Fork of exa-labs/exa-mcp-server with Copyright.sh licensing:

• automatic ai-license discovery
• optional x402-aware fetch (402 + payment-required: x402)
• usage logging to the Copyright.sh ledger

The hosted Exa MCP (https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp) does not include these licensing features. Use this fork locally if you need compliant licensing.

Original repository: https://github.com/exa-labs/exa-mcp-server

This fork adds compliant licensing checks, optional x402 payment handling, and usage logging so developers can fetch content with clear rights and auditability.

1. Get an Exa API key: https://dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys
2. Get a Copyright.sh ledger key: https://portal.copyright.sh
   • Sign up → complete onboarding → open API Keys → create a key (shown once)
3. Run:

env EXA_API_KEY=your_exa_key COPYRIGHTSH_LEDGER_API_KEY=your_ledger_key npx -y exa-mcp-server-licensed

4. Configure your MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa-licensed": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "exa-mcp-server-licensed"],
      "env": {
        "EXA_API_KEY": "your_exa_key",
        "COPYRIGHTSH_LEDGER_API_KEY": "your_ledger_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Required:

• EXA_API_KEY
• COPYRIGHTSH_LEDGER_API_KEY (needed for license acquisition + usage logging)

Optional:

• COPYRIGHTSH_LEDGER_API (default: https://ledger.copyright.sh)
• ENABLE_LICENSE_TRACKING (default: true)
• ENABLE_LICENSE_CACHE (default: false)

License-aware options (web_search_exa, crawling_exa):

• fetch, include_licenses, stage, distribution, estimated_tokens, max_chars, payment_method

Unavailable policy:

• License denied or HTTP 401/403/402 results are returned with an unavailable reason and redacted content
• Unknown license remains best-effort

• https://github.com/exa-labs/exa-mcp-server