exa-search

name	exa-search
description	Neural search via Exa MCP for web, code, and company research.

Exa Search

Neural search for web content, code, companies, and people via the Exa MCP server.

When to Use

• Current web information or news needed
• Searching for code examples, API docs, or technical references
• Researching companies, competitors, or market players
• Finding professional profiles or people in a domain
• Background research for development tasks

MCP Requirement

Exa MCP server must be configured. Example MCP config:

"exa-web-search": {
  "command": "npx",
  "args": ["-y", "exa-mcp-server"],
  "env": { "EXA_API_KEY": "${EXA_API_KEY}" }
}

Get an API key at exa.ai. Verify the exact tool names your Exa server exposes before depending on them.

Core Tools

web_search_exa

General web search for current information, news, or facts.

web_search_exa(query: "latest AI developments 2026", numResults: 5)

Param	Type	Default	Notes
query	string	required	Search query
numResults	number	8	Number of results
type	string	auto	Search mode
livecrawl	string	fallback	Prefer live crawling when needed
category	string	none	Optional: company, research paper, etc.

get_code_context_exa

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

get_code_context_exa(query: "Python asyncio patterns", tokensNum: 3000)

Param	Type	Default	Notes
query	string	required	Code or API search query
tokensNum	number	5000	Content tokens (1000–50000)

Usage Patterns

Quick Lookup

web_search_exa(query: "Node.js 22 new features", numResults: 3)

Code Research

get_code_context_exa(query: "Rust error handling patterns Result type", tokensNum: 3000)

Company or People Research

web_search_exa(query: "Vercel funding valuation 2026", numResults: 3, category: "company")
web_search_exa(query: "site:linkedin.com/in AI safety researchers Anthropic", numResults: 5)

Tips

• Use web_search_exa for current information, company lookups, and broad discovery
• Use search operators like site:, quoted phrases, and intitle: to narrow results
• Lower tokensNum (1000–2000) for focused code snippets, higher (5000+) for comprehensive context
• Use get_code_context_exa for API usage or code examples rather than general web pages

Related Skills

• deep-research — full research workflow using firecrawl + exa together