Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that plugs Exa’s AI Search API into AI assistants (e.g., Claude) for real-time web, research-paper, LinkedIn, GitHub, and company searches with selectable tools.
https://github.com/exa-labs/exa-mcp-serverYour AI assistant knows a lot, but it's trapped in a training data bubble. When you need current information—competitor analysis, latest research papers, or real-time web data—you're back to manual searches and copy-pasting context.
The Exa MCP Server fixes this by plugging Exa's AI Search API directly into Claude Desktop. Instead of switching between Claude and your browser, you get specialized search tools that work seamlessly within your AI conversation.
Most developers use AI assistants for research, problem-solving, and analysis. But the moment you need current information, the workflow breaks. You search Google, scan results, copy relevant snippets, paste them back into Claude, and hope you didn't miss anything important.
With Exa MCP Server, Claude can directly search, analyze, and synthesize real-time information. Ask about a competitor's latest product launch, recent research in your field, or current GitHub projects—Claude handles the search and gives you structured analysis in one step.
Rather than generic web search, you get purpose-built tools for different research needs:
Each tool is optimized for its specific use case. The research paper tool understands academic contexts, the company research tool knows how to extract business intelligence, and the GitHub tool can analyze code repositories.
Competitive Analysis: "Research our top 3 competitors and their latest product releases." Claude searches company websites, analyzes their offerings, and provides a structured comparison.
Technical Research: "Find recent papers on vector databases and summarize key innovations." The research tool pulls academic papers, extracts key findings, and identifies trends.
Due Diligence: "Analyze [Company X] - their team, recent news, and financial health." Multiple tools work together to build a comprehensive company profile.
Code Discovery: "Find open-source projects similar to our architecture." GitHub search identifies relevant repositories with analysis of their approaches.
The fastest path is using their hosted version—no local installation needed:
{
"mcpServers": {
"exa": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?exaApiKey=your-api-key"]
}
}
}
Add this to your Claude Desktop config, restart Claude, and you're done. For local installation, it's equally straightforward with npx.
You can enable specific tools based on your needs—maybe you only want research papers and GitHub search, or perhaps you need the full suite for comprehensive research workflows.
This isn't just about having Claude search the web. It's about maintaining context and flow while getting real-time information. Instead of breaking your conversation to research manually, Claude seamlessly integrates current data into your ongoing analysis.
The 1,700+ GitHub stars and active community show this resonates with developers who've felt the friction of AI assistants' knowledge limitations. When your AI can search, analyze, and synthesize current information within your existing workflow, research becomes part of the conversation rather than an interruption to it.