Exa Web Search MCP server for AI agents

The Exa MCP Server enables AI assistants like Claude to access Exa AI's powerful search capabilities, including web search, research tools, and code search features. It provides token-efficient context for coding agents to help them generate accurate responses without hallucinating.

Installation Options

Remote Connection

The simplest way to use Exa MCP is to connect to the hosted server.

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add this to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Cursor and Claude Code Configuration

For Cursor and Claude Code, use this HTTP-based configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Remove-Me": "Disable web_search_exa tool if you're just coding. To 100% call exa-code, say 'use exa-code'."
      }
    }
  }
}

You can include your API key in the URL:

https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?exaApiKey=YOUREXAKEY

Codex Configuration

Open your Codex configuration file:

code ~/.codex/config.toml

Add this configuration:

[mcp_servers.exa]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp"]
env = { EXA_API_KEY = "your-api-key-here" }

Local Installation

Using npm

npm install -g exa-mcp-server

Using Claude Code

claude mcp add exa -e EXA_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY -- npx -y exa-mcp-server

Using Claude Code Plugin

# Add the Exa marketplace
/plugin marketplace add exa-labs/exa-mcp-server

# Install the plugin
/plugin install exa-mcp-server

# Set your API key
export EXA_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

Configuration

Claude Desktop Configuration

For macOS:

code ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

For Windows:

code %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add this configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "exa-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "EXA_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Get your API key from dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys.

Available Tools

The Exa MCP server includes several powerful tools:

get_code_context_exa: Search for code snippets, examples, and documentation
web_search_exa: Performs real-time web searches with optimized results
company_research: Gathers detailed information about businesses
crawling: Extracts content from specific URLs
linkedin_search: Search LinkedIn for companies and people
deep_researcher_start: Starts an AI researcher for complex questions
deep_researcher_check: Checks if your research is ready

Selecting Specific Tools

For developers, this configuration is recommended:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "exa-mcp-server",
        "--tools=get_code_context_exa,web_search_exa"
      ],
      "env": {
        "EXA_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

To enable multiple tools, use a comma-separated list:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "exa-mcp-server",
        "--tools=get_code_context_exa,web_search_exa,company_research,crawling,linkedin_search,deep_researcher_start,deep_researcher_check"
      ],
      "env": {
        "EXA_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Using the Server with npx

Run directly with npx:

# Run with all tools enabled by default
npx exa-mcp-server

# Enable specific tools only
npx exa-mcp-server --tools=web_search_exa

# Enable multiple tools
npx exa-mcp-server --tools=web_search_exa,get_code_context_exa

# List all available tools
npx exa-mcp-server --list-tools

Remember to restart Claude Desktop after making configuration changes for them to take effect.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "exa" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","exa-mcp-server"],"env":{"EXA_API_KEY":"your-api-key-here"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "exa": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "exa-mcp-server"
            ],
            "env": {
                "EXA_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
            }
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "exa": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "exa-mcp-server"
            ],
            "env": {
                "EXA_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect