Exa MCP Server

by exa-labs
MIT License
1,832
1,497
  • Apple

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.

Prerequisites 📋

Installation 🛠️

NPM Installation

npm install -g 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:
  1. Open your Claude Desktop configuration:
code ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
For Windows:
  1. Open your Claude Desktop configuration:
code %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add the Exa server configuration:

{ "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.

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.
  • research_paper_search: Specialized search focused on academic papers and research content.
  • 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.
  • competitor_finder: Identifies competitors of a company by searching for businesses offering similar products or services.
  • linkedin_search: Search LinkedIn for companies and people using Exa AI. Simply include company names, person names, or specific LinkedIn URLs in your query.
  • wikipedia_search_exa: Search and retrieve information from Wikipedia articles on specific topics, giving you accurate, structured knowledge from the world's largest encyclopedia.
  • github_search: Search GitHub repositories using Exa AI - performs real-time searches on GitHub.com to find relevant repositories, issues, and GitHub accounts.

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": [ "/path/to/exa-mcp-server/build/index.js", "--tools=web_search_exa,research_paper_search,company_research,crawling,competitor_finder,linkedin_search,wikipedia_search_exa,github_search" ], "env": { "EXA_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here" } } } }

For enabling multiple tools, use a comma-separated list:

{ "mcpServers": { "exa": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "/path/to/exa-mcp-server/build/index.js", "--tools=web_search_exa,research_paper_search,company_research,crawling,competitor_finder,linkedin_search,wikipedia_search_exa,github_search" ], "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:

  1. Completely quit Claude Desktop (not just close the window)
  2. Start Claude Desktop again
  3. 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,research_paper_search # List all available tools npx exa-mcp-server --list-tools

Troubleshooting 🔧

Common Issues

  1. Server Not Found
    • Verify the npm link is correctly set up
    • Check Claude Desktop configuration syntax
    • Ensure Node.js is properly installed
  2. 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
  3. Connection Issues
    • Restart Claude Desktop completely
    • Check Claude Desktop logs:
  4. Node.js should be minimum v18 (or higher)
    # macOS tail -n 20 -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log # Windows type "%APPDATA%\Claude\logs\mcp*.log"

Built with ❤️ by team Exa

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security – no known vulnerabilities
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license - permissive license
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Tools

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.

  1. Prerequisites 📋
    1. Installation 🛠️
      1. NPM Installation
      2. Using Smithery
    2. Configuration ⚙️
      1. 1. Configure Claude Desktop to recognize the Exa MCP server
      2. 2. Add the Exa server configuration:
      3. 3. Available Tools & Tool Selection
      4. 4. Restart Claude Desktop
    3. Using via NPX
      1. Troubleshooting 🔧
        1. Common Issues

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