New Deep Search Type

Introducing Exa Deep: Get better results with smart query expansion and high-quality summaries.

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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 →

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

How to Use Deep Search

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
    }
  }'

What You Get Back

The context parameter shown in examples below is now deprecated. Use highlights or text instead.

Deep search returns a context field that gives you detailed context:

{
  "requestId": "536ad95eecf9dce61c556347c857b671",
  "resolvedSearchType": "",
  "context": "Title: Top AI Trends in 2026: What's Actually Changing (Not Just Hype)\nPublished Date: 2026-05-03T19:14:18.000Z\nURL: https://aiautomationhacks.com/top-ai-trends/\n\nTitle: AI Trends 2026: A Mid-Year Reading From the Engine Room - DEV Community\nPublished Date: 2026-05-08T18:02:30.000Z\nURL: https://dev.to/studiomeyer_io/ai-trends-2026-a-mid-year-reading-from-the-engine-room-4ma4\n\nTitle: AI Development in March 2026 - AI Critique\nPublished Date: 2026-03-31T00:00:00.000Z\nURL: https://www.aicritique.org/us/2026/03/31/ai-development-in-march-2026/\n\nTitle: Top 7 AI Research Trends Driving Innovation in 2026\nPublished Date: 2026-05-11T10:50:20.000Z\nURL: https://guruhitech.com/7-ai-research-trends-reshaping-machine-intelligence-in-2026/\n\n...",
  "results": [
    {
      "id": "https://aiautomationhacks.com/top-ai-trends/",
      "title": "Top AI Trends in 2026: What's Actually Changing (Not Just Hype)",
      "url": "https://aiautomationhacks.com/top-ai-trends/",
      "publishedDate": "2026-05-03T19:14:18.000Z",
      "author": "Alex Roberts",
      "text": "Top AI Trends in 2026: What's Actually Changing (Not Just Hype)\n\nThe biggest AI trends in 2026 are: (1) agentic AI that takes actions autonomously, (2) multimodal models handling text, image, and audio together, (3) on-device AI running privately on phones and laptops, (4) open-source models catching up to frontier systems, and (5) AI-native software replacing legacy SaaS...",
      "image": "http://aiautomationhacks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/ChatGPT-Image-May-7-2026-12_42_14-AM.png",
      "favicon": "https://aiautomationhacks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/cropped-Untitled-design-4-32x32.png"
    },
    {
      "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"
    },
  ],
  "searchTime": 2619.8,
  "costDollars": {
    "total": 0.012
  }
}

Available Search Types

Now you have four search types to choose from:

• Auto (default): Default search that intelligently combines search methods
• Fast: Low latency search using optimized versions of the search models
• Deep: Multi-step search with reasoning and structured outputs
• Instant: Lowest latency search optimized for real-time applications

We’re excited for you to try Deep search and see how it can improve your search results!