Exa Deep Search

Turn Exa search into a focused, source-backed research brief. This Skill calls the named Exa capabilities in the SandBase API map through the SandBase MCP gateway. Use an authorized SandBase MCP connection and the discover → inspect → run workflow below; never request, print, or store an API key in the research output.

Read example workflows when the user needs a starting prompt or wants to understand the output.

Operating principles

• Start from the user's research question and decision context, not a generic search.
• Treat Exa results as evidence; treat model-generated synthesis, comparisons, and recommendations as judgment clearly separated from sources.
• Select search depth, time window, domains, and geography deliberately. State any assumption rather than silently defaulting.
• Optimize for source quality, recency, and relevance — not quantity.
• Cite every externally verifiable claim with a result URL and publication date (when available).
• Keep user research goals, company context, and strategy confidential unless sharing is explicitly requested.

Workflow

1. Frame the research question

Collect or infer: the topic or entity, time window, geography, trusted or excluded domains, audience for the deliverable, and how findings will be used. Classify the request as one or more of: landscape scan, deep evidence gathering, competitive intelligence, current news monitoring, or specific-source extraction.

When the research question is broad, propose 2–3 focused sub-queries and confirm scope before spending API calls.

2. Select and call SandBase capabilities

Read the SandBase API map before selecting tools. Treat each listed tool_name as a capability identifier to resolve through the SandBase gateway:

1. Use sandbase_discover with the provider and capability to find the current endpoint name.
2. Pass the returned name to sandbase_inspect; read inputSchema, pricing, and execute_as.
3. Follow execute_as to call sandbase_run using execute_as.arguments.name and schema-defined arguments. If it returns a run_id, poll sandbase_run_get within the task budget until completed or failed; report pending or failed runs without automatically resubmitting them.
4. Keep the returned endpoint name, query, search parameters, and result metadata with the returned data.

3. Search with Exa

Resolve exa_search with sandbase_discover, then map these research needs to the current inputSchema from sandbase_inspect. Use the discovered endpoint name and its execute_as template for execution:

Research need	Search intent
Current landscape	News results within a bounded publication window, with relevant highlights
Deep evidence	A supported deep search mode with summaries; request full text only for selected sources
Trusted sources only	Restrict results to first-party, academic, or approved publisher domains
Competitive research	Exclude the target's own domain; use separate queries per competitor
Validation or quick check	A supported fast search mode with 3–5 results

Tips:

• Write queries as natural-language statements of what a good result page would say, not short keyword strings. Exa responds best to semantic queries.
• Use the inspected schema’s supported categories to narrow result types.
• Iterate: refine by entity, product, problem, event, or time period until evidence is sufficient.
• Request relevant highlights using the inspected schema’s content options, without extracting full text for every result.

4. Extract selected sources

When deeper analysis of specific pages is needed, send selected URLs to exa_contents:

• Request full page content when analyzing structure or extracting data.
• Request focused highlights when the inspected extraction schema supports them.
• Request concise summaries when reviewing many pages, if supported.
• Include subpages only for explicit documentation, pricing, or API crawl tasks and only when supported.
• Request a live crawl only when freshness requires it and the inspected schema supports it.

If exa_contents is not yet available in the current Gateway, return the Search results and explicitly state that extraction is awaiting capability publication.

5. Synthesize findings

• Separate direct observations from interpretation.
• Group findings by theme, entity, or chronology as appropriate for the research question.
• Note disagreements between sources and evidence gaps.
• Propose follow-up queries for unresolved questions.

Query crafting tips

Good Exa queries describe the content of the ideal result page:

Poor query	Better query
AI agents	How enterprises evaluate AI agent platforms for production deployment
observability tools	Comparison of AI agent observability and tracing solutions 2025
competitor pricing	Pricing page for enterprise AI agent orchestration platform

• Add temporal context: "in 2025", "since January", "latest announcement".
• Add specificity: mention the industry, company size, technology stack, or use case.
• Use the inspected schema’s domain exclusion option to avoid results you already know about.

Output

Return a structured research brief:

Source map

#	Title	URL	Published	Relevance
1	...	...	...	...

Key findings

Numbered findings, each citing source(s) by number.

Disagreements and evidence gaps

What sources disagree on, and what questions remain unanswered.

Suggested next queries

Follow-up Exa queries or alternative research paths.

Evidence rules

• Cite a result URL for every externally verifiable claim.
• Label a result's publication date as "unavailable" when Exa does not return one.
• Do not treat an Exa summary as a source quote; use it as an aid to select evidence, then cite the original URL.
• Do not call Exa Answer or Exa Agent endpoints. The user's Agent/LLM synthesizes the evidence.
• Do not copy long source passages; paraphrase and cite.
• Mark clearly when a finding is inferred from multiple sources vs. directly stated in one.

Failure handling

• If SandBase is unavailable or unauthorized, report the failed capability and ask the user to connect or authorize SandBase; do not silently substitute a direct provider API.
• If exa_search returns few or no results, try: broader query, a different supported search mode, removed domain filters, or a wider date range. Report if the topic genuinely lacks public coverage.
• If exa_contents is unavailable, deliver search results with highlights and explicitly note the extraction gap.
• If results are low-quality or off-topic, refine the query before reporting; explain what was tried.

Example tasks

• "Find the last 30 days of reliable sources about AI agent observability. Give me a five-source brief with gaps."
• "Research how enterprise teams evaluate AI agents. Prefer company and academic sources; exclude vendor blogs."
• "Compare the public arguments for and against a retrieval architecture. Use advanced search and cite each source."
• "Find recent funding announcements in the AI developer tools space. Only include sources from the last 7 days."
• "Extract the pricing and feature comparison from these three competitor pages: [URLs]."

Quality gate

Before delivering, verify that:

• Every finding cites at least one source URL.
• Observations are separated from model-generated interpretations.
• The search parameters (depth, dates, domains) match the stated research need.
• Evidence gaps and low-confidence findings are explicitly labeled.
• The deliverable format matches what the user requested.