Connect Exa to Codex
Give Codex governed access to Exa’s 3 tools through Runlayer, with identity, policy, scanning, and audit on every call.
Set up
Add Exa to Codex in four steps
Admins approve the server once. Everyone in Codex 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 Codex to Runlayer
Runlayer’s CLI adds the Runlayer Plugin to Codex’s local plugin marketplace, and users then enable it in Codex. With direct tool listing turned on for your deployment, Exa’s 3 tools show up in Codex’s own tool list (Codex 0.122 or newer, installed through the Runlayer CLI).
Codex 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 Codex
Exa’s approved tools appear in Codex. Every call is checked against policy and recorded.
Tools
3 Exa tools in Codex
Runlayer policy decides which of these Codex 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 Codex
Some controls apply to every client at the gateway. Others depend on what Codex exposes to Runlayer.
Gateway policy (available)
Every Exa call from Codex passes through Runlayer, where your policies can allow, alert, mask, or block it.
Audit trail (available)
Each call is recorded with the user, Codex 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.
Stop a call before it runs (available)
Runlayer can deny a tool call or permission request before Codex runs it.
Block output after it runs (available)
Runlayer can block a tool’s output before Codex’s model sees it.
Redact output in place (not available)
Codex cannot take masked output, so Runlayer can block a tool’s output but not mask it. The gateway still applies policy to the call.
Frequently asked questions
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