# Exa MCP Server 🔍
[![npm version](https://badge.fury.io/js/exa-mcp-server.svg)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/exa-mcp-server)
[![smithery badge](https://smithery.ai/badge/exa)](https://smithery.ai/server/exa)

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](https://dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys).

### Claude Desktop Configuration for Remote MCP

Add this to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?exaApiKey=your-exa-api-key"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### NPM Installation

```bash
npm install -g exa-mcp-server
```

### Using Claude Code

```bash
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](https://smithery.ai/server/exa):

```bash
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:

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

#### For Windows:

1. Open your Claude Desktop configuration:

```powershell
code %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
```

### 2. Add the Exa server configuration:

```json
{
  "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](https://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:

```json
{
  "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:

```json
{
  "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:

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:

```bash
# 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

1. **Server Not Found**
   * Verify the npm link is correctly set up
   * Check Claude Desktop configuration syntax (json file)

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:

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Built with ❤️ by team Exa