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.

• An Exa API key
• Node.js (v18 or higher)
• Claude Desktop installed

npm install -g exa-mcp-server

To install the Exa MCP server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

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

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)

1. Open your Claude Desktop configuration:

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

1. Open your Claude Desktop configuration:

code %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "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.

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:

{
  "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.

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

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

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