From exa-pack
Migrates Node.js search pipelines from Google, Bing, Tavily, Serper to Exa neural search. Installs exa-js SDK, compares APIs, and provides TypeScript adapter for unified interface.
npx claudepluginhub jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills --plugin exa-packThis skill is limited to using the following tools:
!`npm list exa-js 2>/dev/null | grep exa-js || echo 'exa-js not installed'`
Generates runnable TypeScript examples for Exa API: basic search, search with contents/highlights/summary, find similar pages, and get contents for URLs.
Migrates from Google Custom Search, Bing API, SerpAPI, or legacy LLMs to Perplexity Sonar using strangler fig pattern. Assesses integrations, builds adapters for incremental replacement.
Migrates legacy google-search-results SerpApi clients to official serpapi package for Python and Node.js, updating imports, init patterns, search calls, and responses.
Share bugs, ideas, or general feedback.
!npm list exa-js 2>/dev/null | grep exa-js || echo 'exa-js not installed'
!npm list 2>/dev/null | grep -E '(google|bing|tavily|serper|serpapi)' || echo 'No competing search SDK found'
Migrate from traditional search APIs (Google Custom Search, Bing Web Search, Tavily, Serper) to Exa's neural search API. Key differences: Exa uses semantic/neural search instead of keyword matching, returns content (text/highlights/summary) in a single API call, and supports similarity search from a seed URL.
| Feature | Google/Bing | Tavily | Exa |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search model | Keyword | AI-enhanced | Neural embeddings |
| Content in results | Snippets only | Full text | Text + highlights + summary |
| Similarity search | No | No | findSimilar() by URL |
| AI answer | No | Yes | answer() + streamAnswer() |
| Categories | No | No | company, news, research paper, tweet, people |
| Date filtering | Limited | Yes | startPublishedDate / endPublishedDate |
| Domain filtering | Yes | Yes | includeDomains / excludeDomains (up to 1200) |
set -euo pipefail
npm install exa-js
# Remove old SDK if replacing
# npm uninstall google-search-api tavily serpapi
// src/search/adapter.ts
import Exa from "exa-js";
// Define a provider-agnostic search interface
interface SearchResult {
title: string;
url: string;
snippet: string;
score?: number;
publishedDate?: string;
}
interface SearchResponse {
results: SearchResult[];
query: string;
}
// Exa implementation
class ExaSearchAdapter {
private exa: Exa;
constructor(apiKey: string) {
this.exa = new Exa(apiKey);
}
async search(query: string, numResults = 10): Promise<SearchResponse> {
const response = await this.exa.searchAndContents(query, {
type: "auto",
numResults,
text: { maxCharacters: 500 },
highlights: { maxCharacters: 300, query },
});
return {
query,
results: response.results.map(r => ({
title: r.title || "Untitled",
url: r.url,
snippet: r.highlights?.join(" ") || r.text?.substring(0, 300) || "",
score: r.score,
publishedDate: r.publishedDate || undefined,
})),
};
}
// Exa-only: similarity search (no equivalent in Google/Bing)
async findSimilar(url: string, numResults = 5): Promise<SearchResponse> {
const response = await this.exa.findSimilarAndContents(url, {
numResults,
text: { maxCharacters: 500 },
excludeSourceDomain: true,
});
return {
query: url,
results: response.results.map(r => ({
title: r.title || "Untitled",
url: r.url,
snippet: r.text?.substring(0, 300) || "",
score: r.score,
})),
};
}
}
// src/search/router.ts
function getSearchProvider(): "legacy" | "exa" {
const exaPercentage = Number(process.env.EXA_TRAFFIC_PERCENTAGE || "0");
return Math.random() * 100 < exaPercentage ? "exa" : "legacy";
}
async function search(query: string, numResults = 10): Promise<SearchResponse> {
const provider = getSearchProvider();
if (provider === "exa") {
return exaAdapter.search(query, numResults);
}
return legacyAdapter.search(query, numResults);
}
// Gradually increase: 0% → 10% → 50% → 100%
// EXA_TRAFFIC_PERCENTAGE=10
// Exa neural search works best with natural language, not keyword syntax
function translateQuery(legacyQuery: string): string {
return legacyQuery
// Remove boolean operators (Exa doesn't use them)
.replace(/\b(AND|OR|NOT)\b/gi, " ")
// Remove quotes (Exa uses semantic matching, not exact)
.replace(/"/g, "")
// Remove site: operator (use includeDomains instead)
.replace(/site:\S+/gi, "")
// Clean up extra whitespace
.replace(/\s+/g, " ")
.trim();
}
// Extract domain filters from legacy query
function extractDomainFilter(query: string): string[] {
const domains: string[] = [];
const siteMatches = query.matchAll(/site:(\S+)/gi);
for (const match of siteMatches) {
domains.push(match[1]);
}
return domains;
}
async function compareResults(query: string) {
const [legacyResults, exaResults] = await Promise.all([
legacyAdapter.search(query, 5),
exaAdapter.search(query, 5),
]);
// Compare URL overlap
const legacyUrls = new Set(legacyResults.results.map(r => new URL(r.url).hostname));
const exaUrls = new Set(exaResults.results.map(r => new URL(r.url).hostname));
const overlap = [...legacyUrls].filter(u => exaUrls.has(u));
console.log(`Legacy results: ${legacyResults.results.length}`);
console.log(`Exa results: ${exaResults.results.length}`);
console.log(`Domain overlap: ${overlap.length}/${legacyUrls.size}`);
return { legacyResults, exaResults, overlapRate: overlap.length / legacyUrls.size };
}
| Issue | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Lower result count | Exa filters more aggressively | Increase numResults |
| Different ranking | Neural vs keyword ranking | Expected — evaluate by relevance |
| Boolean queries fail | Exa doesn't support AND/OR | Translate to natural language |
Missing site: filter | Different API parameter | Use includeDomains parameter |
For advanced troubleshooting, see exa-advanced-troubleshooting.