Concepts
Prompting Guide
Why Prompting Matters
Exa’s neural search excels at understanding natural language descriptions of web content. For optimal results, frame queries as if you’re describing a link to someone.
Quick Solutions
- Use Autoprompt: Set
use_autoprompt=True
for automatic query optimization. - Use Auto Search: Use
type="auto"
for intelligent routing to auto vs keyword search, especially where neural is not returning useful results.
Prompting Tips
- Phrase as Statements: “Here’s a great article about X:” works better than “What is X?”
- Add Context: Include modifiers like “funny”, “academic”, or specific websites to narrow results.
- End with a Colon: Many effective prompts end with ”:”, mimicking natural link sharing.
Examples
Bad: “best restaurants in SF” Good: “Here is the best restaurant in SF:“
Bad: “What’s the best way to learn cooking?” Good: “This is the best tutorial on how to get started with cooking:“
Remember, Exa is continually improving. These guidelines help leverage its current strengths while we work on making prompting even more intuitive.