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Reported issues for Exa

Pod holds 24 of 89 problems reported by people outside the maintainer team. Issues filed by the project's own owners, members and collaborators are excluded entirely — a maintainer's release checklist is not a warning to a prospective user.

Back to Exa.

Most discussed

NPX package broken on Linux - HTTP endpoint only exposes 2 tools instead of 7

Issue Description

The exa-mcp-server package has different behavior between Windows and Linux, and the HTTP endpoint is missing most tools.

Environment

Problem 1: NPX Package Fails on Linux

When trying to run the package via npx on Linux:

npx -y exa-mcp-server

Error:

npm error could not determine executable to run

The package.json defines the bin as:


[Read the thread](https://github.com/exa-labs/exa-mcp-server/issues/84) · 2025-11-10 · closed · external user · 5 comments

### Only 2 tools loaded despite specifying all 7 tools in --tools flag

## Environment
- **MCP Client**: Kiro IDE
- **OS**: Windows (win32)
- **Shell**: cmd
- **Package**: exa-mcp-server (latest via npx)
- **Installation method**: NPX with --tools flag

## Configuration

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "exa-mcp-server",
        "--tools=deep_researcher_start,deep_researcher_check"
      ],
      "env": {
        "EXA_API_KEY": "***"
      },
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}

Expected Be

Read the thread · 2025-10-23 · closed · external user · 10 comments

May I ask when Codex will be supported?

May I ask when Codex will be supported?

Read the thread · 2025-09-29 · closed · external user · 5 comments

mcp server only has two entry points now missing linkedin, deepresearch etc

Did something change at the start of the month, now even when passing the --tools parameter, we only get web_search_exa and get_code-context_exa, the company research crawling, linkedin all appear to be gone

    "exa-local": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "exa-mcp-server@2.0.9",
        "--tools=get_code_context_exa,web_search_exa,company_research,crawling,linkedin_search,deep_researcher_start,deep_researcher_check"
      ],
      "env": {
        "EXA_API_K

[Read the thread](https://github.com/exa-labs/exa-mcp-server/issues/66) · 2025-09-26 · closed · external user · 21 comments

### Multiple shebang lines in .smithery/index.cjs breaks stdio transport

## Description
The npm package `exa-mcp-server` fails to run via stdio transport due to multiple shebang lines being added to the `.smithery/index.cjs` file during the build process.

## Error Message

/Users/mike/.npm/_npx/6fb594a0eac5e490/node_modules/exa-mcp-server/.smithery/index.cjs:2 #!/usr/bin/env node ^

SyntaxError: Invalid or unexpected token at wrapSafe (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1620:18) at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1662:20) at Object..j

Read the thread · 2025-09-26 · closed · external user · 7 comments

[BUG] local exa mcp fails to start

Issue

exa-mcp-server fails to start.

❯ bunx exa-mcp-server@latest
/tmp/bunx-1000-exa-mcp-server@latest/node_modules/exa-mcp-server/.smithery/index.cjs:2
#!/usr/bin/env node
^

SyntaxError: Invalid or unexpected token
    at wrapSafe (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1662:18)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1704:20)
    at Object..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1895:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1465:32)
    at Function._load (n

[Read the thread](https://github.com/exa-labs/exa-mcp-server/issues/62) · 2025-09-25 · closed · external user · 7 comments

### BUG: npm error could not determine executable to run

$ npx -y exa-mcp-server
npm error could not determine executable to run npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /Users/yanrujing/.npm/_logs/2025-07-29T06_53_44_350Z-debug-0.log


[Read the thread](https://github.com/exa-labs/exa-mcp-server/issues/49) · 2025-07-29 · closed · external user · 6 comments

### Exa API Returns Empty Results Array Despite Successful Connection

### Description
The Exa API is returning empty result arrays for all queries, despite successful HTTP responses. This issue affects both Claude Desktop and Claude Code environments using the MCP server.

### Environment
- **MCP Server Version**: Latest (installed via npm)
- **Platforms**: macOS (Claude Desktop & Claude Code)
- **API Key**: Valid and active (confirmed through dashboard)
- **Installation Methods Tried**: Both local and remote

### Steps to Reproduce
1. Configure Exa MCP server in 

[Read the thread](https://github.com/exa-labs/exa-mcp-server/issues/34) · 2025-06-09 · closed · external user · 11 comments

## Most recent

### Add support for MCP protocol version 2026-07-28

Hi! Are there plans to support MCP protocol version `2026-07-28` on the hosted Exa MCP endpoint?

I tested `https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp` by sending an `initialize` request with:

```json
{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "initialize",
  "params": {
    "protocolVersion": "2026-07-28",
    "capabilities": {},
    "clientInfo": {
      "name": "protocol-version-probe",
      "version": "1.0.0"
    }
  }
}

The request succeeds with HTTP 200, but the server negotiates an older version:

`

Read the thread · 2026-08-19 · open · external user · 0 comments

[Bug] MCP endpoint returns HTTP 403 for clients running on Cloudflare Workers egress

Summary

The hosted Exa MCP endpoint https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp returns 403 to requests coming from Cloudflare Workers egress IPs. The same requests return 200 from a normal residential connection, so any MCP client running on Cloudflare Workers (gateway, agent, aggregator) cannot connect to the hosted Exa MCP server. We hit it with MCP clients on a deployed Worker (@cloudflare/agents, @mcp-ts/sdk, @modelcontextprotocol/client v2): all fail with `Version negotiation failed: the server

Read the thread · 2026-08-11 · open · external user · 0 comments

shelljs@0.3.0 reachable via whoami@0.0.3 (GHSA-4rq4-32rv-6wp6, HIGH)

Two advisories resolve to shelljs@0.3.0 in the installed dependency tree of exa-mcp-server@3.4.0:

Both are fixed in shelljs@0.8.5.

exa-mcp-server@3.4.0
└─ whoami@0.0.3
   └─ shelljs@0.3.0

whoami@0.0.3 was last published in 2014 and constrains

Read the thread · 2026-08-04 · open · external user · 0 comments

[Bindfort] Remove unused whoami dependency pulling vulnerable shelljs@0.3.0

Reported by Bindfort Research using Bindfort's deep transitive dependency scanner with OSV.dev verification.

Summary

The current release and main both resolve this dependency chain:

exa-mcp-server@3.4.0
└─ whoami@0.0.3
   └─ shelljs@0.3.0

shelljs@0.3.0 is affected by two reviewed advisories fixed in 0.8.5:

Read the thread · 2026-08-04 · closed · external user · 0 comments

Claude Code plugin 3.3.10 has stale skills and cannot enable required MCP tools

Problem

The official Claude Code plugin currently has several packaging inconsistencies:

  1. .claude-plugin/plugin.json is still version 3.3.10, although the bundled Agent skill changed from four lifecycle tools to agent_run. Claude Code can therefore keep an older 3.3.10 cache indefinitely.
  2. The plugin MCP URL is fixed to https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?client=claude-code-plugin. This exposes only web_search_exa and web_fetch_exa, while the bundled exa-agent skill requires `agent_

Read the thread · 2026-07-27 · open · external user · 0 comments

exa-mcp-server: we executed it (not linted it) in claude code + cursor — fit to ship, 2 findings

ran exa-mcp-server through throne executes the server in an isolated microVM and tests it against real claude code / cursor client behavior, not static analysis. security scan runs in the same pass. result: fit to ship, 0 failures across both clients. two things worth a glance:

index.cjs still has an obsolete protocol version string in source (2024-10-07) probably dead code, worth confirming 8 hardcoded outbound endpoints referenced directly in code, including a few (lodash.com, openjsf.org,

Read the thread · 2026-07-12 · open · external user · 0 comments

Failure to implement 401 Unauthorized response makes distribution of Connector impossible

Problem

According the the MCP Spec, MCP servers that support OAUTH2 authentication should respond to requests that do not contain an access token should respond with 401 Unauthorized: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-11-25/basic/authorization#authorization-server-discovery-sequence-diagram

This response triggers the MCP client (e.g. Claude Desktop) to initiate an OAUTH2 authentication flow.

Because the Exa MCP server does not respond with 401, but instead interprets unaut

Read the thread · 2026-07-09 · closed · external user · 0 comments

Docs: Claude Code MCP onboarding guide says OAuth, but auth is x-api-key

Hello, all. Thanks for the great tool.

The personalized MCP setup guide Exa generates for Claude Code states that authentication uses OAuth with no API key, but the reference docs and the live mcp.exa.ai endpoint use an x-api-key header (plus a keyless rate-limited tier). The OAuth instruction misdirects Claude Code setup.

Authentication: Exa MCP uses OAuth — no API key needed. Your client opens a browser to sign in to your Exa account on first connection.

What the refer

Read the thread · 2026-06-26 · open · external user · 0 comments

http 403 when using the mcp

i've never used it before. rate limited?

Read the thread · 2026-06-24 · open · external user · 0 comments

MCTS Security Scan: 7 HIGH/CRITICAL findings — exec() call, injection surfaces, suspicious lifecycle script

MCTS Security Scan Results — June 12, 2026

The Exa MCP server was scanned by MCTS (Model Context Threat Scanner), an open-source MCP server security tool with 105 analyzers and 594 passing tests.

Score: 5/100 (CRITICAL)
Total findings: 24
HIGH+: 7
CRITICAL: 2

Top findings

  1. [CRITICAL] Command execution via call — line 13 uses . Dynamic code execution in an MCP tool handler is a critical risk — it can be exploited for a

Read the thread · 2026-06-13 · closed · external user · 1 comment

prompts/get rejects omitted optional arguments for zero-argument prompt web_search_help

The Exa MCP server exposes a prompt named web_search_help with no arguments:

{
  "name": "web_search_help",
  "description": "Get help with web search using Exa",
  "arguments": []
}

However, calling prompts/get without an arguments object fails:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 3,
  "method": "prompts/get",
  "params": {
    "name": "web_search_help"
  }
}

error:

MCP error -32602: Invalid arguments for prompt web_search_help:
Invalid input: expected object, recei

[Read the thread](https://github.com/exa-labs/exa-mcp-server/issues/358) · 2026-06-12 · open · external user · 0 comments

### Incorrect use of the openWorldHint tool annotation

Several tools have the `openWorldHint` annotation incorrectly set to `false` (e.g. `webFetch`, `webSearch`).

The [MCP specification](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-11-25/schema#toolannotations) states the following about this annotation:

> If true, this tool may interact with an “open world” of external entities. If false, the tool’s domain of interaction is closed. For example, the world of a web search tool is open, whereas that of a memory tool is not.

[Read the thread](https://github.com/exa-labs/exa-mcp-server/issues/348) · 2026-05-27 · open · external user · 0 comments

### Proposal: Free AI Agent identity verification for Exa MCP

Closed — not applicable for this project.

[Read the thread](https://github.com/exa-labs/exa-mcp-server/issues/347) · 2026-05-27 · closed · external user · 1 comment

### Remote MCP docs show API key in URL query string

Hi Exa team,

While testing MCP server security and quality checks, I noticed that the README includes a remote MCP example that places the API key in the URL query string:

```text
https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?exaApiKey=YOUR_KEY&tools=web_search_exa,web_search_advanced_exa,web_fetch_exa

Reference:

Why this matters

Query-string secrets are easy to leak through shell history, client logs, proxy logs, browser histor

Read the thread · 2026-05-12 · open · external user · 1 comment

Security scan results for exa-mcp-server — MCPSafe AIVSS 78/100 (Grade B)

Hi team 👋

I ran a free security scan of exa-labs/exa-mcp-server using MCPSafe — a purpose-built scanner for MCP servers that uses a 5-LLM consensus panel to detect prompt injection risks, over-scoped tool schemas, supply chain issues, and more.

Results: 78/100 · Grade B

Severity Count
🔴 Critical 0
🟠 High 0
🟡 Medium 16
🟢 Low 0

Summary: 16 medium-severity findings — review recommended

📋 **Full report with find

Read the thread · 2026-05-12 · open · external user · 0 comments

Feature: support a fallback / secondary SERP provider for simple Google-style search workflows

Exa MCP already covers a strong search workflow, but would you consider a fallback or multi-provider mode for users who want a simpler SERP-style backend for basic Google result retrieval? A lightweight provider abstraction could let users choose Exa for richer research flows and something cheaper/simpler like SerpBase for straightforward SERP lookups.

Read the thread · 2026-04-28 · closed · external user · 1 comment