How to integrate Exa MCP with OpenClaw

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Introduction

OpenClaw is the fastest growing agent harness out there, which can work 24/7 to automate almost any kind of tasks. However, its capabilities are limited to the tools it has access to. Composio allows your OpenClaw to access Exa with authentication management handled for you. You can execute actions on Exa via your favorite OpenClaw interface (Telegram, WhatsApp, TUI, etc), whichever you prefer.

Why use Composio?

Apart from a managed and hosted MCP server, you will get:

  • Programmatic tool calling allows LLMs to write its code in a remote workbench to handle complex tool chaining. Reduces to-and-fro with LLMs for frequent tool calling.
  • Handling Large tool responses out of LLM context to minimize context rot.
  • Dynamic just-in-time access to 20,000 tools across 850+ other Apps for cross-app workflows. It loads the tools you need, so LLMs aren't overwhelmed by tools you don't need.

How to install Exa with OpenClaw

Using Composio API Key and Setup Prompt

Copy the setup prompt from the OpenClaw dashboard
  • Run it in your OpenClaw chat interface.
  • Authenticate Exa from the dashboard
  • Go back to your OpenClaw interface and start asking questions.

Using OpenClaw/Composio Plugin

1. Install OpenClaw Composio plugin

bash
openclaw plugins install @composio/openclaw-plugin

2. Copy the API Key from dashboard.composio.dev

3. Setup OpenClaw Config

openclaw config set plugins.entries.composio.config.consumerKey "ck_your_key_here"

4. Restart OpenClaw

openclaw gateway restart

5. Go to your chat interface and start asking questions.

6. When prompted, authenticate the app and you're all set.

How It Works

The plugin connects to Composio's MCP server at https://connect.composio.dev/mcp and registers all available tools directly into the OpenClaw agent. Tools are called by name — no extra search or execute steps needed.

If a tool returns an auth error, the agent will prompt you to connect that toolkit at dashboard.composio.dev.

Configuration

{
  "plugins": {
    "entries": {
      "composio": {
        "enabled": true,
        "config": {
          "consumerKey": "ck_your_key_here"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
OptionDescriptionDefault
enabledEnable or disable the plugintrue
consumerKeyYour Composio consumer key (ck_...)
mcpUrlMCP server URL (advanced)https://connect.composio.dev/mcp

What is the Exa MCP server, and what's possible with it?

The Exa MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Exa account. It provides structured and secure access to your Exa data platform, so your agent can perform actions like extracting answers from web data, running semantic searches, managing imports, and automating monitoring across your datasets.

  • Citation-backed question answering: Have your agent generate direct, source-cited answers or detailed summaries for your research questions using Exa’s advanced search.
  • Semantic similarity search: Quickly find web pages or documents that are semantically related to a given URL, complete with highlights or summaries for context.
  • Data import and webset management: Let your agent create, configure, or delete imports and websets to streamline data gathering and enrichment workflows.
  • Automated data monitoring: Schedule and manage monitors for websets to keep your data fresh and up-to-date with minimal manual intervention.
  • Event tracking and retrieval: Access a full history of system events or fetch details for specific events to stay on top of activity within your Exa environment.

Supported Tools & Triggers

Tools
Generate an answerGenerates a direct, citation-backed answer to a clear natural language question or topic using exa's search, adept at both specific answers and detailed summaries for open-ended queries.
Create ImportTool to create a new import to upload data into a webset.
Create a MonitorTool to create a new monitor.
Create WebsetTool to create a new webset with search, import, and enrichment setup.
Delete importTool to delete an existing import.
Delete websetTool to delete a webset.
Find similarFinds web pages semantically similar to a given url using embeddings-based search, optionally retrieving full text, highlights, or summaries for results.
Get contents from URLs or document IDsRetrieves configurable text and highlights from a list of exa document ids or publicly accessible urls.
Get EventTool to get details of a specific event by its id.
List eventsTool to list all events that have occurred in the system.
List importsTool to list all imports for the webset.
List webhooksTool to list all webhooks for websets.
SearchPerforms a web search using the exa engine, useful for queries requiring advanced filtering, specific content categories, or ai-optimized prompting.
Update importTool to update an import configuration by id.

Conclusion

You've successfully integrated Exa with OpenClaw using Composio plugin. Now interact with Exa directly from your terminal, Web UI, or any messenger app using natural language commands.

Key benefits of this setup:

  • Seamless integration across TUI, Web UIs, and Messenger apps like Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, etc.
  • Natural language commands for Exa operations
  • Managed authentication through Composio
  • Access to 20,000+ tools across 850+ apps for cross-app workflows
  • Programmatic tool calling for complex tool chaining

Next steps:

  • Try asking OpenClaw to perform various Exa operations
  • Explore cross-app workflows by connecting more toolkits like Calendar, Slack, Notion, etc.
  • Build complex automation scripts that leverage OpenClaw's 24/7 running capabilities

How to build Exa MCP Agent with another framework

FAQ

What are the differences in Tool Router MCP and Exa MCP?

With a standalone Exa MCP server, the agents and LLMs can only access a fixed set of Exa tools tied to that server. However, with the Composio Tool Router, agents can dynamically load tools from Exa and many other apps based on the task at hand, all through a single MCP endpoint.

Can I use Tool Router MCP with OpenClaw?

Yes, you can. OpenClaw fully supports MCP integration. You get structured tool calling, message history handling, and model orchestration while Tool Router takes care of discovering and serving the right Exa tools.

Can I manage the permissions and scopes for Exa while using Tool Router?

Yes, absolutely. You can configure which Exa scopes and actions are allowed when connecting your account to Composio. You can also bring your own OAuth credentials or API configuration so you keep full control over what the agent can do.

How safe is my data with Composio Tool Router?

All sensitive data such as tokens, keys, and configuration is fully encrypted at rest and in transit. Composio is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and follows strict security practices so your Exa data and credentials are handled as safely as possible.

Used by agents from

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Context
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glean
HubSpot
Agent.ai
Altera
DataStax
Entelligence
Rolai
Context
Letta
glean
HubSpot
Agent.ai
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DataStax
Entelligence
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Never worry about agent reliability

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