Exa MCP Server
by Exa Labs
AI-native search for LLMs with web, code, company, and people search
search Node.js Beginner Self-hostable Verified
⭐ 3.9k stars 📅 Updated: 1mo ago
Description
Connect AI assistants to Exa's powerful search capabilities through this MCP server. Offers specialized search modes including web search, code search, company research, people search, and deep research. Features category-specific filtering, token isolation to prevent context pollution, and dynamic parameter tuning for optimal results. Available both as an npm package for local STDIO transport and as a hosted remote endpoint at mcp.exa.ai for zero-setup integration. Exa's neural search engine understands meaning rather than just keywords, delivering highly relevant results for AI workflows.
✅ Best for
AI workflows that need high-quality, semantically relevant web search results
⏭️ Skip if
You only need basic keyword search and want a free solution
💡 Use cases
- Research and fact-checking from AI assistants using web search
- Finding relevant code examples and repositories for development tasks
- Company research and competitive analysis via structured search
- Deep multi-step research workflows with automatic source aggregation
👍 Pros
- ✓ Neural search engine that understands meaning, not just keywords
- ✓ Multiple specialized search modes (web, code, company, people, deep research)
- ✓ Hosted remote endpoint available for zero-setup integration
- ✓ Category-specific filtering and token isolation for clean results
👎 Cons
- ✗ Requires a paid Exa API key for production usage
- ✗ Deep research mode can be slow for complex multi-step queries
- ✗ Search results quality depends on Exa's index coverage
🔧 Exposed tools (8 tools)
| Tool | Category | Description |
|---|---|---|
| crawling_exa | extraction | Crawl and extract content from web pages |
| company_research_exa | research | Research companies with structured data extraction |
| deep_researcher_start | research | Start an asynchronous deep research session |
| deep_researcher_check | research | Check the status and results of a deep research session |
| web_search_exa | search | Search the web using Exa's neural search engine |
| get_code_context_exa | search | Search for code examples and repositories |
| web_search_advanced_exa | search | Advanced web search with category filtering and parameters |
| people_search_exa | search | Search for people and their professional profiles |
⚡ Installation
Prerequisites:
- • Node.js v18+
- • Exa API key
- • API key required
Check Claude Code documentation to configure this MCP server.
💡 Tips & tricks
Use the hosted endpoint at mcp.exa.ai/mcp for the fastest setup. For code search, specify the programming language in your query for better results. The deep_researcher tools work asynchronously — start the research and check back for results.
🔄 Alternatives
Quick info
- Author
- Exa Labs
- License
- MIT
- Runtime
- Node.js 18+
- Transport
- stdio
- Category
- search
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Self-hostable
- ✅
- Auth
- —
- Docker
- —
- Version
- latest
- Updated
- Feb 28, 2026
Client compatibility
- ✅ Claude Code
- ✅ Cursor
- ✅ VS Code Copilot
- ❓ Gemini CLI
- ❓ Windsurf
- ❓ Cline
- ❓ JetBrains AI
- ❓ Warp
Platforms
🍎 macOS 🐧 Linux 🪟 Windows