scout vs Exa Search
scout is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by shidoyu. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Claude Code: claude-plugins-community). Exa Search is an MCP server published by pollinations. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Official MCP Registry). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-15. This pair was picked by a reader, not by our comparison rule, so search engines are asked not to index the page.
Where each is published
| Marketplace | ||
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code: claude-plugins-community | Listed Version: 2.5.0 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 3 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 1.0.0 Forks (GitHub): 1 202 Stars (GitHub): 5 210 Not marked · First seen |
Each figure is the marketplace's own and is never added up across marketplaces. A marketplace that publishes no figure shows none: no number is not zero.
The facts side by side
| Fact | scout | Exa Search |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it | 1 | 1 |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 3 (worse) | 5 210 (better) |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 0 (worse) | 1 202 (better) |
| Last release | Not published | Not published |
| Where it runs (differs) | Remote server (mcp.exa.ai/mcp) | Remote server (gen.pollinations.ai/mcp/exa) |
| Transport | Streamable HTTP | Streamable HTTP |
| Tools it declares | Not published | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for | Not published | Not published |
| Hooks it runs (differs) | 2 | Not published |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | 6 | Not a bundle |
| Licence (differs) | MIT | Not stated |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/shidoyu/scout | github.com/pollinations/pollinations |
| Changes in the last 7 days | 0 | 0 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Endpoint at the last check | not checked yet | not checked yet |
Lines where the two differ have a tinted background and bold values. Where the data itself says which value is better (more marketplaces, a larger figure of the same marketplace, a fresher release, a verified mark on a marketplace that lists both), the better one is also marked green with ▲ and the worse one red with ▼. Where it runs, the transport, the tools, the settings, hooks, the bundle's parts, the licence and the week's changes are marked only as different: more or fewer is not better in itself.
What each says it does
scout
Web search and content fetching with privacy-aware tool selection. Turns vague questions into optimized multi-engine queries, evaluates result quality, and re-searches when needed. Includes HyDE semantic search via Exa and automatic privacy classification for URL fetching.
Exa Search
Search the live web and fetch clean content from source pages.
How to run each
scout As a Claude Code plugin
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community
/plugin install scout@claude-community
Exa Search As a remote MCP server
claude mcp add --transport http exa https://gen.pollinations.ai/mcp/exa --header "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>"
Requires: Authorization header
Commands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Tools each declares
Neither one's marketplaces publish a list of tools, so there is nothing to compare.
Settings each asks for
Neither one's marketplaces publish the settings it asks for.
What it can do: scout · What it can do: Exa Search · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-community/blob/HEAD/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json. Data comes from the Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io), CC0 1.0. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.