Exa Search MCP server

This MCP server enables AI assistants like Claude to perform web searches using Exa's search API, providing real-time information in a controlled environment. It allows models to search the web and receive structured results including titles, URLs, and content snippets.

Prerequisites

Before installation, ensure you have:

• Node.js (v18 or higher)
• Claude Desktop installed
• An Exa API key
• Git installed

Verify your Node.js installation:

node --version  # Should show v18.0.0 or higher

Installation Options

NPM Installation

npm install -g exa-mcp-server

Using Smithery

Install automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install exa --client claude

Manual Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/exa-labs/exa-mcp-server.git
cd exa-mcp-server

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Build the project:

npm run build

4. Create a global link:

npm link

Configuration

Configure Claude Desktop

Enable Developer Mode in Claude Desktop, then open Settings and navigate to the Developer Option to edit the configuration file.

Alternatively, open the configuration file directly:

For macOS:

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

For Windows:

code %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add Exa Server Configuration

Add this to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["/path/to/exa-mcp-server/build/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "EXA_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace your-api-key-here with your actual Exa API key from dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys.

Restart Claude Desktop

1. Completely quit Claude Desktop
2. Start Claude Desktop again
3. Look for the 🔌 icon to verify the Exa server is connected

Using the Search Feature

Once configured, you can ask Claude to perform web searches with prompts like:

Can you search for recent developments in quantum computing?

Search for and summarize the latest news about artificial intelligence startups in new york.

Find and analyze recent research papers about climate change solutions.

You can also customize search parameters:

Search for the top 10 AI research papers from 2023, and only use live crawling as a fallback.

Search for electric vehicles and return 3 results, always using live crawling.

Testing with MCP Inspector

Test the server directly using the MCP Inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node ./build/index.js

This opens an interactive interface to explore capabilities and execute search queries.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Server Not Found

• Verify npm link setup
• Check configuration syntax
• Ensure Node.js is properly installed

API Key Issues

• Confirm your EXA_API_KEY is valid
• Check it's correctly set in the configuration
• Verify no spaces or quotes around the API key

Connection Issues

• Restart Claude Desktop completely
• Check Claude Desktop logs:

# macOS
tail -n 20 -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log

# Windows
type "%APPDATA%\Claude\logs\mcp*.log"

For additional help, review the MCP Documentation or visit the GitHub discussions.

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":["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": [
                "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": [
                "exa-mcp-server"
            ],
            "env": {
                "EXA_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect