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Rowboat can perform web searches to gather information for your tasks. Two search providers are supported: Brave for general web search and Exa for research-focused queries.

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Search Providers

Best for: Quick facts, current events, general web search Brave Search provides fast, privacy-focused web search results similar to Google. Best for: Research, finding articles/papers, exploring topics in depth, discovering quality sources Exa (formerly Metaphor) specializes in finding high-quality content and can filter by category (companies, research papers, news, people, etc.).

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Configuration

1

Choose Your Provider(s)

You can configure one or both search providers depending on your needs:
  • Brave only: Fast general-purpose search
  • Exa only: Research and discovery
  • Both: Rowboat will choose the best tool for each query
2

Get API Keys

Brave Search:
  1. Go to Brave Search API
  2. Sign up for an account
  3. Subscribe to a plan (free tier available)
  4. Copy your API key
Exa Search:
  1. Go to Exa
  2. Sign up for an account
  3. Navigate to your dashboard
  4. Copy your API key
3

Create Configuration Files

# Create brave-search.json
~/.rowboat/config/brave-search.json
Add your API keys:
{
  "apiKey": "your-brave-api-key-here"
}
4

Restart Rowboat

Restart Rowboat to load the new configuration. Search tools will automatically become available.

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Configuration Schema

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Brave Search

{
  "apiKey": "<your-brave-api-key>"
}
Schema Fields:
FieldTypeRequiredDescription
apiKeystringYesYour Brave Search API key

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Exa Search

{
  "apiKey": "<your-exa-api-key>"
}
Schema Fields:
FieldTypeRequiredDescription
apiKeystringYesYour Exa Search API key

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Using Search in Rowboat

Once configured, Rowboat can use search tools automatically when needed: 
You: "What's the latest news about AI safety?"

Rowboat: [uses web-search tool to find current articles]

You: "Find research papers about knowledge graphs"

Rowboat: [uses research-search tool for academic content]

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Tool Selection

Rowboat automatically chooses the right search tool:
  • web-search (Brave): Quick facts, current events, general queries, product info
  • research-search (Exa): Articles, papers, companies, people, in-depth topics
CRITICAL: Rowboat always starts with exactly ONE search call, picking the single best tool for your query. Additional searches only happen if needed based on initial results.

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API Details

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Brave Search API

Endpoint: https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/web/search Parameters:
  • q: Search query
  • count: Number of results (1-20, default: 5)
  • freshness: Optional time filter (e.g., “pd” for past day, “pw” for past week)
Response includes:
  • Title
  • URL
  • Description

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Exa Search API

Endpoint: https://api.exa.ai/search Parameters:
  • query: Search query
  • numResults: Number of results (1-20, default: 5)
  • category: Optional filter (company, research paper, news, tweet, personal site, financial report, people)
  • type: Search type (auto, neural, keyword)
Response includes:
  • Title
  • URL
  • Published date
  • Author
  • Highlights
  • Text snippets

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Troubleshooting

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Search tools not available

  1. Verify config files exist:
    • ~/.rowboat/config/brave-search.json
    • ~/.rowboat/config/exa-search.json
  2. Check that apiKey field is present and not empty
  3. Restart Rowboat

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”API key not configured” error

{
  "key": "your-api-key"
}
Make sure the field is named apiKey.

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”API key is empty” error

Your config file exists but the apiKey value is empty: 
// ❌ Don't do this
{
  "apiKey": ""
}

// ✅ Add your actual key
{
  "apiKey": "BSA...your-key-here"
}

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API errors

Brave “401 Unauthorized”:
  • Invalid API key
  • Generate a new key from Brave Search API dashboard
Brave “403 Forbidden”:
  • API subscription inactive or expired
  • Check your plan status
Exa errors:
  • Check your API key is valid
  • Verify you haven’t exceeded rate limits
  • See Exa documentation for details

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Pricing

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Brave Search

Free Tier:
  • 2,000 queries/month
  • Rate limit: 1 query/second
Pro Plans:
  • AI Pro: $5/month - 20,000 queries
  • Data Pro: $50/month - 200,000 queries
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing
See Brave Search Pricing

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Exa Search

Free Tier:
  • 1,000 searches/month
  • Basic features
Paid Plans:
  • Starting at $29/month
  • Higher rate limits
  • Advanced features (filtering, highlights, etc.)
See Exa Pricing

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Privacy

Search Privacy:
  • Search queries are sent to the respective API providers
  • Brave: Privacy-focused, does not profile users
  • Exa: Check their privacy policy
  • Results are stored in your local Rowboat conversation history

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When to Use Which Tool

Use CaseRecommended Tool
Current news and eventsBrave (web-search)
Product informationBrave (web-search)
Quick factual queriesBrave (web-search)
Finding research papersExa (research-search)
Discovering articles/blogsExa (research-search)
Company researchExa (research-search)
Finding specific peopleExa (research-search)
Exploring a topic in depthExa (research-search)

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API Key Security

Keep your API keys secure:
  • Never commit config files to version control
  • Don’t share API keys publicly
  • Rotate keys regularly
  • Monitor usage in provider dashboards

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