use shorthand key=value.
Critical Rules
- Never run searches in main context. Always spawn subagents via
llm_taskor run in sequence with isolated results. - Query variation: generate 2-3 phrasings, run in parallel, merge + deduplicate.
- Dynamic numResults: "a few" → 10-20, "comprehensive" → 50-100, explicit number → match it.
Categories
| Category | Use for |
|---|---|
company |
Homepages, metadata (headcount, location, funding) |
news |
Press coverage, announcements |
tweet |
Social presence |
people |
LinkedIn profiles |
| (none) | General web, deep dives |
Start with category=company for discovery, then use other categories for deeper research.
Category Restrictions
With category=company: do NOT use includeDomains, excludeDomains, or date filters — causes errors.
includeText/excludeText: only single-value strings.
Call Examples
Tool: exa-search__web_search_advanced_exa
# Company discovery
{ query: "AI infrastructure startups San Francisco", category: "company", numResults: 20, type: "auto" }
# Deep dive on specific company
{ query: "Anthropic funding rounds valuation 2024", type: "neural", livecrawl: "fallback", numResults: 10,
includeDomains: ["techcrunch.com","crunchbase.com","bloomberg.com"] }
# News coverage
{ query: "Anthropic AI safety 2024", category: "news", numResults: 15, startPublishedDate: "2024-01-01" }
# Tweets/social
{ query: "Anthropic Claude new features", category: "tweet", numResults: 20 }
Output Format
Return:
- Results — structured list, one company per row (name, URL, description, key facts)
- Sources — URLs with 1-line relevance
- Notes — any uncertainty or conflicts
Browser Fallback
If Exa returns insufficient results or content is auth-gated → use browser tool as fallback.