ai.exa/exa MCP Server
ai.exa/exa
Connect AI agents to Exa for web search, content fetching, and multi-step research.
What is the ai.exa/exa MCP server?
The Exa MCP Server connects AI agents to Exa's web search and content platform. It provides tools for searching the web, fetching full webpage content, and running multi-step research tasks through Exa Agent. The server supports both basic and advanced search capabilities with optional authentication for higher rate limits.
This MCP server gives Claude, Cursor, and other AI agents access to Exa's web search and content fetching capabilities. Use it to perform web searches, read full webpage content as markdown, run advanced searches with filters and summaries, and execute multi-step research workflows through Exa Agent. It works anonymously with rate limits or with API key/OAuth authentication for higher limits and agent access.
How to install ai.exa/exa
Copy-paste configuration for popular MCP clients.
Tools & capabilities
Tools this server exposes to the agent.
web_search_exa— Search the web for any topic and get clean, ready-to-use contentweb_fetch_exa— Read a webpage's full content as clean markdown from one or more URLsweb_search_advanced_exa— Advanced search with filters, domains, dates, highlights, summaries, and subpage crawlingagent_run— Run an Exa Agent for multi-step research, list-building, enrichment, and structured output
Use cases
- Perform web searches and retrieve clean, formatted content for research and analysis
- Fetch and read full webpage content as markdown for detailed information extraction
- Conduct advanced searches with domain filters, date ranges, and highlighted results for targeted research
- Run multi-step research workflows and enrichment tasks through Exa Agent
- Build lead lists and perform competitive analysis with structured output
ai.exa/exa MCP server FAQ
It's an MCP server that connects AI agents like Claude and Cursor to Exa's web search and content platform, enabling web searches, webpage fetching, and multi-step research capabilities.
The hosted MCP server works anonymously with rate limits at no cost. Higher rate limits and access to Exa Agent require either OAuth login or an API key from the Exa dashboard.
Click the 'Install in Cursor' badge in the repository, or manually add the MCP server URL https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp to your Cursor configuration.
Install from the Claude Plugin Marketplace at claude.com/plugins/exa, or run `claude plugin install exa@claude-plugins-official` from the command line.
No, the server works anonymously with rate limits. For higher limits and Exa Agent access, you can authenticate via OAuth (recommended) or provide an API key from dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys.
Default tools include web_search_exa and web_fetch_exa. Optional tools (enabled via URL parameters) include web_search_advanced_exa for filtered searches and agent_run for multi-step research workflows.
README (reference)
Source of truth, from the repository.
Installation
Connect to Exa's hosted MCP server:
https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp
Or use a plugin when your client supports one.
Agent Plugin
This repository is an Agent Plugin. Install it with any compatible client.
Claude
Install from the Claude Plugin Marketplace, or run:
claude plugin install exa@claude-plugins-official
Codex / ChatGPT
Install via Plugins in ChatGPT, or run:
codex mcp add exa --url https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp
Other MCP Clients
Most clients can be configured manually with the standard mcpServers shape:
{
"mcpServers": {
"exa": {
"type": "streamable-http",
"url": "https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp",
}
}
}
Exa MCP works with most other clients, point them at https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp.
| Client | Where to add it |
|---|---|
| Kiro | Use the Kiro power, or add manually to ~/.kiro/settings/mcp.json |
| LM Studio | Add to LM Studio, or add manually to mcp.json |
| Replit | Add to Replit |
| Grok Build | /marketplace → install Exa, then /mcp to sign in |
| Gemini CLI | Add manually to ~/.gemini/settings.json |
| OpenCode | Add manually to opencode.json |
| Windsurf | Add manually to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json |
| Google Antigravity | Add manually to mcp_config.json |
| Zed | Add manually to settings.json under context_servers |
| Warp | Settings → Agents → MCP servers |
| v0 by Vercel | Settings → MCP connections |
Available Tools
Default Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
web_search_exa | Search the web for any topic and get clean, ready-to-use content |
web_fetch_exa | Read a webpage's full content as clean markdown from one or more URLs |
Optional Tools (enable via the tools parameter)
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
agent_run | Run an Exa Agent for multi-step research, list-building, enrichment, and structured output |
web_search_advanced_exa | Advanced search with filters, domains, dates, highlights, summaries, and subpage crawling |
Enable tools by appending them to the MCP URL (this will replace the defaults, so include all you want):
https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?tools=web_search_advanced_exa
https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?tools=web_search_exa,web_fetch_exa,agent_run
Exa Agent requires authentication (OAuth or an API key).
Agent Skills
Skills live in skills/ and load with Agent Plugin / Claude plugin installs.
| Skill | Path | Use when |
|---|---|---|
search | skills/search/ | Deep research, lead gen, competitive analysis, multi-step web investigation |
exa-agent | skills/exa-agent/ | Exa Agent runs, enrichment, structured output, Connect providers |
Invoke from your client's skill UI (or /skill-name where supported). MCP-only setups still get the tools; skills add orchestration on top.
Authentication
The hosted MCP server works anonymously with rate limits. For higher limits and access to Exa Agent, use either OAuth or an API key.
OAuth is preferred: most clients prompt you to sign in to Exa. To force the login flow (useful for shared connectors and plugins), use https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?login or https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp/oauth.
If you prefer, you can get an API key from the dashboard and pass it on the URL as ?exaApiKey=…. You can also send it as a Authorization: Bearer … header or an x-api-key header.
Built with ❤️ by Exa
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