exacli

Exacli

A Bun-native TypeScript CLI for the Exa AI search API. Search the web semantically, extract content from URLs, get AI-powered answers with citations, and conduct automated research - all from your terminal.

Attribution: Based on exa-cli by Alex Sandiiarov. Now maintained by SoftwareStartups.

What is it?

exacli is a command-line tool that communicates with the Exa AI search API. It can be used standalone or through Claude Code to:

• Search the web using semantic understanding
• Extract full text, highlights, and summaries from URLs
• Get AI-generated answers with source citations
• Find pages similar to any URL
• Conduct automated deep research tasks

Installation

From GitHub Releases (recommended)

Download a pre-compiled binary for your platform from GitHub Releases:

# macOS (Apple Silicon)
curl -L https://github.com/SoftwareStartups/exacli/releases/latest/download/exacli-darwin-arm64 -o exacli
chmod +x exacli
sudo mv exacli /usr/local/bin/

# macOS (Intel)
curl -L https://github.com/SoftwareStartups/exacli/releases/latest/download/exacli-darwin-x64 -o exacli
chmod +x exacli
sudo mv exacli /usr/local/bin/

# Linux (x64)
curl -L https://github.com/SoftwareStartups/exacli/releases/latest/download/exacli-linux-x64 -o exacli
chmod +x exacli
sudo mv exacli /usr/local/bin/

# Linux (ARM64)
curl -L https://github.com/SoftwareStartups/exacli/releases/latest/download/exacli-linux-arm64 -o exacli
chmod +x exacli
sudo mv exacli /usr/local/bin/

From Source

Prerequisites: Bun and Task

git clone https://github.com/SoftwareStartups/exacli.git
cd exacli
bun install
task build
bun link

Configuration

Set your Exa API key as an environment variable:

export EXA_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

Or pass it with each command:

exacli search "AI startups" --api-key "your-api-key-here"

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

Use with Claude Code

This repo is a Claude Code plugin marketplace. Install the companion skill so Claude Code can drive exacli for you:

/plugin marketplace add SoftwareStartups/exacli
/plugin install exacli@softwarestartups-exacli

Once installed, just ask Claude in plain language (e.g., "Find recent articles about post-quantum cryptography") and the skill will activate automatically. The plugin tracks this repo's releases — run /plugin marketplace update softwarestartups-exacli to get the latest skill revisions.

Commands

search <query>

Search the web using semantic search.

exacli search "latest AI developments"
exacli search "machine learning papers" --type deep --text --highlights
exacli search "startup funding" --category news --start-date 2024-01-01
exacli search "AI research" --include-domains "arxiv.org,openai.com"

Options: --num-results <n>, --type <auto|fast|deep|instant>, --text, --highlights, --summary, --category <category>, --include-domains <list>, --exclude-domains <list>, --start-date <date>, --end-date <date>, --autoprompt

contents <url...>

Retrieve content from specific URLs.

exacli contents "https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.15004" --text
exacli contents "https://example.com/1" "https://example.com/2" --highlights --summary

Options: --text, --highlights, --summary, --max-age-hours <n>

similar <url>

Find pages similar to a given URL.

exacli similar "https://openai.com/research/gpt-4"
exacli similar "https://techcrunch.com/article" --exclude-source-domain --text

Options: --num-results <n>, --exclude-source-domain, --text, --highlights, --summary, --category <category>

answer <query>

Get AI-powered answers with source citations.

exacli answer "What is quantum computing?"
exacli answer "Explain neural networks" --stream
exacli answer "Compare transformer architectures" --model exa-pro

Options: --text, --model <exa|exa-pro>, --stream, --system-prompt <text>

research <instructions>

Create automated research tasks.

exacli research "Latest SpaceX valuation" --poll
exacli research "CRISPR applications" --model pro --poll --timeout 300000

Options: --model <fast|regular|pro>, --poll, --poll-interval <ms>, --timeout <ms>

research-status <id> / research-list

exacli research-status "task-id"
exacli research-list --limit 10

Global Options

Flag	Description
--api-key <key>	Exa API key (alternative to EXA_API_KEY env var)
--json	Output raw JSON instead of formatted markdown
--version	Show version information
-h, --help	Show help message

Development