exa

name	exa
description	Web search, content crawling, code context lookup, company research, and deep AI research via Exa. Use when the user needs to search the web, fetch page content from a URL, find code examples or documentation, research a company, or run a deep research report on a complex topic.

Exa

Web search, crawling, code context, and deep research via the Exa MCP server (exa-mcp-server).

Setup

• MCP server: exa-mcp-server (npm, stdio transport)
• Config: ~/.pi/agent/mcp.json → mcpServers.exa
• Auth: EXA_API_KEY in ~/.zshrc.local, interpolated via ${EXA_API_KEY}
• Mode: Proxy (accessed through the mcp gateway tool)

When to Use

• Search the web for any topic
• Fetch full content from a known URL
• Find code examples, docs, and programming solutions
• Research a company
• Run deep AI research reports on complex topics

Available Tools

Access all tools through the mcp gateway:

mcp({ server: "exa" })           # List available tools
mcp({ search: "exa" })           # Search for exa tools
mcp({ describe: "tool_name" })   # Show tool details

web_search_exa (default, enabled)

Search the web for any topic. Returns clean text content from top results.

mcp({ tool: "web_search_exa", args: '{"query": "latest AI agent frameworks", "numResults": 5}' })

Parameter	Required	Description
query	yes	Search query
numResults	no	Number of results (default: 8)
livecrawl	no	fallback (default) or preferred
type	no	auto (default) or fast
contextMaxCharacters	no	Max characters for context (default: 10000)

get_code_context_exa (default, enabled)

Find code examples, documentation, and programming solutions from GitHub, Stack Overflow, and docs.

mcp({ tool: "get_code_context_exa", args: '{"query": "React useState hook examples", "tokensNum": 10000}' })

Parameter	Required	Description
query	yes	Programming search query
tokensNum	no	Tokens to return, 1000–50000 (default: 5000)

crawling_exa (default, enabled)

Get the full content of a specific webpage from a known URL.

mcp({ tool: "crawling_exa", args: '{"url": "https://example.com/docs"}' })

Parameter	Required	Description
url	yes	URL to crawl
maxCharacters	no	Max characters to extract (default: 3000)

company_research_exa (optional)

Research a company for business information, news, and insights.

Parameter	Required	Description
companyName	yes	Company name
numResults	no	Number of results (default: 3)

deep_researcher_start / deep_researcher_check (optional)

Start an AI research agent for complex topics (15s–3min depending on model).

Start:

Parameter	Required	Description
instructions	yes	Detailed research question
model	no	exa-research-fast (~15s), exa-research (15–45s), exa-research-pro (45s–3min)

Check:

Parameter	Required	Description
researchId	yes	Research ID from start

Keep calling check until status is completed.

Env Vars

Variable	Location	Description
EXA_API_KEY	~/.zshrc.local	Exa API key from dashboard.exa.ai

Troubleshooting

Server not connecting

• Verify EXA_API_KEY is set: echo $EXA_API_KEY
• Run source ~/.zshrc.local
• Restart Pi
• Check: mcp({ server: "exa" })

Rate limit errors (429)

• Free plan has rate limits. Ensure you're using your own API key.
• Get a key at dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys

Tools not appearing

• Restart Pi after config changes
• Verify ~/.pi/agent/mcp.json is valid JSON
• Try mcp({ connect: "exa" }) to force reconnect