Pexels MCP server — search and fetch free stock photos, videos, and curated collections from Pexels inside Claude, Cursor, Cline, and other Model Context Protocol clients.
Setup
Choose your client, copy the config, then fill in any required environment variables.
claude mcp add pexels --env PEXELS_API_KEY='<PEXELS_API_KEY>' -- npx -y mcp-pexels~/.codex/config.toml
[mcp_servers.pexels]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "mcp-pexels"]
env = { PEXELS_API_KEY = "<PEXELS_API_KEY>" }
# codex mcp add pexels --env PEXELS_API_KEY='<PEXELS_API_KEY>' -- npx -y mcp-pexels~/.cursor/mcp.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"pexels": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"mcp-pexels"
],
"env": {
"PEXELS_API_KEY": "<PEXELS_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}.vscode/mcp.json
{
"servers": {
"pexels": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"mcp-pexels"
],
"env": {
"PEXELS_API_KEY": "<PEXELS_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}~/.gemini/settings.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"pexels": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"mcp-pexels"
],
"env": {
"PEXELS_API_KEY": "<PEXELS_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}claude_desktop_config.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"pexels": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"mcp-pexels"
],
"env": {
"PEXELS_API_KEY": "<PEXELS_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}.trae/mcp.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"pexels": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"mcp-pexels"
],
"env": {
"PEXELS_API_KEY": "<PEXELS_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}Environment variables
PEXELS_API_KEY
Replace the placeholders with your own credentials and keep them out of version control.