> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://exa.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> ## Agent Instructions
> The Exa API is served at https://api.exa.ai. Authenticate with `Authorization: Bearer $EXA_API_KEY` (or `x-api-key: $EXA_API_KEY`); create keys at https://dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys?utm_source=docs&utm_medium=docs&utm_campaign=markdown_instructions. Every way an agent can get access to Exa is described at https://exa.ai/auth.md.
> Prefer the official SDKs, `exa-py` (`pip install exa-py`) and `exa-js` (`npm install exa-js`); both read `EXA_API_KEY` from the environment.
> Tool-using agents can call Exa without writing code through the hosted MCP server at https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp, or install the Exa agent skill with `npx skills add exa-labs/agent-skills` (skill file: https://exa.ai/docs/skill.md).
> The OpenAPI specs at https://exa.ai/docs/exa-spec.yaml and https://exa.ai/docs/team-management-spec.yaml are the source of truth for request and response schemas.

# LlamaIndex

> A quick-start guide on how to add Exa retrieval to a LlamaIndex Agent Application.

> [card] [Coding Agent Quickstart](https://dashboard.exa.ai/onboarding?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=docs\&utm_campaign=coding_agent_quickstart_card)
>
> New to Exa? Get started in under a minute.

***

LlamaIndex is a framework for building LLM applications powered by structured data. In this guide, we'll use Exa's LlamaIndex integration to:

1. Specify Exa's Search and Retrieve Highlight Tool as a LlamaIndex retriever
2. Set up an OpenAI Agent that uses this tool in its response generation

***

## Get started

**1. Prerequisites and installation**

Install the llama-index, llama-index core, llama-index-tools-exa libraries. OpenAI dependencies are within the core library, so we don't need to specify that.

```bash Python theme={null}
pip install llama-index llama-index-core llama-index-tools-exa

# Or, if using uv:
uv add llama-index llama-index-core llama-index-tools-exa
```

Also ensure API keys are initialized properly. The following code uses the `EXA_API_KEY` as the relevant environment variable name.

> [card] [Get your Exa API key](https://dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=docs\&utm_campaign=get_key_card)
>
> Create a key in the dashboard. New accounts start with free credits.

**2. Instantiate Exa tool**

Import the relevant Exa integration library and instantiate LlamaIndex's `ExaToolSpec`.

```Python Python theme={null}
from llama_index.tools.exa import ExaToolSpec
import os

exa_tool = ExaToolSpec(
    api_key=os.environ["EXA_API_KEY"],
)
```

**3. Choose the Exa method to use**

For this example, we are only interested in passing the [search\_and\_retrieve\_highlights](https://docs.llamaindex.ai/en/stable/api_reference/tools/exa/) method to our agent, so we specify this using the `.to_tool_list` LlamaIndex method. We also pass `current_date`, a simple utility so our agent knows the current date.

```Python Python theme={null}
print('Tools that are provide by Exa LlamaIndex integration:')
print('\n'.join(map(str, (exa_tool.spec_functions))))

search_and_retrieve_highlights_tool = exa_tool.to_tool_list(
    spec_functions=["search_and_retrieve_highlights", "current_date"]
)
```

**4. Set up an OpenAI agent and make Exa-powered requests**

Set up the [OpenAIAgent](https://docs.llamaindex.ai/en/stable/examples/agent/Chatbot%5FSEC/), passing the filtered down toolset from above.

```Python Python theme={null}
from llama_index.agent.openai import OpenAIAgent

agent = OpenAIAgent.from_tools(
    search_and_retrieve_highlights_tool,
    verbose=True,
)
```

We can then use the chat method to interact with the agent.

```Python Python theme={null}
agent.chat(
    "Can you summarize the news from the last month related to the US stock market?"
)
```

The agent calls the Exa tools it was given, then answers from the results. The exact output varies with the query and the publication dates of the pages Exa returns.

> [card] [Search API guide](https://exa.ai/docs/search/quickstart.md)
>
> Review Exa search parameters and response fields.

> [card] [LlamaIndex tool reference](https://docs.llamaindex.ai/en/stable/module_guides/deploying/agents/tools/)
>
> Explore LlamaIndex tools and agent configuration.