Connect Exa to Claude Code
Give Claude Code governed access to Exa’s 3 tools through Runlayer, with identity, policy, scanning, and audit on every call.
Set up
Add Exa to Claude Code in four steps
Admins approve the server once. Everyone in Claude Code then gets it through the same governed connection.
- 1
Approve Exa in Runlayer
Add Exa from the catalog and choose who can use it and which of its tools are allowed.
- 2
Connect Claude Code to Runlayer
Runlayer’s CLI installs the Runlayer Plugin natively in Claude Code, and an Anthropic org install also reaches Claude Code. With direct tool listing turned on for your deployment, Exa’s 3 tools show up in Claude Code’s own tool list (supported Claude Code versions).
Claude Code setup guide - 3
Sign in to Exa
Sign in the way Exa requires. Runlayer holds the credentials so they stay out of the client’s configuration.
- 4
Use Exa from Claude Code
Exa’s approved tools appear in Claude Code. Every call is checked against policy and recorded.
Tools
3 Exa tools in Claude Code
Runlayer policy decides which of these Claude Code users can call. 1 read data only.
Agent run
Start or resume an Exa Agent run for multi-step research, list-building, or enrichment.
Web fetch Exa
Read a webpage's full content as clean markdown.
Web search Exa
Search the web for any topic and get clean, ready-to-use content.
Control
What Runlayer can see and stop in Claude Code
Some controls apply to every client at the gateway. Others depend on what Claude Code exposes to Runlayer.
Gateway policy (available)
Every Exa call from Claude Code passes through Runlayer, where your policies can allow, alert, mask, or block it.
Audit trail (available)
Each call is recorded with the user, Claude Code as the client, the tool, and the policy and scanner decisions.
Client hooks (available)
Capture supported prompts, reasoning, local and MCP tool calls, responses, and scanner decisions in real time.
Anthropic inference hooks (available)
With Claude Enterprise, Anthropic sends each governed Claude Code prompt to Runlayer before inference, with nothing installed on devices (Anthropic beta).
OTLP telemetry (available)
Claude Code can export OpenTelemetry logs to Runlayer for observe-only session reconstruction.
Stop a call before it runs (available)
Runlayer can deny a tool call before Claude Code runs it.
Block output after it runs (available)
Runlayer can block a tool’s output before Claude Code’s model sees it.
Redact output in place (available)
Runlayer can mask sensitive parts of a tool’s output in Claude Code and pass the rest through.
In Claude Code
- When a tool fails, Runlayer records the error but cannot hide it.
Frequently asked questions
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