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Exa for AI agents

Exa is a search and data extraction API that helps teams gather and structure information from websites and documents, used by developers building research and retrieval tools. Connect it once through Arc0, and your agent, or Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor, can use it through one MCP endpoint, limited to what each user approved.

Connect ExaSee the 20 actions ↓
Web data and scrapingAPI keyMCP + RESTexa.ai
AUDIT LOG · EXAPOLICY: acme-support
09:41:07 · claude · u_8f2read
exa.list_events
List events✓ allowed · 212ms
09:41:08 · claude · u_8f2read
exa.search
Search✓ allowed · 164ms
09:41:09 · claude · u_8f2write
exa.create_import
Create Import✓ approved · approved by user
09:41:12 · claude · u_8f2destructive
exa.delete_import
Delete import✕ blocked · policy: deny
EVERY EXA CALL, ON THE RECORD
01 · USE CASES

What agents do in Exa.

01

Search the web for sources

Run a search to find sources relevant to a research question a user asked.

02

Pull content from a URL

Get the contents of a specific URL to summarize it without a manual visit.

03

Read-only research task checks

Get a research task's status as a read-only step before pulling its finished output.

02 · ACTIONS

20 Exa actions, graded by risk.

Every Exa action is tagged read, write or destructive, so one policy covers the whole app and new actions inherit the right default.

read

11

Look things up. Allowed by default.

  • exa.get_event
    Get Event
  • exa.get_api_key
    Get API Key
  • exa.list_events
    List events
  • exa.find_similar
    Find similar (Deprecated)
  • exa.get_research
    Get Research Task
  • exa.list_imports
    List imports
  • exa.get_agent_run
    Get Agent Run
  • exa.list_research
    List research tasks
  • exa.list_webhooks
    List webhooks
  • exa.get_contents_action
    Get contents from URLs or document IDs
  • exa.search
    Search

write

7

Create and change things. Allow, or ask the user first.

  • exa.create_import
    Create Import
  • exa.create_webset
    Create Webset
  • exa.update_import
    Update import
  • exa.create_monitor
    Create a Monitor
  • exa.create_research
    Create Research Task
  • exa.create_agent_run
    Create Agent Run
  • exa.answer
    Generate an answer

destructive

2

Delete, cancel or archive. Ask first, or deny outright.

  • exa.delete_import
    Delete import
  • exa.delete_webset
    Delete webset
03 · HOW IT WORKS

Exa in three steps.

  1. 01Your users connect ExaThey add their Exa api key on Arc0 Connect, under your brand. It goes straight into the vault.
  2. 02You set the rulesReads run, writes like “create Import” can wait for the user, and “delete import” can be denied outright.
  3. 03Any agent can actYour agent calls Exa through the Arc0 SDK or MCP, and so can Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor. Every call lands on the audit log.
POLICY.TS
await arc0.policies.set('exa', {
  read: 'allow',
  write: 'ask',        // create_import
  destructive: 'deny',  // delete_import
})

# Claude Code: the same connection, one URL
$ claude mcp add --transport http arc0 \
    https://mcp.arc0.ai/u/u_8f2
04 · AUTH AND DATA

How Exa connects.

Users add their Exa api key on Arc0 Connect. It is encrypted in the vault, never shown to the model, and each user can rotate or revoke it at any time.

The same Exa connection serves your agent over MCP and your own backend over REST and the proxy, so a user connects once. How Arc0 handles credentials →

AUTH
API key
CREDENTIALS
Per-tenant encrypted vault
MODEL SEES
Results only, never credentials
AUDIT LOG
Every call, on every plan
05 · WORKS WITH

Use Exa from any agent.

Claude
ChatGPT
Cursor
Codex
VS Code
OpenAI Agents SDK
Claude Agent SDK
Vercel AI SDK
Mastra
LangGraph
06 · RELATED

More web data and scraping apps.

Firecrawl30 actionsTavily5 actionsAgentql3 actionsAgenty79 actionsAirtop10 actionsJust One API288 actionsApify183 actionsOpenWeb Ninja164 actions
ALL WEB DATA AND SCRAPING APPS →
07 · FAQ

Exa and Arc0, answered.

Q01

Can I use Exa with Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor?

Yes. Connect Exa to Arc0 once, then add your Arc0 MCP URL to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Claude Code or any other remote-MCP client. Each assistant only gets the Exa actions you allow.

Q02

How do users connect Exa?

Users add their Exa api key on Arc0 Connect. It is encrypted in the vault, never shown to the model, and each user can rotate or revoke it at any time.

Q03

Which Exa actions can my agent take?

20 in total: 11 read, 7 write and 2 destructive, such as “create Import”. Your policies decide which of them each agent may call.

Q04

Can I stop my agent from deleting things in Exa?

Yes. Actions like “delete import” are graded destructive. Set destructive actions to deny, or to ask so the user approves each one, and blocked calls still show up on the audit log.

Q05

Can my own backend call Exa too?

Yes. The same Exa connection is available over REST and through the Arc0 proxy, so your product and your agent share one connection per user.

Get started

Plug Exa into your agent.

Your users connect Exa once, under your brand. Your agent gets 20 actions behind your policies, with every call on the record.

Connect ExaBrowse all apps →

Free to build · MCP + REST · Audit log on every plan