MCP server for AI agents: high-fidelity web search (Exa) + tiered web fetch (Exa→browser→Firecrawl) with SSRF guard. Drop-in replacement for built-in WebSearch/WebFetch in Claude Code, Codex, Grok, Cursor and all other agents.
Setup
Choose your client, copy the config, then fill in any required environment variables.
claude mcp add web-retrieval --env EXA_API_KEY='<EXA_API_KEY>' --env FIRECRAWL_API_KEY='<FIRECRAWL_API_KEY>' -- uvx web-retrieval-mcp~/.codex/config.toml
[mcp_servers.web-retrieval]
command = "uvx"
args = ["web-retrieval-mcp"]
env = { EXA_API_KEY = "<EXA_API_KEY>", FIRECRAWL_API_KEY = "<FIRECRAWL_API_KEY>" }
# codex mcp add web-retrieval --env EXA_API_KEY='<EXA_API_KEY>' --env FIRECRAWL_API_KEY='<FIRECRAWL_API_KEY>' -- uvx web-retrieval-mcp~/.cursor/mcp.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"web-retrieval": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"web-retrieval-mcp"
],
"env": {
"EXA_API_KEY": "<EXA_API_KEY>",
"FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "<FIRECRAWL_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}.vscode/mcp.json
{
"servers": {
"web-retrieval": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"web-retrieval-mcp"
],
"env": {
"EXA_API_KEY": "<EXA_API_KEY>",
"FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "<FIRECRAWL_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}~/.gemini/settings.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"web-retrieval": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"web-retrieval-mcp"
],
"env": {
"EXA_API_KEY": "<EXA_API_KEY>",
"FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "<FIRECRAWL_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}claude_desktop_config.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"web-retrieval": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"web-retrieval-mcp"
],
"env": {
"EXA_API_KEY": "<EXA_API_KEY>",
"FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "<FIRECRAWL_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}.trae/mcp.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"web-retrieval": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"web-retrieval-mcp"
],
"env": {
"EXA_API_KEY": "<EXA_API_KEY>",
"FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "<FIRECRAWL_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}Environment variables
EXA_API_KEYFIRECRAWL_API_KEY
Replace the placeholders with your own credentials and keep them out of version control.