feat: add Exa search integration. Added Search and Contents (crawling) tools. (#231)

* Added Exa, the web search api, search and contents tools

* Code formatting and linting completed

* added max_char feature

* updated code with relevant url examples

Author: theishangoswami

README.md

@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Strands Agents Tools is a community-driven project that provides a powerful set
 - 📁 **File Operations** - Read, write, and edit files with syntax highlighting and intelligent modifications
 - 🖥️ **Shell Integration** - Execute and interact with shell commands securely
 - 🧠 **Memory** - Store user and agent memories across agent runs to provide personalized experiences with both Mem0 and Amazon Bedrock Knowledge Bases
-- 🕸️ **Web Infrastructure** - Perform web searches, extract page content, and crawl websites with Tavily-powered tools
+- 🕸️ **Web Infrastructure** - Perform web searches, extract page content, and crawl websites with Tavily and Exa-powered tools
 - 🌐 **HTTP Client** - Make API requests with comprehensive authentication support
 - 💬 **Slack Client** - Real-time Slack events, message processing, and Slack API access
 - 🐍 **Python Execution** - Run Python code snippets with state persistence, user confirmation for code execution, and safety features
@@ -108,6 +108,8 @@ Below is a comprehensive table of all available tools, how to use them with an a
 | tavily_extract | `agent.tool.tavily_extract(urls=["www.tavily.com"], extract_depth="advanced")` | Extract clean, structured content from web pages with advanced processing and noise removal |
 | tavily_crawl | `agent.tool.tavily_crawl(url="www.tavily.com", max_depth=2, instructions="Find API docs")` | Crawl websites intelligently starting from a base URL with filtering and extraction |
 | tavily_map | `agent.tool.tavily_map(url="www.tavily.com", max_depth=2, instructions="Find all pages")` | Map website structure and discover URLs starting from a base URL without content extraction |
+| exa_search | `agent.tool.exa_search(query="Best project management tools", text=True)` | Intelligent web search with auto mode (default) that combines neural and keyword search for optimal results |
+| exa_get_contents | `agent.tool.exa_get_contents(urls=["https://example.com/article"], text=True, summary={"query": "key points"})` | Extract full content and summaries from specific URLs with live crawling fallback |
 | python_repl* | `agent.tool.python_repl(code="import pandas as pd\ndf = pd.read_csv('data.csv')\nprint(df.head())")` | Running Python code snippets, data analysis, executing complex logic with user confirmation for security |
 | calculator | `agent.tool.calculator(expression="2 * sin(pi/4) + log(e**2)")` | Performing mathematical operations, symbolic math, equation solving |
 | code_interpreter | `code_interpreter = AgentCoreCodeInterpreter(region="us-west-2"); agent = Agent(tools=[code_interpreter.code_interpreter])` | Execute code in isolated sandbox environments with multi-language support (Python, JavaScript, TypeScript), persistent sessions, and file operations |
@@ -316,6 +318,71 @@ result = agent.tool.tavily_map(url="www.tavily.com")
 
 ```
 
+### Exa Search and Contents
+
+```python
+from strands import Agent
+from strands_tools.exa import exa_search, exa_get_contents
+
+agent = Agent(tools=[exa_search, exa_get_contents])
+
+# Basic search (auto mode is default and recommended)
+result = agent.tool.exa_search(
+    query="Best project management software",
+    text=True
+)
+
+# Company-specific search when needed
+result = agent.tool.exa_search(
+    query="Anthropic AI safety research",
+    category="company",
+    include_domains=["anthropic.com"],
+    num_results=5,
+    summary={"query": "key research areas and findings"}
+)
+
+# News search with date filtering
+result = agent.tool.exa_search(
+    query="AI regulation policy updates",
+    category="news",
+    start_published_date="2024-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
+    text=True
+)
+
+# Get detailed content from specific URLs
+result = agent.tool.exa_get_contents(
+    urls=[
+        "https://example.com/blog-post",
+        "https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel"
+    ],
+    text={"maxCharacters": 5000, "includeHtmlTags": False},
+    summary={
+        "query": "main points and practical applications"
+    },
+    subpages=2,
+    extras={"links": 5, "imageLinks": 2}
+)
+
+# Structured summary with JSON schema
+result = agent.tool.exa_get_contents(
+    urls=["https://example.com/article"],
+    summary={
+        "query": "main findings and recommendations",
+        "schema": {
+            "type": "object",
+            "properties": {
+                "main_points": {"type": "string", "description": "Key points from the article"},
+                "recommendations": {"type": "string", "description": "Suggested actions or advice"},
+                "conclusion": {"type": "string", "description": "Overall conclusion"},
+                "relevance": {"type": "string", "description": "Why this matters"}
+            },
+            "required": ["main_points", "conclusion"]
+        }
+    }
+)
+
+```
+
 ### Python Code Execution
 
 *Note: `python_repl` does not work on Windows.*
@@ -737,6 +804,13 @@ These variables affect multiple tools:
 | TAVILY_API_KEY | Tavily API key (required for all Tavily functionality) | None |
 - Visit https://www.tavily.com/ to create a free account and API key.
 
+#### Exa Search and Contents Tools
+
+| Environment Variable | Description | Default |
+|----------------------|-------------|---------|
+| EXA_API_KEY | Exa API key (required for all Exa functionality) | None |
+- Visit https://dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys to create a free account and API key.
+
 #### Mem0 Memory Tool
 
 The Mem0 Memory Tool supports three different backend configurations: