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Date: November 20, 2025 We’re excited to introduce Exa Deep - a new search type that finds better results by running multiple searches at once and gives you high-quality context for each result. You can send just one query (we’ll create variations automatically) or provide your own query variations using the additionalQueries parameter for even better results.
Deep search is available on our API Playground. Try Deep search in the dashboard →

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How Deep Search Works

When you use Deep search, here’s what happens:
  1. Query Expansion: If you only send one query, we automatically create variations. If you send query variations yourself using additionalQueries, we use those instead. For best results, consider having a good LLM model (like GPT-5 or Claude 4.5 Sonnet) generate the query variations for you.
  2. Parallel Search: We search for your main query and all variations at the same time
  3. Smart Ranking: We combine and rank all results to give you the most relevant ones
  4. Summary Generation: Each result gets a detailed, accurate summary
Using Deep search is simple - just add type="deep" to your search requests. You can also add additionalQueries for even better results: Basic Deep Search: 
curl -X POST https://api.exa.ai/search \
  -H "x-api-key: EXA_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "blog post about AI",
    "type": "deep",
    "contents": {
      "text": true,
      "context": true
    }
  }'
Deep Search with Query Variations: 
curl -X POST https://api.exa.ai/search \
  -H "x-api-key: EXA_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "blog post about AI",
    "additionalQueries": ["AI blogpost", "machine learning blogs"],
    "type": "deep",
    "contents": {
      "text": true,
      "context": true
    }
  }'

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What You Get Back

Deep search returns a context field that gives you detailed context: 
{
  "requestId": "975a6ff95c69a0bdc558f01c99ede801",
  "resolvedSearchType": "deep",
  "context": "Title: AI News | Latest AI News, Analysis & Events\nPublished Date: 2025-11-19T10:22:05.000Z\nURL: https://www.artificialintelligence-news.com/\nSummary: This page is a collection of recent news, analysis, and resources related to Artificial Intelligence (AI). It features various blog posts and articles covering topics such as:\n\n*   **Workforce & HR:** Using ChatGPT for team planning and the Royal Navy's use of AI in recruitment.\n*   **Technology & Infrastructure:** The role of Pure Storage and Azure in AI-ready data, and alliances between Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Anthropic for AI compute.\n*   **AI Models & Tools:** Google’s Veo 3 video creation tools, Samsung’s small AI model, and lightweight LLMs for enterprise use in Japan.\n*   **Industry Applications:** AI in asset management (Franklin Templeton & Wand AI), Levi Strauss's DTC model, and accounting firms using AI agents.\n*   **Research & Hardware:** Breakthroughs in analog AI chips for deep learning a....",
  "results": [
    {
      "id": "https://www.artificial-intelligence.blog/",
      "title": "AI Blog - Artificial Intelligence Blog",
      "url": "https://www.artificial-intelligence.blog/",
      "publishedDate": "2016-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
      "author": "Artificial Superintelligence (ASI)",
      "text": "This is a blog dedicated to Artificial Intelligence, aiming to keep readers updated on the field in innovative, informative, and entertaining ways. The content, including images and text, is largely generated by AI. The blog features various posts covering topics such as new AI models, societal impact, technical discussions, industry focus, market analysis, and beginner guides...",
      "image": "http://static1.squarespace.com/static/62ec2bc76a27db7b37a2b32f/t/68974039b71d0f1a6f3e6920/1754742841664/of+ai-blog-youtube-2025.png?format=1500w",
      "favicon": "https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62ec2bc76a27db7b37a2b32f/abfb4587-35b3-411f-8603-7e24344b95fc/favicon.ico?format=100w"
    },
    {
      "id": "https://blog.google/technology/ai/",
      "title": "AI",
      "url": "https://blog.google/technology/ai/",
      "publishedDate": "2018-06-07T18:13:42.000Z",
      "author": "",
      "text": "The work we're doing to make AI helpful for everyone. This page covers Gemini Models, Gemini App updates, Research developments, and Developer resources. Recent highlights include the release of Gemini 3, tips for using Nano Banana Pro, and various AI research initiatives...",
      "image": "https://blog.google/static/blogv2/images/google-200x200.png?version=pr20251113-1736",
      "favicon": "https://blog.google/favicon.ico"
    }
  ],
  "searchTime": 2619.8,
  "costDollars": {
    "total": 0.022,
    "search": {"neural": 0.005},
    "contents": {"text": 0.017}
  }
}

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Available Search Types

Now you have four search types to choose from:
  • Auto (default): Our best search, intelligently combines multiple search methods
  • Fast: Fastest search with lowest latency
  • Deep: Deep search with query expansion and summaries
  • Neural: Predicts the most relevant results based on query meaning
We’re excited for you to try Deep search and see how it can improve your search results!