Exa Search MCP Server

MCP Server Configuration

Copy
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "exa-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "EXA_API_KEY": "<your-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

Tool	Description
web_search	Search the web with AI-optimized ranking
research_paper_search	Find academic papers and technical research
news_search	Search recent news articles
company_search	Find information about companies
crawling	Extract full content from URLs
competitor_finder	Discover competitors for a given product

Use Cases for Developers

• Bug investigation: Search for error messages and known solutions
• Library research: Compare libraries, find alternatives, check popularity
• Best practices: Find current industry patterns for architecture decisions
• Code examples: Discover real-world implementations of specific patterns
• Security advisories: Check for known vulnerabilities in dependencies

Setup

1. Create an Exa account at https://exa.ai
2. Generate an API key from your dashboard
3. Replace <your-api-key> with your actual key
4. Free tier includes 1,000 searches/month

Search Quality Tips

• Use natural language queries rather than keyword-based search
• Exa's neural search understands intent, so ask questions naturally
• Combine with code context: "How to implement rate limiting in Express.js with Redis"
• Use domain filters to target specific sources (Stack Overflow, GitHub, docs sites)

Security Notes

• API key grants access to Exa's search API - treat it as a secret
• Store the key in .claude/settings.local.json (add to .gitignore)
• Search queries may contain project context - review before sending
• Free tier rate limits apply; paid plans available for heavy usage