Exa MCP Server vs Tavily MCP Server: both are research tools on Scriptiii AI Tools. Exa MCP Server pricing: Free. Free to use. (reported by the maker) Tavily MCP Server pricing: Free. Free to use. (reported by the maker) Both have 0 upvotes.
| Field | Exa MCP Server | Tavily MCP Server |
|---|---|---|
| Page | Exa MCP Server | Tavily MCP Server |
| Pricing (maker-reported) | Free. Free to use. | Free. Free to use. |
| Upvotes | 0 | 0 |
| Best for | ai-agents, mcp-server, search | ai-agents, mcp-server, search |
| Tagline | MCP server for Exa web search and crawling, available as a hosted endpoint or local package. | MCP server for Tavily search, extract, map and crawl APIs, hosted remotely or run locally. |
| Website | Visit Exa MCP Server | Visit Tavily MCP Server |
Pricing and pricing details come from the maker's submission. They are not independently verified.
Connect AI agents to Exa for web search, content fetching, and multi-step research.
Documentation · NPM Package · Get your API key
Connect to Exa's hosted MCP server:
https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp
Or use a plugin when your client supports one.
This repository is an Agent Plugin. Install it with any compatible client.
Install from the Claude Plugin Marketplace, or run:
claude plugin install exa@claude-plugins-official
Install via Plugins in ChatGPT, or run:
codex mcp add exa --url https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp
Most clients can be configured manually with the standard mcpServers shape:
{
"mcpServers": {
"exa": {
"type": "streamable-http",
"url": "https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp",
}
}
}
Exa MCP works with most other clients, point them at https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp.
| Client | Where to add it |
|---|---|
| Kiro | Use the Kiro power, or add manually to ~/.kiro/settings/mcp.json |
| LM Studio | Add to LM Studio, or add manually to mcp.json |
| Replit | Add to Replit |
| Grok Build | /marketplace → install Exa, then /mcp to sign in |
| Gemini CLI | Add manually to ~/.gemini/settings.json |
| OpenCode | Add manually to opencode.json |
| Windsurf | Add manually to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json |
| Google Antigravity | Add manually to mcp_config.json |
| Zed | Add manually to settings.json under context_servers |
| Warp | Settings → Agents → MCP servers |
| v0 by Vercel | Settings → MCP connections |
| 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 |
tools parameter)| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
agent_run | Run an Exa Agent for multi-step research, list-building, enrichment, and structured output |
web_search_advanced_exa | Advanced search with filters, domains, dates, highlights, summaries, and subpage crawling |
Enable tools by appending them to the MCP URL (this will replace the defaults, so include all you want):
https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?tools=web_search_advanced_exa
https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?tools=web_search_exa,web_fetch_exa,agent_run
Exa Agent requires authentication (OAuth or an API key).
Add dynamicHighlights=true to the MCP URL to make web_search_exa and web_search_advanced_exa return Dynamic Highlights. These are highlights chosen across all results under one shared budget, not a fixed budget per URL, so less text reaches your agent's context. When the server runs locally, set DYNAMIC_HIGHLIGHTS=true instead.
https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?dynamicHighlights=true
Skills live in skills/ and load with Agent Plugin installs. The Claude plugin in plugins/exa/ ships a copy of them; npm test fails when the copy drifts. Each package version bump on main publishes plugins/exa/ to the root of the claude-plugin branch, which Claude's plugin directory reads. To publish a plugin-only change between releases, run the Publish Claude plugin workflow manually.
| Skill | Path | Use when |
|---|---|---|
search | skills/search/ | Deep research, lead gen, competitive analysis, multi-step web investigation |
exa-agent | skills/exa-agent/ | Exa Agent runs, enrichment, structured output, Connect providers |
Invoke from your client's skill UI (or /skill-name where supported). MCP-only setups still get the tools; skills add orchestration on top.
The hosted MCP server works anonymously with rate limits. For higher limits and access to Exa Agent, use either OAuth or an API key.
OAuth is preferred: most clients prompt you to sign in to Exa. To force the login flow (useful for shared connectors and plugins), use https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?login or https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp/oauth.
If you prefer, you can get an API key from the dashboard and pass it on the URL as ?exaApiKey=…. You can also send it as a Authorization: Bearer … header or an x-api-key header.
Built with ❤️ by Exa
The Tavily MCP server provides:
Connect directly to Tavily's remote MCP server instead of running it locally. This provides a seamless experience without requiring local installation or configuration.
Simply use the remote MCP server URL with your Tavily API key:
https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=<your-api-key>
Get your Tavily API key from tavily.com.
Alternatively, you can pass your API key through an Authorization header if the MCP client supports this:
Authorization: Bearer <your-api-key>
Note: When using the remote MCP, you can specify default parameters for all requests by including a DEFAULT_PARAMETERS header containing a JSON object with your desired defaults. Example:
{"include_images":true, "search_depth": "basic", "max_results": 10}
Claude Code is Anthropic's official CLI tool for Claude. You can add the Tavily MCP server using the claude mcp add command. There are two ways to authenticate:
Pass your API key directly in the URL. Replace <your-api-key> with your actual Tavily API key:
claude mcp add --transport http tavily https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=<your-api-key>
Add the server without an API key in the URL:
claude mcp add --transport http tavily https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp
After adding, you'll need to complete the authentication flow:
claude to start Claude Code/mcp to open the MCP server managementTip: Add --scope user to either command to make the Tavily MCP server available globally across all your projects:
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user tavily https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=<your-api-key>
Once configured, you'll have access to the Tavily search, extract, map, and crawl tools.
Click the ⬆️ Add to Cursor ⬆️ button, this will do most of the work for you but you will still need to edit the configuration to add your API-KEY. You can get a Tavily API key here.
once you click the button you should be redirect to Cursor ...
Click the install button
You should see the MCP is now installed, if the blue slide is not already turned on, manually turn it on. You also need to edit the configuration to include your own Tavily API key.
You will then be redirected to your mcp.json file where you have to add your-api-key.
{
"mcpServers": {
"tavily-remote-mcp": {
"command": "npx -y mcp-remote https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=<your-api-key>",
"env": {}
}
}
}
The Tavily Remote MCP server supports secure OAuth authentication, allowing you to connect and authorize seamlessly with compatible clients.
A. Using MCP Inspector:
Once finished, you will receive an access token that lets you securely make authenticated requests to the Tavily Remote MCP server.
B. Using other MCP Clients (Example: Cursor):
You can configure your MCP client to use OAuth without including your Tavily API key in the URL. For example, in your mcp.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"tavily-remote-mcp": {
"command": "npx mcp-remote https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp",
"env": {}
}
}
}
If you need to clear stored OAuth credentials and reauthenticate, run:
rm -rf ~/.mcp-auth
Note:
- OAuth authentication is optional. You can still use API key authentication at any time by including your Tavily API key in the URL query parameter (
?tavilyApiKey=...) or by setting it in theAuthorizationheader, as described above.
Each time you connect, Tavily asks whether to use your personal account or one of your organizations. To switch Tavily logins, choose Use a different account.
mcp_auth_default key. Tavily creates it if it doesn't exist.Before you begin, ensure you have:
node --versionbrew install gitsudo apt install gitsudo yum install gitnpx -y tavily-mcp@latest
You can set default parameter values for the tavily-search tool using the DEFAULT_PARAMETERS environment variable. This allows you to configure default search behavior without specifying these parameters in every request.
export DEFAULT_PARAMETERS='{"include_images": true}'
{
"mcpServers": {
"tavily-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "tavily-mcp@latest"],
"env": {
"TAVILY_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here",
"DEFAULT_PARAMETERS": "{\"include_images\": true, \"max_results\": 15, \"search_depth\": \"advanced\"}"
}
}
}
}
You can optionally identify the end user on whose behalf requests are being made by setting the TAVILY_HUMAN_ID environment variable. When set, Tavily MCP forwards it as the X-Human-Id header on every API call, enabling per-user analytics.
This is entirely optional — leave it unset and behavior is unchanged.
{
"mcpServers": {
"tavily-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "tavily-mcp@latest"],
"env": {
"TAVILY_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here",
"TAVILY_HUMAN_ID": "your-user-id"
}
}
}
}
Privacy note: Tavily hashes human_id server-side (SHA-256) before storage, so the raw value is never persisted. Even so, prefer opaque identifiers (e.g. an internal user ID) over raw PII like emails when possible.