Exa MCP Server 🔍

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.

🔀 About This Fork

This is an enhanced fork of the original Exa MCP Server by the Exa team. This fork adds support for Server-Sent Events (SSE) to enable remote MCP connections for any platform that supports SSE-based communication.

Key Improvements

• SSE Support: Added Server-Sent Events transport for remote MCP connections with heartbeat to prevent proxy timeouts
• Secure API Key Handling: Enhanced security by accepting API keys as URL parameters instead of environment variables
• Vercel Deployment: Improved deployment configuration for self-hosting on Vercel
• Performance Optimizations: Implemented connection pooling with HTTP keep-alive for faster API requests
• Better Error Handling: Properly surfaces 4xx errors (rate limits, etc.) for cleaner debugging
• Interactive Landing Page: Added a minimalist schema viewer at exa.atp.dev that dynamically displays available tools

Credits

• Original Authors: The Exa team at Exa AI
• Fork Maintainer: Boris Djordjevic at 199 Biotechnologies

Installation Options

Option 1: Remote Hosted Server (Recommended) 🌐

Connect directly to Exa's hosted MCP server without running anything locally.

For Claude Desktop

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"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Replace your-exa-api-key with your actual Exa API key from dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys.

For SSE-Compatible Platforms

For platforms that support SSE-based MCP connections, use:

• Server type: SSE
• URL: https://exa.atp.dev/api/mcp?exaApiKey=your-exa-api-key

Replace your-exa-api-key with your actual Exa API key from dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys.

Option 2: Local Installation

NPM Installation

npm install -g exa-mcp-server

Using Smithery

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

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:

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

For Windows:

1. Open your Claude Desktop configuration:

code %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add the Exa server 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 from 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: Searches the web in real-time. Returns: page content, titles, URLs. Use when: need current information beyond training data.
• academic_search: Searches academic papers and research. Returns: paper abstracts, citations, authors. Use when: need peer-reviewed sources.
• company_search: Searches company information and news. Returns: business data, financials, recent news. Use when: researching businesses or organizations.
• url_content: Extracts full content from specific URLs. Returns: complete page text, metadata. Use when: have exact URL to analyze.
• competitor_search: Finds business competitors. Returns: similar companies, market analysis. Use when: asked 'who competes with X' or competitive analysis.
• linkedin_search: Searches LinkedIn profiles and companies. Returns: professional profiles, company pages. Use when: researching people or professional networks.
• wikipedia_search: Searches Wikipedia encyclopedia. Returns: article summaries, factual content. Use when: need encyclopedic or reference information.
• github_search: Searches GitHub repositories and code. Returns: repos, code snippets, READMEs. Use when: looking for code examples or open source projects.

You can choose which tools to enable by adding the --tools parameter to your Claude Desktop configuration:

Specify which tools to enable:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "exa-mcp-server",
        "--tools=web_search,academic_search,company_search,url_content,competitor_search,linkedin_search,wikipedia_search,github_search"
      ],
      "env": {
        "EXA_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

For enabling multiple tools, use a comma-separated list:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "exa-mcp-server",
        "--tools=web_search,academic_search,company_search,url_content,competitor_search,linkedin_search,wikipedia_search,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.

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:

# Run with all tools enabled by default
npx exa-mcp-server

# Enable specific tools only
npx exa-mcp-server --tools=web_search

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

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

Self-Hosting on Vercel 🚀

You can deploy your own instance of the Exa MCP server on Vercel:

1. Fork this repository
2. Deploy to Vercel using the button below:

3. Your server will be available at https://your-project.vercel.app/api/mcp

Using Your Self-Hosted Server

With Claude Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://your-project.vercel.app/api/mcp?exaApiKey=your-exa-api-key"
      ]
    }
  }
}

With SSE-Compatible Platforms

• Server type: SSE
• URL: https://your-project.vercel.app/api/mcp?exaApiKey=your-exa-api-key

Replace your-exa-api-key with your actual Exa API key.

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:

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Fork enhanced with SSE support by Boris Djordjevic at 199 Biotechnologies