Exa SDK Adapter Patterns

Overview

Isolate exa-js or exa-py behind an application-owned adapter that preserves current request semantics and safe evidence. Treat credentials, queries, retrieved content, generated output, spend, and destructive state as separately governed boundaries.

Prerequisites

• The target repository, environment, Exa team, product surface, and accountable owner.
• The workload's data classification, latency and freshness promise, cost ceiling, and retention policy.
• Current first-party documentation plus credentials only for a narrowly approved live check.

Current Contract

The JavaScript and Python SDKs expose Search, Contents, Answer, Agent, and Monitor surfaces with language-specific naming. The adapter should normalize application inputs and errors without inventing defaults, and it should preserve requestId, statuses, grounding, and costDollars needed for operations.

Authentication

For normal REST work, inject EXA_API_KEY from an approved server-side secret manager and send it only as Authorization: Bearer to the configured first-party Exa API host. Team Management service keys, hosted MCP OAuth or enterprise managed authorization, and payment-protocol calls are separate trust models. Never print, commit, place in a URL, or expose a credential to an untrusted client.