Exa Research

Blocks for creating and managing autonomous research tasks using Exa's Research API.

Exa Create Research

What it is

Create research task with optional waiting - explores web and synthesizes findings with citations

How it works

This block creates an asynchronous research task using Exa's Research API. The API autonomously explores the web, searches for relevant information, and synthesizes findings into a comprehensive report with citations.

You can choose from different model tiers (fast, standard, pro) depending on your speed vs. depth requirements. The block supports structured output via JSON Schema and can optionally wait for completion to return results immediately.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
instructions	Research instructions - clearly define what information to find, how to conduct research, and desired output format.	str	Yes
model	Research model: 'fast' for quick results, 'standard' for balanced quality, 'pro' for thorough analysis	"exa-research-fast" | "exa-research" | "exa-research-pro"	No
output_schema	JSON Schema to enforce structured output. When provided, results are validated and returned as parsed JSON.	Dict[str, Any]	No
wait_for_completion	Wait for research to complete before returning. Ensures you get results immediately.	bool	No
polling_timeout	Maximum time to wait for completion in seconds (only if wait_for_completion is True)	int	No

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
research_id	Unique identifier for tracking this research request	str
status	Final status of the research	str
model	The research model used	str
instructions	The research instructions provided	str
created_at	When the research was created (Unix timestamp in ms)	int
output_content	Research output as text (only if wait_for_completion was True and completed)	str
output_parsed	Structured JSON output (only if wait_for_completion and outputSchema were provided)	Dict[str, Any]
cost_total	Total cost in USD (only if wait_for_completion was True and completed)	float
elapsed_time	Time taken to complete in seconds (only if wait_for_completion was True)	float

Possible use case

Market Research: Automatically research market trends, competitors, or industry developments with cited sources.

Due Diligence: Conduct comprehensive background research on companies, people, or technologies.

Content Research: Gather research on topics for articles, reports, or presentations with proper citations.

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Exa Get Research

What it is

Get status and results of a research task

How it works

This block retrieves the current status and results of a previously created research task. You can check whether the research is still running, completed, or failed.

When the research is complete, the block returns the full output content along with cost breakdown including searches performed, pages crawled, and tokens used. You can also optionally retrieve the detailed event log of research operations.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
research_id	The ID of the research task to retrieve	str	Yes
include_events	Include detailed event log of research operations	bool	No

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
research_id	The research task identifier	str
status	Current status: pending, running, completed, canceled, or failed	str
instructions	The original research instructions	str
model	The research model used	str
created_at	When research was created (Unix timestamp in ms)	int
finished_at	When research finished (Unix timestamp in ms, if completed/canceled/failed)	int
output_content	Research output as text (if completed)	str
output_parsed	Structured JSON output matching outputSchema (if provided and completed)	Dict[str, Any]
cost_total	Total cost in USD (if completed)	float
cost_searches	Number of searches performed (if completed)	int
cost_pages	Number of pages crawled (if completed)	int
cost_reasoning_tokens	AI tokens used for reasoning (if completed)	int
error_message	Error message if research failed	str
events	Detailed event log (if include_events was True)	List[Dict[str, Any]]

Possible use case

Status Monitoring: Check progress of long-running research tasks that were started asynchronously.

Result Retrieval: Fetch completed research results from tasks started earlier in your workflow.

Cost Tracking: Review the cost breakdown of completed research for budgeting and optimization.

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Exa List Research

What it is

List all research tasks with pagination support

How it works

This block retrieves a list of all your research tasks, ordered by creation time with newest first. It supports pagination for handling large numbers of tasks.

The block returns basic information about each task including its ID, status, instructions, and timestamps. Use this to find specific research tasks or monitor all ongoing research activities.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
cursor	Cursor for pagination through results	str	No
limit	Number of research tasks to return (1-50)	int	No

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
research_tasks	List of research tasks ordered by creation time (newest first)	List[ResearchTaskModel]
research_task	Individual research task (yielded for each task)	ResearchTaskModel
has_more	Whether there are more tasks to paginate through	bool
next_cursor	Cursor for the next page of results	str

Possible use case

Research Management: View all active and completed research tasks for project management.

Task Discovery: Find previously created research tasks to retrieve their results or check status.

Activity Auditing: Review research activity history for compliance or reporting purposes.

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Exa Wait For Research

What it is

Wait for a research task to complete with configurable timeout

How it works

This block polls a research task until it completes or times out. It periodically checks the task status at configurable intervals and returns the final results when done.

The block is useful when you need to block workflow execution until research completes. It returns whether the operation timed out, allowing you to handle incomplete research gracefully.

Inputs

Input	Description	Type	Required
research_id	The ID of the research task to wait for	str	Yes
timeout	Maximum time to wait in seconds	int	No
check_interval	Seconds between status checks	int	No

Outputs

Output	Description	Type
error	Error message if the operation failed	str
research_id	The research task identifier	str
final_status	Final status when polling stopped	str
output_content	Research output as text (if completed)	str
output_parsed	Structured JSON output (if outputSchema was provided and completed)	Dict[str, Any]
cost_total	Total cost in USD	float
elapsed_time	Total time waited in seconds	float
timed_out	Whether polling timed out before completion	bool

Possible use case

Sequential Workflows: Ensure research completes before proceeding to dependent workflow steps.

Synchronous Integration: Convert asynchronous research into synchronous operations for simpler workflow logic.

Timeout Handling: Implement research with graceful timeout handling for time-sensitive applications.

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