Bring Neural Search
to VS Code Copilot
Learn how to connect Exa to VS Code Copilot and start using 10 AI agent tools in minutes. Fully managed, enterprise secure, and ready to use without writing a single line of code.
What is the Exa MCP Server?
Connect Exa (formerly Metaphor) to any AI agent and simplify how you discover relevant web data, research topics using neural embeddings, and extract cleaned content through natural conversation.
What you can do
- Neural Search — Perform AI-powered searches that understand the meaning and intent of your query, not just keywords.
- Semantic Similarity — Find web pages and articles that are semantically similar to a specific seed URL.
- Content Extraction — Fetch cleaned, readable text and metadata from multiple URLs or page IDs in a single request.
- Research Automation — Discover high-quality sources and analyze web content programmatically via AI.
- Data Insights — retrieve comprehensive metadata for search results to identify top-performing resources.
- Intelligent Discovery — Use 'Autoprompt' to automatically optimize your queries for neural search accuracy.
How it works
1. Subscribe to this server
2. Enter your Exa API Key (found in your account dashboard)
3. Start searching the web for your AI projects from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client
Who is this for?
- AI Developers & Researchers — quickly find semantically relevant data and clean web content via simple AI commands.
- Content Strategists — discover similar articles and research topics across the web directly from the workspace.
- Knowledge Workers — automate information discovery and extract key insights via the AI assistant.
Built-in capabilities (10)
Get an AI answer
Great for competitive analysis and research. Find similar pages
Find similar pages with content
Extract page contents
Returns titles, URLs, and relevance scores for matching pages. Search the web with AI
Useful for site-specific research or documentation lookups. Search within a domain
Traditional keyword search
Ideal for conceptual queries and research topics. Neural semantic search
Ideal for news and trending topics. Search recent content
Search and extract page content
Why VS Code Copilot?
GitHub Copilot Agent mode brings Exa data directly into your VS Code workflow. With a project-scoped config, the entire team shares access to 10 tools. Copilot queries live data, generates typed code, and writes tests from actual API responses, all without leaving the editor.
- —
VS Code is used by over 70% of developers. adding MCP tools to Copilot means your team can leverage external data without leaving their primary editor
- —
Project-scoped MCP configs (
.vscode/mcp.json) let you commit server configurations to your repository, ensuring the entire team shares the same tool access - —
Copilot's Agent mode integrates MCP tools seamlessly with file editing, terminal commands, and workspace search in a single agentic loop
- —
GitHub's enterprise compliance and audit features extend to MCP tool usage, providing visibility into how AI interacts with external services
Exa in VS Code Copilot
Exa and 3,400+ other MCP servers. One platform. One governance layer.
Teams that connect Exa to VS Code Copilot through Vinkius don't need to source, host, or maintain individual MCP servers. Every tool call runs inside a hardened runtime with credential isolation, DLP, and a signed audit chain.
Raw MCP | Vinkius | |
|---|---|---|
| Server catalog | Find and host yourself | 3,400+ managed |
| Infrastructure | Self-hosted | Sandboxed V8 isolates |
| Credential handling | Plaintext in config | Vault + runtime injection |
| Data loss prevention | None | Configurable DLP policies |
| Kill switch | None | Global instant shutdown |
| Financial circuit breakers | None | Per-server limits + alerts |
| Audit trail | None | Ed25519 signed logs |
| SIEM log streaming | None | Splunk, Datadog, Webhook |
| Honeytokens | None | Canary alerts on leak |
| Custom domains | Not applicable | DNS challenge verified |
| GDPR compliance | Manual effort | Automated purge + export |
Why teams choose Vinkius for Exa in VS Code Copilot
The Exa MCP Server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS — a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts. All 10 tools execute in hardened sandboxes optimized for native MCP execution.
Your AI agents in VS Code Copilot only access the data you authorize, with DLP that blocks sensitive information from ever reaching the model, kill switch for instant shutdown, and up to 60% token savings. Enterprise-grade infrastructure, zero maintenance.
* Every MCP server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS - a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts optimized for native MCP execution. See our infrastructure
How Vinkius secures
Exa for VS Code Copilot
Every tool call from VS Code Copilot to the Exa MCP Server is protected by DLP redaction, cryptographic audit chains, V8 sandbox isolation, kill switch, and financial circuit breakers.
Frequently asked questions
Can I perform a meaning-based search instead of keywords via AI?
Yes! Use the search tool. Provide your query and enable useAutoprompt. Exa will use its neural embeddings to find links that match the intent of your question.
How do I find articles similar to a specific URL?
Use the find_similar tool. Provide the seed URL, and the agent will retrieve a list of pages that are semantically related to that content.
Is it possible to extract cleaned text from multiple pages via AI?
Absolutely. Use the get_contents query. Provide an array of URLs or Exa IDs, and the agent will return the cleaned text content and metadata for each page.
Which VS Code version supports MCP?
MCP support requires VS Code 1.99 or later with the GitHub Copilot extension. Ensure both are updated to the latest version. Older versions of Copilot may not expose the Agent mode toggle.
How do I switch to Agent mode?
Open the Copilot Chat panel and look for two mode options: "Ask" and "Agent". Click "Agent" to enable autonomous tool calling. In Ask mode, Copilot provides conversational answers but cannot invoke MCP tools.
Can I restrict which MCP tools Copilot can access?
Yes. VS Code shows a tool consent dialog before any MCP tool is invoked for the first time. You can also configure tool access policies at the organization level through GitHub Copilot settings.
Does MCP work in VS Code Remote or Codespaces?
Yes. MCP servers configured via .vscode/mcp.json work in Remote SSH, WSL, and GitHub Codespaces environments. The MCP connection is established from the remote host, so ensure the server URL is accessible from that environment.
MCP tools not available
Ensure you are in Agent mode in Copilot Chat. MCP tools only appear in Agent mode.