About mcp-server-exa-search
A Zed extension that connects the Agent Panel to Exa’s hosted MCP server for web search, page fetching, and Exa Agent research tools. Some tools work anonymously; an API key raises rate limits and enables Agent runs.
Key features
- 01Web search and page fetching
- 02Advanced search filters
- 03Multi-step Exa Agent research
- 04Configurable tool selection
- 05Anonymous access and API keys
Use cases
- 01Search web sources in the Agent Panel
- 02Fetch webpages as Markdown
- 03Filter by domain or date
- 04Organize research with Exa Agent
MCP support
The extension uses mcp-remote to connect to Exa’s hosted MCP server at https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp, providing search, fetching, and Agent tools to Zed’s Agent Panel.
Configuration
Local server config is the same for every client. Copy it into your client’s MCP config file.
We haven’t collected a package or remote endpoint for this server. Follow the instructions in the project README.
Tools
Local servers expose tools only once running on your machine, and the maintainer has not provided a tool list.
Details
From the project READMEExa MCP Server for Zed
A Zed extension that connects Zed's Agent Panel to Exa's hosted MCP server (https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp) via mcp-remote, giving your agent web search, page fetching, and Exa Agent tools.
Install
Open Zed's Extensions view (zed: extensions), search for Exa, and click Install.
Tools
Enabled by default:
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
web_search_exa | Search the web for any topic and get clean, ready-to-use content |
web_fetch_exa | Read a webpage's full content as clean markdown from one or more URLs |
Available via the tools setting:
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
web_search_advanced_exa | Advanced search with filters, domains, dates, highlights, summaries, and subpage crawling |
agent_run | Run an Exa Agent for multi-step research, list-building, enrichment, and structured output (requires an API key) |
Note: setting tools replaces the defaults entirely — list every tool you want enabled.
Configuration
Add an exa_api_key and/or tools under the server's settings in settings.json:
{
"context_servers": {
"mcp-server-exa-search": {
"settings": {
"exa_api_key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
"tools": "web_search_exa,web_fetch_exa,agent_run"
}
}
}
}
Authentication
The hosted server works anonymously with rate limits — no key required for web_search_exa and web_fetch_exa. An API key from dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys raises your rate limits and unlocks agent_run (Exa Agent). The key is passed to the server as ?exaApiKey=.
Without the extension
Zed natively supports remote MCP servers (with OAuth), so you can skip the extension entirely and add this to settings.json:
{
"context_servers": {
"exa": {
"url": "https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp"
}
}
}
Using it in the Agent Panel
Open the Agent Panel settings and check the indicator dot next to the Exa server — green means it's running. Tools can be toggled per agent profile. See the Zed MCP docs for details.
Full tool docs: docs.exa.ai/reference/exa-mcp
Comments
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