exa-gapped-mcp

A fork of exa-mcp-server that routes all Exa API requests through GAP (Gated Agent Proxy) for secure credential management.

What is GAP?

GAP is a credential injection proxy that sits between AI agents and APIs. Instead of giving agents direct access to API keys, GAP:

- Stores credentials securely outside the agent's context
- Injects credentials at the network layer when requests pass through the proxy
- Provides audit logging of all API access
- Allows credential rotation without updating agent configurations

Prerequisites

1. GAP installed and running - See GAP setup instructions
2. Exa plugin configured in GAP - With your Exa API credentials stored
3. GAP token - Created via gap token create

Installation

``bash
npm install -g exa-gapped-mcp
`

Configuration

$3

Create a .env file in your working directory or set environment variables:

`bash


Required: GAP token for proxy authentication

GAP_TOKEN=gap_xxxxxxxxxxxx

Optional: GAP proxy URL (defaults to http://localhost:9443)

GAP_PROXY_URL=http://localhost:9443
`

The server automatically loads .env from the current working directory.

$3

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

`json
{
"mcpServers": {
"exa": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "exa-gapped-mcp"],
"env": {
"GAP_TOKEN": "gap_xxxxxxxxxxxx"
}
}
}
}
`

$3

`bash
claude mcp add exa -e GAP_TOKEN=gap_xxxxxxxxxxxx -- npx -y exa-gapped-mcp
`

Or with a .env file in your project:

`bash
claude mcp add exa -- npx -y exa-gapped-mcp
`

Available Tools

By default, two tools are enabled:

- web_search_exa - Real-time web search with content extraction
- get_code_context_exa - Code snippets, documentation, and examples from GitHub repos and docs

$3

Enable more tools using the tools parameter:

`json
{
"mcpServers": {
"exa": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"exa-gapped-mcp",
"tools=web_search_exa,get_code_context_exa,deep_search_exa,crawling_exa"
],
"env": {
"GAP_TOKEN": "gap_xxxxxxxxxxxx"
}
}
}
}
`

All available tools:
- web_search_exa - Web search (enabled by default)
- get_code_context_exa - Code context search (enabled by default)
- deep_search_exa - Deep search with query expansion
- crawling_exa - Extract content from specific URLs
- company_research_exa - Company research
- linkedin_search_exa - LinkedIn search
- deep_researcher_start - Start async research task
- deep_researcher_check - Check research task status

How It Works

`
┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│ Claude │────▶│ GAP │────▶│ Exa API │
│ Agent │ │ Proxy │ │ │
└─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘
│
Injects Exa
API credentials
`

1. Agent makes request through this MCP server
2. Request is routed through GAP proxy on localhost:9443
3. GAP authenticates the request using the GAP_TOKEN
4. GAP injects Exa API credentials into the request
5. Request is forwarded to api.exa.ai

Differences from exa-mcp-server

| Feature | exa-mcp-server | exa-gapped-mcp |
|---------|---------------|-------------|
| Credential handling | Direct EXA_API_KEY | Via GAP proxy |
| API key exposure | In env/config | Never exposed to agent |
| Audit logging | None | Via GAP |
| Setup complexity | Simple | Requires GAP |

Troubleshooting

$3

Set the GAP_TOKEN environment variable or add it to your .env file.

$3

Ensure GAP is installed and initialized. The CA cert should be at ~/.config/gap/ca.crt.

$3

Start the GAP proxy server. Check status with gap status`.

License

MIT

Credits

- Original exa-mcp-server by Exa Labs
- GAP by Anthropic