exa-contents

Q: How do I install exa-contents?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/exa-labs/agent-skills --skill exa-contents in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/exa-contents/ (personal) or .claude/skills/exa-contents/ (project).

by exa-labsAI & Agents

Call Exa Contents directly with cURL or raw HTTP. Use when an agent already has URLs and needs POST /contents without an SDK for extracted text, highlights, summaries, links, image links, subpages, freshness-controlled crawling, or per-URL status handling.

Installs: 1.2K
Last 24h: +12
Trending rank: #8012
Security: Not audited

Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/exa-labs/agent-skills --skill exa-contents

01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads exa-contents automatically when relevant.
03
Review the result
The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Exa Contents

Requires API key: Get one at https://dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys

Header: x-api-key: $EXA_API_KEY

Use POST https://api.exa.ai/contents when the agent already knows the URLs and needs clean, LLM-ready extraction without running a new search. Start with one content mode: highlights for compact agent context, text for broad page context, or summary for Exa-side compression.

Quick Start (cURL)

Basic text extraction

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.exa.ai/contents" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: $EXA_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "urls": ["https://example.com"],
    "text": true
  }'

Highlights with freshness control

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.exa.ai/contents" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: $EXA_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "urls": ["https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.06435"],
    "highlights": {
      "query": "methodology and results"
    },
    "maxAgeHours": 24,
    "livecrawlTimeout": 12000
  }'

Endpoint

POST https://api.exa.ai/contents

Authentication: x-api-key: <API_KEY> header. Exa also accepts Authorization: Bearer <API_KEY>, but prefer x-api-key in cURL examples for consistency.

Use this endpoint for known-URL extraction. If the agent needs discovery or ranking first, use POST /search.

Parameters

Core request parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`urls`	string[]	Yes	-	URLs to extract content from. Use this for known URLs.
`text`	boolean or object	No	-	Return full page text as markdown. Object form supports `maxCharacters`, `includeHtmlTags`, `verbosity`, `includeSections`, and `excludeSections`.
`highlights`	boolean or object	No	-	Return key excerpts. Prefer `true` for agent workflows unless a custom focus is needed.
`summary`	boolean or object	No	-	Return per-page LLM summaries. Use when the caller wants Exa-side compression or structured extraction.
`maxAgeHours`	integer	No	-	Freshness control. `0` always live crawls; `-1` uses cache only; omit for default cache-first behavior with crawl fallback.
`livecrawlTimeout`	integer	No	`10000`	Timeout for live crawling in milliseconds. Use `10000` to `15000` for most freshness-sensitive calls.
`subpages`	integer	No	`0`	Number of linked subpages to crawl from each URL.
`subpageTarget`	string or string[]	No	-	Terms used to prioritize which subpages matter, such as `["api", "reference", "pricing"]`.
`extras.links`	integer	No	`0`	Number of links to extract from each page.
`extras.imageLinks`	integer	No	`0`	Number of image URLs to extract from each page.
`compliance`	string	No	-	Enterprise-only compliance mode, such as `hipaa`, when enabled for the account.

Text object options

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`maxCharacters`	integer	-	Character limit for returned text. Use this instead of `tokensNum`.
`includeHtmlTags`	boolean	`false`	Preserve HTML tags in output.
`verbosity`	string	`compact`	`compact`, `standard`, or `full`. Pair fresh section-aware extraction with `maxAgeHours: 0`.
`includeSections`	string[]	-	Only include selected sections: `header`, `navigation`, `banner`, `body`, `sidebar`, `footer`, `metadata`.
`excludeSections`	string[]	-	Exclude selected sections from the same section list.

Highlights object options

Prefer highlights: true for the highest-quality default. Only use object form when the agent needs a custom focus or budget.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`query`	string	-	Custom query guiding which excerpts are returned.
`maxCharacters`	integer	-	Cap highlight characters per URL. Omit unless the caller has a strict budget.

Summary object options

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`query`	string	-	Custom query for the summary.
`schema`	object	-	JSON Schema for structured per-page summaries.

Content Modes

On /contents, text, highlights, and summary are top-level request fields.

Mode	Best for	Notes
`text`	Deep analysis and broad page context	Use `maxCharacters` to keep payloads bounded.
`highlights`	Agent workflows and factual lookups	Most token-efficient default. Excerpts are grounded in the source page.
`summary`	Compression or structured per-page extraction	Adds Exa-side synthesis per page.

Avoid requesting multiple modes unless the caller truly needs multiple views of the same page.

Freshness and Crawling

Use maxAgeHours as the normative freshness control.

Value	Behavior
omitted	Use default cache-first behavior with crawl fallback when needed.
positive integer	Use cache if it is less than N hours old, otherwise live crawl.
`0`	Always live crawl. Highest freshness, higher latency.
`-1`	Cache only. Fastest, but fails if no cached content exists.

Set livecrawlTimeout when live crawling should not block past a fixed budget.

Subpages and extras

Use subpages and subpageTarget when linked pages matter.

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.exa.ai/contents" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: $EXA_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "urls": ["https://docs.example.com"],
    "text": {
      "maxCharacters": 5000
    },
    "subpages": 10,
    "subpageTarget": ["api", "reference", "guide"],
    "extras": {
      "links": 10,
      "imageLinks": 5
    }
  }'

Start with subpages around 5 to 10, then increase only when the caller needs broader site coverage.

Response Fields and Statuses

Inspect statuses even when the HTTP status is 200. The endpoint can succeed for one URL and fail for another in the same request.

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.exa.ai/contents" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: $EXA_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "urls": ["https://example.com", "https://failed-url.example.com"],
    "highlights": true
  }' | jq '{results, statuses}'

Field	Type	Description
`requestId`	string	Unique request identifier.
`results`	array	Extracted content result objects.
`results[].title`	string	Page title.
`results[].url`	string	Page URL.
`results[].publishedDate`	string or null	Estimated publication date when available.
`results[].author`	string or null	Author when available.
`results[].text`	string	Returned when `text` is requested.
`results[].highlights`	string[]	Returned when `highlights` is requested.
`results[].highlightScores`	number[]	Similarity scores for highlights.
`results[].summary`	string	Returned when `summary` is requested.
`results[].subpages`	array	Nested result objects from subpage crawling.
`results[].extras.links`	string[]	Extracted links when requested.
`statuses`	array	Per-URL success or error states. Always inspect this field.
`statuses[].id`	string	Requested URL.
`statuses[].status`	string	`success` or `error`.
`statuses[].error.tag`	string	Error type for failed URLs.
`statuses[].error.httpStatusCode`	integer or null	HTTP code associated with a per-URL failure.
`costDollars.total`	number	Total request cost when returned.

Common per-URL error tags include CRAWL_NOT_FOUND, CRAWL_TIMEOUT, CRAWL_LIVECRAWL_TIMEOUT, SOURCE_NOT_AVAILABLE, UNSUPPORTED_URL, and CRAWL_UNKNOWN_ERROR.

Critical Pitfalls

Keep text, highlights, and summary at the top level on /contents.
Do not wrap extraction options in a contents object; that nesting belongs to /search.
Do not assume HTTP 200 means every URL succeeded; inspect statuses.
Do not send stream: true; /contents is not a streaming endpoint.
Do not send tokensNum; use text.maxCharacters to cap extracted text.
Do not use useAutoprompt, numSentences, highlightsPerUrl, or older livecrawl string values in new requests.
Prefer maxAgeHours for freshness and pair it with livecrawlTimeout when crawl latency matters.
Use subpageTarget with subpages; otherwise subpage selection is best effort.
Pick one of highlights, text, or summary by default. Stack modes only when the caller truly needs multiple views of each page.

FAQ

What does the exa-contents skill do?

How do I install exa-contents?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/exa-labs/agent-skills --skill exa-contents in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/exa-contents/ (personal) or .claude/skills/exa-contents/ (project).

Which AI agents can use exa-contents?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is exa-contents safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains exa-contents?

It is published by exa-labs in exa-labs/agent-skills. It has 1,178 recorded installs.

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exa-contents

Install

Install

Describe the task

Review the result

SKILL.md

Exa Contents

Quick Start (cURL)

Basic text extraction

Highlights with freshness control

Endpoint

Parameters

Core request parameters

Text object options

Highlights object options

Summary object options

Content Modes

Freshness and Crawling

Subpages and extras

Response Fields and Statuses

Critical Pitfalls

FAQ

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