Skip to content
mcp/harbor

Zed Exa Search company_research_exa

How to: Zed Exa Search company_research_exa

client:Zed transport:stdio tool:company_research_exa

Add Exa Search to Zed

  1. 01

    Open ~/.config/zed/settings.json and merge this in. Keep any servers already there. 

{
  "context_servers": {
    "exa-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "exa-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "EXA_API_KEY": "<EXA_API_KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}
  1. 02

    Save the file and restart Zed.

  2. 03

    Ask for something company_research_exa does. Zed lists the server's tools on connect and calls company_research_exa itself — you do not invoke it by name.

  3. 04

    If nothing happens, check the server is running and that Exa Search's identifier in your config matches the one above exactly.

Merge this into your existing settings object — do not replace the file. Zed docs

Set these first

Exa Search will not start until these are set, so company_research_exa never becomes available.

  • EXA_API_KEY

Same tool, other clients

Mutating and Read-only are read off each tool's name, not its schema — a hint, not a guarantee. The registry stores tool names only; connect the server for its live schemas.

Exa Search MCP server