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POST
Get a direct, cited answer to a question.
Ask a natural-language query and get back a direct answer grounded in retrieved sources, with the supporting citations returned alongside it. Set type to control the retrieval mode used to gather sources, and set text to include each citation’s full page body. Supply an outputSchema to receive a structured answer object instead of a plain string. Billed at a flat $0.08 per successful request; upstream 4xx responses are not billed. For raw search results without a synthesized answer, use post_exa-search; for deep, multi-step research use post_exa-agent-runs.

Authorizations

Authorization
string
header
required

Bearer authentication header of the form Bearer <token>, where <token> is your auth token.

Body

application/json
query
string
required

The question to answer.

Example:

"Which manufacturers had the top three global EV sales in 2025?"

text
boolean

Include the full page text of each citation.

type
enum<string>

Retrieval mode used to gather sources before answering.

Available options:
auto,
fast,
instant,
deep-lite,
deep,
deep-reasoning
outputSchema
object

JSON Schema for a structured answer output.

Response

200 - application/json

Answer generated successfully.

requestId
string
answer
any | null

The generated answer. A string, or a structured object when outputSchema was supplied.

citations
object[]

Sources supporting the answer.

costDollars
any | null

Upstream Exa cost breakdown. Informational only; customer billing is the flat $0.08.