The Websets API operates as an asynchronous search system. When you create a Webset, it automatically starts searching and verifying results based on your criteria. Let’s dive into each part of the process.
The process starts when you create a Webset. Here’s how it flows:

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1. Initial Request

Start by providing a search configuration: 
{
  "search": {
    "query": "AI companies in Europe that raised Series A funding",
    "count": 50
  }
}
You can optionally specify:
  • An entity.type to define what you’re looking for
  • Custom criteria for verification
  • enrichments to extract specific data points
  • metadata for your own tracking

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2. Webset Creation

When your request is received:
  1. A new Webset is created with status running
  2. A webset.created event is emitted
  3. The search process begins automatically

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3. Search Process

The search flows through several stages:
  1. Initialization
    • A new WebsetSearch is created
    • Status is set to running
    • webset.search.created event is emitted
  2. Discovery & Verification
    • The system starts retrieving results leveraging Exa Search and verifies each one
    • Items that pass verification and match your search criteria are automatically added to your Webset
    • Each new item triggers a webset.item.created event
    • Items are immediately available through the list endpoint
  3. Enrichment (if configured)
    • Each item is processed through specified enrichments
    • webset.item.enriched events are emitted as results come in
    • Enrichment results are added to the item’s data
  4. Completion
    • When the search finds all items, its status changes to completed
    • A webset.search.completed event is emitted
    • If no other operations are running, you’ll receive a webset.idle event

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Accessing Results

You can access your data throughout the process:
  1. Real-time Access
    • Use the list endpoint to paginate through items
    • Listen for item events (webset.item.created and webset.item.enriched) to process results as they arrive
  2. Bulk Export
    • Available once the Webset becomes idle
    • Includes all items with their content, verifications and enrichments
    • Useful for processing the complete dataset


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Running Additional Searches

You can create additional searches on the same Webset at any time. Each new search:
  • Follows the same event flow as the initial search
  • Can run in parallel with other enrichment operations (not other searches for now)
  • Maintains its own progress tracking
  • Contributes to the overall Webset state

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Control Operations

Manage your searches with:

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Up-to-date Websets using Monitors

Monitors allow you to automatically keep your Websets updated with fresh data on a schedule, creating a continuous flow of updates without manual intervention.

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Behavior

  • Search behavior: Automatically run new searches to find fresh content matching your criteria. New items are added to your Webset with automatic deduplication.
  • Refresh behavior: Update existing items by refreshing their content from source URLs or re-running specific enrichments to capture data changes.

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Scheduling

Set your update frequency with:
  • Cron Expression: A valid Unix cron expression with 5 fields that triggers at most once per day
  • Timezone: Any IANA timezone (defaults to Etc/UTC)

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Example: Weekly Monitor for Series A Funded Companies

{
  "websetId": "ws_abc123",
  "cadence": {
    "cron": "0 9 * * 1",
    "timezone": "America/New_York"
  },
  "behavior": {
    "type": "search",
    "config": {
      "parameters": {
        "query": "AI startups that raised Series A funding in the last week",
        "count": 10,
        "criteria": [
          { "description": "Company is an AI startup" },
          {
            "description": "Company has raised Series A funding in the last week"
          }
        ],
        "entity": { "type": "company" },
        "behavior": "append"
      }
    }
  }
}