Overview
What is Exa MCP Server?
Exa MCP Server connects AI assistants to Exa's search capabilities, including web search, code search, and company research. It provides a hosted MCP endpoint and tools that allow AI models to search the web, fetch page content, and perform advanced research.
How to use Exa MCP Server?
Add the hosted server URL https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp to your MCP client configuration. Optionally provide your Exa API key via the exaApiKey parameter or environment variable to enable additional tools. Client-specific setup instructions are available for Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex, and many others.
Key features of Exa MCP Server
- Hosted MCP server – no local installation required
- Web search and web fetch tools (enabled by default)
- Advanced search with filters, domains, and date ranges
- Optional Exa Agent for multi-step research and structured output
- Supports many MCP clients (Cursor, VS Code, Claude, Zed, etc.)
- Ready-to-use Claude Skills for company research and code search
Use cases of Exa MCP Server
- Search the web for any topic and retrieve clean content
- Fetch the full content of a specific webpage from a known URL
- Conduct advanced web search with domain and date filters
- Run multi-step research, list-building, and enrichment using Exa Agent
- Perform company research, competitive analysis, and market research
FAQ from Exa MCP Server
What tools are available by default?
The tools enabled by default are web_search_exa and web_fetch_exa. web_search_advanced_exa is available but off by default.
How do I get an Exa API key?
Get your API key from the Exa dashboard at https://dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys.
Which MCP clients are supported?
Supported clients include Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Antigravity, Windsurf, Zed, Gemini CLI, v0 by Vercel, Warp, Kiro, Roo Code, LM Studio, Replit, and others.
How do I enable advanced search or Exa Agent?
Pass the tools parameter in the server URL, e.g., https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?tools=web_search_advanced_exa to enable advanced search, or ?tools=agent_tools for Exa Agent tools.
What is the Exa Agent?
Exa Agent is an optional toolset for asynchronous multi-step research, list-building, enrichment, and structured output. It requires an API key or OAuth and includes tools like agent_create_run, agent_wait_for_run, and `agent_get_run_output
