Exa MCP Server 🔍
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server lets AI assistants like Claude use the Exa AI Search API for web searches. This setup allows AI models to get real-time web information in a safe and controlled way.
Remote Exa MCP 🌐
Connect directly to Exa's hosted MCP server (instead of running it locally).
Remote Exa MCP URL
https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?exaApiKey=your-exa-api-key
Replace your-api-key-here with your actual Exa API key from dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys.
Claude Desktop Configuration for Remote MCP
Add this to your Claude Desktop configuration file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"exa": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"mcp-remote",
"https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?exaApiKey=your-exa-api-key"
]
}
}
}
NPM Installation
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 Smithery
To install the Exa MCP server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:
npx -y @smithery/cli install exa --client claude
Configuration ⚙️
1. Configure Claude Desktop to recognize the Exa MCP server
You can find claude_desktop_config.json inside the settings of Claude Desktop app:
Open the Claude Desktop app and enable Developer Mode from the top-left menu bar.
Once enabled, open Settings (also from the top-left menu bar) and navigate to the Developer Option, where you'll find the Edit Config button. Clicking it will open the claude_desktop_config.json file, allowing you to make the necessary edits.
OR (if you want to open claude_desktop_config.json from terminal)
For macOS:
- Open your Claude Desktop configuration:
code ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
For Windows:
- Open your Claude Desktop configuration:
code %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
2. Add the Exa server configuration:
{
"mcpServers": {
"exa": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "exa-mcp-server"],
"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.
3. Available Tools & Tool Selection
The Exa MCP server includes the following tools, which can be enabled by adding the --tools:
- web_search_exa: Performs real-time web searches with optimized results and content extraction.
- company_research: Comprehensive company research tool that crawls company websites to gather detailed information about businesses.
- crawling: Extracts content from specific URLs, useful for reading articles, PDFs, or any web page when you have the exact URL.
- linkedin_search: Search LinkedIn for companies and people using Exa AI. Simply include company names, person names, or specific LinkedIn URLs in your query.
- deep_researcher_start: Start a smart AI researcher for complex questions. The AI will search the web, read many sources, and think deeply about your question to create a detailed research report.
- deep_researcher_check: Check if your research is ready and get the results. Use this after starting a research task to see if it's done and get your comprehensive report.
You can choose which tools to enable by adding the --tools parameter to your Claude Desktop configuration:
Specify which tools to enable:
{
"mcpServers": {
"exa": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"exa-mcp-server",
"--tools=web_search_exa,company_research,crawling,linkedin_search,deep_researcher_start,deep_researcher_check"
],
"env": {
"EXA_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
}
}
}
}
For enabling multiple tools, use a comma-separated list:
{
"mcpServers": {
"exa": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"exa-mcp-server",
"--tools=web_search_exa,company_research,crawling,linkedin_search,deep_researcher_start,deep_researcher_check"
],
"env": {
"EXA_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
}
}
}
}
If you don't specify any tools, all tools enabled by default will be used.
4. Restart Claude Desktop
For the changes to take effect:
- Completely quit Claude Desktop (not just close the window)
- Start Claude Desktop again
- Look for the icon to verify the Exa server is connected
Using via NPX
If you prefer to run the server directly, you can use 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,company_research
# List all available tools
npx exa-mcp-server --list-tools
Troubleshooting 🔧
Common Issues
-
Server Not Found
- Verify the npm link is correctly set up
- Check Claude Desktop configuration syntax (json file)
-
API Key Issues
- Confirm your EXA_API_KEY is valid
- Check the EXA_API_KEY is correctly set in the Claude Desktop config
- Verify no spaces or quotes around the API key
-
Connection Issues
- Restart Claude Desktop completely
- Check Claude Desktop logs:
Built with ❤️ by team Exa