Exa

Provides web search capability via Exa API for MCP clients with a local stdio server and API key control.

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GitHub Stars

typescript

Language

6 months ago

First Indexed

2 months ago

Catalog Refreshed

Documentation & install

Readme and setup notes from the catalogue, plus a client-ready config you can copy for your MCP host.

Installation

Add the following to your MCP client configuration file.

Configuration

View docs

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-mirror-exa-labs_exa-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "/path/to/exa-mcp-server/build/index.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "EXA_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

You can extend Claude Desktop with the Exa MCP Server to perform real-time web searches using Exa’s search API. This setup lets AI assistants access current information from the web in a safe, controlled way and return structured results to you.

How to use

Once you have the Exa MCP Server connected, you can ask Claude to search the web and retrieve up-to-date results. The server processes your query, calls the Exa API, and returns structured results including titles, URLs, and content snippets. It handles errors and rate limits gracefully so you can rely on consistent responses.

How to install

Prerequisites you need before installing the MCP server are:

Node.js version 18 or higher
Claude Desktop installed
An Exa API key
Git is installed

Install the MCP server globally with npm

npm install -g exa-mcp-server

Optionally use Smithery to auto-install the Exa MCP server for Claude Desktop

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

Manual installation steps if you prefer to set up from source

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

npm install --save axios dotenv

npm run build

npm link

Configuration

Configure Claude Desktop to recognize the Exa MCP server by adding a server entry to the Claude Desktop MCP configuration. The example below shows how to reference the Exa MCP server as a local stdio server using npx to run the built index.

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

Verification

After you restart Claude Desktop, look for the connection indicator (the 🔌 icon) to verify that the Exa MCP server is connected and ready to handle queries.

Security and keys

Keep your Exa API key secure. Do not share the key in logs or command histories. Configure environment variables only in trusted places and ensure Claude Desktop is updated.

Notes

The Exa MCP Server provides a Web Search Tool that lets Claude perform web searches, returns structured results, and includes error handling and type-safe TypeScript implementations.