# Exayard Developers

Exayard is an AI-powered construction takeoff and estimation platform. This developer center is the place to start
for anyone building on it: a backend that posts line items, an IDE agent that plans projects, or a pipeline that feeds
Exayard data into your own systems.

## Which surface should I use?

- **MCP**: a Streamable HTTP Model Context Protocol server at `https://api.exayard.com/mcp`, protected by OAuth. Most
  REST operations are tools. Best for chat and IDE agents. See [MCP overview](https://developers.exayard.com/mcp/overview.md).
- **REST API**: an OpenAPI 3.1 spec, RFC 9457 errors, cursor pagination and idempotency keys. Best for scripts and
  backends. See the [interactive reference](https://developers.exayard.com/api-reference).
- **TypeScript SDK**: `@exayard/sdk`, a typed client that sends an `Idempotency-Key` for you, retries, throws typed
  errors and verifies webhooks. See the [Quickstart](https://developers.exayard.com/quickstart.md).
- **CLI**: `exayard login`, `exayard projects list`, `exayard listen` and every API operation as a command, with JSON
  output and stable exit codes. See [Use the CLI](https://developers.exayard.com/guides/use-the-cli.md).

## Plans and testing

The API, the MCP server, webhooks and the integrations (Zapier, Make, n8n, Slack, Teams and Telegram) work on every
Exayard plan, Free included. AI work, such as reading drawings and running takeoffs, uses the company's monthly AI
usage. A few operations, such as making a bid, need a paid plan and answer
[`paid_plan_required`](https://developers.exayard.com/concepts/errors.md#paid_plan_required) on Free.

To test, make a sandbox: a company linked to yours, with `exa_test_` keys. It follows your plan, bills to your company and
holds outgoing bids and texts. Going live is swapping the key. See [Environments and sandboxes](https://developers.exayard.com/environments.md).

## What's new

- **Oct 6, 2026**: [The read:usage scope](https://developers.exayard.com/changelog.md#the-readusage-scope)
- **Oct 6, 2026**: [Archive takes the write scope](https://developers.exayard.com/changelog.md#archive-takes-the-write-scope)
- **Oct 6, 2026**: [Widgets and custom properties are admin only](https://developers.exayard.com/changelog.md#widgets-and-custom-properties-are-admin-only)
- **Oct 6, 2026**: [A second takeoff start answers 409](https://developers.exayard.com/changelog.md#a-second-takeoff-start-answers-409)
- **Oct 6, 2026**: [Disconnecting an integration that is not there answers 404](https://developers.exayard.com/changelog.md#disconnecting-an-integration-that-is-not-there-answers-404)

[All changes](https://developers.exayard.com/changelog.md)