Exa MCP Server enables AI assistants like Claude to perform real-time web searches through the Exa Search API, allowing them to access up-to-date information from the internet. It is open-source, checkout GitHub.

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Remote Exa MCP

Connect directly to Exa’s hosted MCP server (instead of running it locally).

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Remote Exa MCP URL

https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?exaApiKey=your-exa-api-key

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

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Claude Desktop Configuration

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"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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Available Tools

Exa MCP includes several specialized search tools:

ToolDescription
web_search_exaPerforms real-time web searches with optimized results and content extraction
research_paper_searchSpecialized search focused on academic papers and research content
company_researchComprehensive company research tool that crawls company websites to gather detailed information about businesses
crawlingExtracts content from specific URLs, useful for reading articles, PDFs, or any web page when you have the exact URL
competitor_finderIdentifies competitors of a company by searching for businesses offering similar products or services
linkedin_searchSearch LinkedIn for companies and people using Exa AI. Simply include company names, person names, or specific LinkedIn URLs in your query
wikipedia_search_exaSearch and retrieve information from Wikipedia articles on specific topics, giving you accurate, structured knowledge from the world’s largest encyclopedia
github_searchSearch GitHub repositories using Exa AI - performs real-time searches on GitHub.com to find relevant repositories, issues, and GitHub accounts

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Usage Examples

Once configured, you can ask Claude to perform searches:

  • “Find and analyze recent research papers about climate change solutions”
  • “Research the company exa.ai and find information about their pricing”
  • “Find competitors for a company that provides web search API services”

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Local Installation

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Prerequisites

  • Node.js v18 or higher.
  • Claude Desktop installed (optional). Exa MCP also works with other MCP-compatible clients like Cursor, Windsurf, and more).
  • An Exa API key.

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Using NPX

The simplest way to install and run Exa MCP is via NPX:

# Install globally
npm install -g exa-mcp-server

# Or run directly with npx
npx exa-mcp-server

To specify which tools to enable:

# Enable only web search
npx exa-mcp-server --tools=web_search

# Enable multiple tools
npx exa-mcp-server --tools=web_search,research_paper_search,twitter_search

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

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Configuring Claude Desktop

To configure Claude Desktop to use Exa MCP:

  1. Enable Developer Mode in Claude Desktop

    • Open Claude Desktop
    • Click on the top-left menu
    • Enable Developer Mode

  2. Open the Configuration File

    • After enabling Developer Mode, go to Settings
    • Navigate to the Developer Option
    • Click “Edit Config” to open the configuration file

    Alternatively, you can open it directly:

    macOS:

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

    Windows:

    code %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

  3. Add Exa MCP Configuration

    Add the following to your 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. You can get your (Exa API here)[https://dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys].

  4. Enabling Specific Tools

    To enable only specific tools:

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

  5. Restart Claude Desktop

    • Completely quit Claude Desktop (not just close the window)
    • Start Claude Desktop again
    • Look for the 🔌 icon to verify the Exa server is connected

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Troubleshooting

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Common Issues

  1. Server Not Found

    • Ensure the npm package is correctly installed

  2. API Key Issues

    • Confirm your EXA_API_KEY is valid
    • Make sure there are no spaces or quotes around the API key

  3. Connection Problems

    • Restart Claude Desktop completely

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Additional Resources

For more information, visit the Exa MCP Server GitHub repository.