Connect Exa to Zed
Give Zed governed access to Exa’s 3 tools through Runlayer, with identity, policy, scanning, and audit on every call.
Set up
Add Exa to Zed in four steps
Admins approve the server once. Everyone in Zed 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 Zed to Runlayer
Users add the Runlayer Plugin to Zed by following Runlayer’s setup guide. Zed reaches Exa’s 3 tools through the Runlayer Plugin’s search and execute tools instead of listing each one.
Zed 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 Zed
Exa’s approved tools appear in Zed. Every call is checked against policy and recorded.
Tools
3 Exa tools in Zed
Runlayer policy decides which of these Zed 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 Zed
Some controls apply to every client at the gateway. Others depend on what Zed exposes to Runlayer.
Gateway policy (available)
Every Exa call from Zed passes through Runlayer, where your policies can allow, alert, mask, or block it.
Audit trail (available)
Each call is recorded with the user, Zed as the client, the tool, and the policy and scanner decisions.
Native enforcement adapter (not available)
Runlayer has no device-side adapter for Zed yet, so control happens at the gateway.
Frequently asked questions
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