Skip to main content
Glama

mcp-exa

MCP server to give client the ability to connect to Exa

Setup

cp .env.example .env   # then fill in EXA_API_KEY
uv sync

The server starts without a key; tools return a setup error until EXA_API_KEY is set.

Register it in an MCP client (e.g. Claude Desktop):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["--directory", "/path/to/mcp-exa", "run", "main.py"]
    }
  }
}

Related MCP server: Exa MCP Server

Tools

  • exa_search: web search with highlights or full text; filters for category (company, news, publication, people, ...), domains, and published-date range

  • exa_get_contents: read known URLs, optionally only the passages relevant to a query

  • exa_deep_search: multi-step search that synthesizes a cited answer, as text or shaped by a JSON Schema (output_schema)

  • exa_research_start / exa_research_get: Exa's research agent for lists and reports. Runs take minutes, so start returns a run_id and get waits up to 50 seconds per call

Cost

The free tier gives $10 of credits per month. Every response includes cost_dollars. Roughly: instant search $4/1k, auto/fast $7/1k (+$1/1k per result above 10), deep search $12–15/1k, contents $1/1k pages; research runs cost the most. To keep one call from draining the budget, the server caps results at 25, URLs at 10 per call, and research effort at medium.

Available Tools

5 tools
exa_get_contentsA
Read the content of known web pages through Exa (handles JS-heavy and blocked sites).

Args:
    urls: Page URLs to read (max 10)
    highlight_query: Optional; return only the passages relevant to this query
        instead of the full text (e.g., "IEEE papers")
    max_characters: Max characters of text per page when no highlight_query (default: 5000)

Inputs: urls (required), max_characters, highlight_query. Returns: result

exa_research_getA
Get the status and result of a research run started with exa_research_start.

Args:
    run_id: The run_id returned by exa_research_start
    wait_seconds: Wait up to this long for the run to finish before returning (0-50, default: 30)

Inputs: run_id (required), wait_seconds. Returns: result

exa_research_startA
Start an Exa research agent for open-ended tasks (building lists, analyzing a topic
across many sources). Runs take minutes, so this returns a run_id right away;
fetch the result with exa_research_get. This is the most expensive Exa tool.

Args:
    query: The research task (e.g., "Find 10 AI consultant companies in Indonesia")
    output_schema: Optional JSON Schema for a structured result; without it the result is a report
    effort: "minimal", "low" (default), "medium" or "auto"

Inputs: query (required), effort, output_schema. Returns: result

Tool Schema Changelog

Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Loading tool schema changelog…

    TDQS

    A4/5.0

    Scored across 5 tools

    Disambiguation4/5

    exa_search, exa_deep_search, and exa_research_start all perform search-like operations, so there is some conceptual overlap. However, the descriptions clearly differentiate them: ranked results vs. synthesized answer with citations vs. long-running research agent, which helps an agent choose correctly.

    Naming Consistency4/5

    All tools use a consistent exa_ prefix and snake_case. Minor deviation: exa_search and exa_deep_search are noun-style while exa_get_contents, exa_research_start, and exa_research_get follow verb_noun, but the pattern remains readable and predictable.

    Tool Count5/5

    Five tools is well-scoped for a web search and research server, with each tool earning its place (search, read, synthesize, async start, async poll). No redundancy or padding.

    Completeness4/5

    The surface covers the full search lifecycle: ranked search, page reading, synthesized answers, and async research with status polling. Minor gap: no find-similar/lookup-by-URL tool that Exa typically offers, but core workflows are covered.

    Maintenance

    ActivityMaintained
    ResponsivenessNo recent community issues

    Related MCP Connectors

    • Connect AI agents to Exa for web search, content fetching, and multi-step research.

      https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp
    • Live AI-native web search with citations. One tool for every MCP client. Flat per-request pricing.

      https://pixserp.com/api/v1/mcp
    • Exa MCP — neural/semantic web search + content retrieval (exa.ai)

    • Your agent needs the open web — searched by more than one engine, and read as clean markdown rather than raw HTML. **What you can ask for** • "Search this question with two providers and tell me where they disagree." • "Scrape these 40 URLs into markdown, in one batch." • "Crawl this documentation site and give me every page." • "Do deep research on this topic and cite the sources." • "Find the academic papers behind this claim." **How to use it** Point any MCP client at https://mcp.aisa.one/search/mcp and sign in with OAuth — there is no key to create or paste. 30 tools across several independent providers: Tavily and Exa search, answers, contents and agent runs; Firecrawl scrape, batch scrape, crawl, map and search; Perplexity Sonar, Sonar Pro, reasoning and deep research; Oxylabs AI search and LLM jobs; OpenAI and Anthropic web search; and scholarly search. **Why this rather than the source** Several independent indexes behind one account, because one engine's blind spot is not visible from inside it. **It is also a door to the rest** The same login reaches 26 sources and 580+ operations. Find the page here, then ask the same agent who links to it or how much traffic it gets — without adding a second server. **What it costs** Finding and inspecting an operation is free. Running one is billed per call at API prices, with no seat and no monthly minimum, and every call takes max_price_usd so an agent cannot overspend by accident. **Where else it reaches** https://mcp.aisa.one/seo-serp/mcp for the Google results page itself, https://mcp.aisa.one/seo-serp-other-engines/mcp for Bing, Baidu and Naver.

    Related MCP Servers

    • A
      license
      Not graded
      quality
      D
      maintenance
      Enables AI assistants to perform web searches, research paper searches, and Twitter searches using the Exa AI Search API with real-time crawling and structured results.
      57,388 npm
      MIT
    • A
      license
      Not graded
      quality
      D
      maintenance
      Connects AI assistants to Exa AI's search capabilities for web search, code context retrieval from GitHub repos and documentation, company research, LinkedIn search, and deep research tasks.
      12 npm
      MIT
    • A
      license
      B
      quality
      D
      maintenance
      Exposes the Exa web search API as an MCP server, providing tools for web searching, content retrieval, and similar page discovery. It also supports advanced features like AI-generated answers and automated research task management.
      9
      MIT