StackMCP

Set up Exa Search MCP in Windsurf

AI-powered web search and crawling with Exa. Get semantically relevant results, extract content, and find similar pages.

1

Locate the config file

Windsurf reads MCP server configuration from the following file:

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

Create this file if it does not already exist.

2

Add the configuration

Add the following to your Windsurf config file:

json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "exa-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "EXA_API_KEY": "YOUR_EXA_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}
3

Set up environment variables

Exa Search MCP requires the following environment variables:

EXA_API_KEYRequired

Exa API key

4

Verify it works

Restart Windsurf. Exa Search MCP should appear in your MCP server list with 3 tools available.

This server adds approximately 1,545 tokens to your context window for tool definitions.

Set up Exa Search MCP in other editors

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