Exa MCP

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Exa MCP Server enables AI assistants to access real-time web data safely.

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# 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: <br> --- Built with ❤️ by team Exa

Tool List

web_search_exa

Description: Search the web using Exa AI - performs real-time web searches and can scrape content from specific URLs. Supports configurable result counts and returns the content from the most relevant websites.

Parameters

query Type: string Required: Yes

Search query

numResults Type: number Required: No

Number of search results to return (default: 5)

company_research_exa

Description: Research companies using Exa AI - finds comprehensive information about businesses, organizations, and corporations. Provides insights into company operations, news, financial information, and industry analysis.

Parameters

companyName Type: string Required: Yes

Name of the company to research

numResults Type: number Required: No

Number of search results to return (default: 5)

crawling_exa

Description: Extract and crawl content from specific URLs using Exa AI - retrieves full text content, metadata, and structured information from web pages. Ideal for extracting detailed content from known URLs.

Parameters

url Type: string Required: Yes

URL to crawl and extract content from

maxCharacters Type: number Required: No

Maximum characters to extract (default: 3000)

linkedin_search_exa

Description: Search LinkedIn profiles and companies using Exa AI - finds professional profiles, company pages, and business-related content on LinkedIn. Useful for networking, recruitment, and business research.

Parameters

query Type: string Required: Yes

LinkedIn search query (e.g., person name, company, job title)

searchType Type: string Required: No

Type of LinkedIn content to search (default: all)

numResults Type: number Required: No

Number of LinkedIn results to return (default: 5)

deep_researcher_start

Description: Start a comprehensive AI-powered deep research task for complex queries. This tool initiates an intelligent agent that performs extensive web searches, crawls relevant pages, analyzes information, and synthesizes findings into a detailed research report. The agent thinks critically about the research topic and provides thorough, well-sourced answers. Use this for complex research questions that require in-depth analysis rather than simple searches. After starting a research task, IMMEDIATELY use deep_researcher_check with the returned task ID to monitor progress and retrieve results.

Parameters

instructions Type: string Required: Yes

Complex research question or detailed instructions for the AI researcher. Be specific about what you want to research and any particular aspects you want covered.

model Type: string Required: No

Research model: 'exa-research' (faster, 15-45s, good for most queries) or 'exa-research-pro' (more comprehensive, 45s-2min, for complex topics). Default: exa-research

deep_researcher_check

Description: Check the status and retrieve results of a deep research task. This tool monitors the progress of an AI agent that performs comprehensive web searches, analyzes multiple sources, and synthesizes findings into detailed research reports. The tool includes a built-in 5-second delay before checking to allow processing time. IMPORTANT: You must call this tool repeatedly (poll) until the status becomes 'completed' to get the final research results. When status is 'running', wait a few seconds and call this tool again with the same task ID.

Parameters

taskId Type: string Required: Yes

The task ID returned from deep_researcher_start tool

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Tool List

web_search_exa

Parameters

company_research_exa

Parameters

crawling_exa

Parameters

linkedin_search_exa

Parameters

deep_researcher_start

Parameters

deep_researcher_check

Parameters

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