About
Exa MCP - The Web Search MCP
Complete setup guide for Exa MCP Server. Connect Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, and 10+ AI assistants to Exa's web search and code search tools.
Exa MCP connects AI assistants to Exa's search capabilities, including web search and code search. It is open-source and available on GitHub.
Available Tools
Enabled by default:
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
web_search_exa | Search the web for any topic and get clean, ready-to-use content |
web_fetch_exa | Read a webpage's full content as clean markdown from one or more URLs |
Optional (enable via tools parameter):
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
web_search_advanced_exa | Advanced web search with full control over category filters, domain restrictions, date ranges, highlights, summaries, and subpage crawling |
Deprecated (still available for backwards compatibility):
| Tool | Use instead |
|---|---|
get_code_context_exa | web_search_exa |
company_research_exa | web_search_advanced_exa |
crawling_exa | web_fetch_exa |
people_search_exa | web_search_advanced_exa |
linkedin_search_exa | web_search_advanced_exa |
deep_researcher_start | Research API |
deep_researcher_check | Research API |
deep_search_exa | web_search_advanced_exa |
Enable specific tools:
https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?tools=web_fetch_exa
Enable all tools:
{
"exa": {
"url": "https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?tools=web_search_exa,web_fetch_exa,web_search_advanced_exa",
"headers": {
"x-api-key": "YOUR_EXA_API_KEY"
}
}
}
API Key
Exa MCP has a generous free plan. To overcome free plan rate limits and enable production use, add your own API key:
{
"exa": {
"url": "https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp",
"headers": {
"x-api-key": "YOUR_EXA_API_KEY"
}
}
}
Resources
**Web Search**Search for recent developments in AI agents and summarize the key trends.
Code Search
Find Python examples for implementing OAuth 2.0 authentication.
Read a Page
Fetch the full content of https://exa.ai and summarize what the company does.
You've hit the free plan rate limit. Add your own API key to continue:
{
"exa": {
"url": "https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp",
"headers": {
"x-api-key": "YOUR_EXA_API_KEY"
}
}
}
Tools not appearing
Restart your MCP client after updating the config file. Some clients require a full restart to detect new MCP servers.
Claude Desktop not connecting
Claude Desktop doesn't support remote MCP directly. Use the mcp-remote wrapper:
{
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp"]
}
Config file not found
Common config locations:
- Cursor:
~/.cursor/mcp.json - VS Code:
.vscode/mcp.json(in project root) - Claude Desktop (macOS):
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json - Claude Desktop (Windows):
%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
This server runs through your single 1Server connection. No extra config required.