OpenClaw Exa MCP Skill 🔍

OpenClaw skill for Exa MCP integration — advanced web search, code context, company research, and more.

🌐 Live Demo

Documentation Site: https://claireaicodes.github.io/openclaw-skill-exa-tool/

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Features

• ✅ 8 Exa MCP tools in one unified interface
• ✅ SSE streaming handled automatically
• ✅ Clean JSON output for easy parsing
• ✅ Agent-ready — call from any OpenClaw agent
• ✅ Secure — API key managed via OpenClaw config

Quick Start

1. Prerequisites

• OpenClaw 2026.2.9+
• Exa API key from dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys

2. Installation

Copy the exa-tool directory to your OpenClaw skills path:

# If using global node_modules (default)
cp -r exa-tool /path/to/openclaw/skills/

Or as a symlink:

ln -s /path/to/exa-tool /path/to/openclaw/skills/exa-tool

3. Configuration

Add to your openclaw.json config:

{
  "skills": {
    "entries": {
      "exa-tool": {
        "apiKey": "your_exa_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Then restart OpenClaw:

openclaw gateway restart

4. Usage

Basic Web Search

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

Or use the simplified wrapper:

exec exa-web-search '{"query":"AI agents 2026"}'

Company Research

exec exa-search company_research_exa '{"companyName":"OpenAI"}'

Code Search

exec exa-search get_code_context_exa '{"query":"OpenClaw agent implementation"}'

Advanced Search

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

Available Tools

Tool	Description
web_search_exa	Basic web search with clean content
web_search_advanced_exa	Advanced filters: domains, dates, text includes/excludes
get_code_context_exa	Search code examples, docs, StackOverflow
crawling_exa	Crawl a specific URL to get full content
company_research_exa	Research companies: info, news, financials
people_search_exa	Find professional profiles
deep_researcher_start	Start AI research agent for detailed reports
deep_researcher_check	Check status of deep research task

Output Format

All tools return JSON with the Exa MCP response structure:

{
  "content": [
    {
      "title": "Result Title",
      "url": "https://example.com/page",
      "text": "Snippet with relevant information..."
    }
  ]
}

Some tools (like company_research_exa) include additional structured data.

Using in Agents

Agents can invoke these tools naturally:

/exec exa-search web_search_exa '{"query":"latest AI news"}'

Or through agent prompts:

"Search for recent developments in AI agents and summarize."

The agent will automatically use the exa-search tool if it's in its allowed tools.

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
EXA_API_KEY	Yes	Your Exa API key from dashboard.exa.ai

The key is injected by OpenClaw from the config, so agents don't need to handle credentials.

Troubleshooting

"EXA_API_KEY not set"

• Verify the key is in your openclaw.json under skills.entries.exa-tool.apiKey
• Restart the gateway after config changes

No results returned

• Check your API key has available credits at https://dashboard.exa.ai
• Verify your query parameters match the tool's expected schema
• Some tools require specific parameters (e.g., companyName for company_research_exa)

406 Not Acceptable

Should not occur with this wrapper — it sets proper headers. If seen, check your OpenClaw version.

Development

The skill consists of two binaries:

• exa-search — Generic wrapper for all 8 tools
• exa-web-search — Simplified wrapper for web search only

Both handle SSE streaming and error reporting consistently.

References

• Exa MCP Documentation
• OpenClaw Skills Guide
• OpenClaw GitHub

License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.

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Made with ❤️ for OpenClaw agents