Pexels

MCP server for Pexels — search photos and videos, and browse collections

Quick Install

Automated & IDE Setup

Copy the AI prompt to install this server into Claude Code, Cursor, or another agent — or use 1-click editor setup below.

Add to Cursor Add to VS Code

Manual Client & Custom JSON ConfigExpand JSON ▾

Client Config & Setup

Choose your client or environment

Target File:~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pexels": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "pexels"
      ]
    }
  }
}

💡 Paste the JSON block into your client's configuration file under mcpServers, then restart the application.

Documentation Overview

mcp-server-pexels

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for the Pexels API. Built in Rust, exposes photo search, video search, and curated/featured content as MCP tools.

Communicates via stdio using JSON-RPC 2.0.

Tools

Tool	Description
`search_photos`	Search photos by query with optional orientation/size/color/locale filters
`curated_photos`	Get a paginated list of curated, hand-picked photos
`get_photo`	Retrieve a single photo by ID
`search_videos`	Search videos by query with optional orientation/size/locale filters
`popular_videos`	Get popular videos with optional dimension and duration filters
`get_video`	Retrieve a single video by ID
`featured_collections`	List featured collections (themed sets of media)
`collection_media`	List media in a specific collection (filterable by photos/videos)

Prerequisites

Rust (edition 2024)
A Pexels API key from pexels.com/api

Setup

bash

mkdir -p ~/.config/mcp-server-pexels

Create ~/.config/mcp-server-pexels/config.toml:

toml

api_key = "your-pexels-api-key"

Build

bash

cargo build --release

Produces target/release/mcp-server-pexels.

MCP configuration

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pexels": {
      "command": "/path/to/mcp-server-pexels"
    }
  }
}

Project structure

Code

src/
  main.rs    - entry point, config loading, stdio transport
  server.rs  - MCP tool definitions
  api.rs     - Pexels HTTP client and response types
  params.rs  - tool parameter types
  config.rs  - TOML config loading

License

MIT

Read the full README →View source on GitHub →

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Frequently Asked Questions about Pexels

Add the following block to your claude_desktop_config.json under mcpServers: "mcpServers": { "pexels": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "pexels"] } }

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Technical Specs & Signals

CategoryDeveloper Tools

27Quality signal: Emerging · 27/100How this signal is calculated ▾

Server availabilityNot measured

Not scored for repo-hosted servers — we can't reach the running server, only its GitHub page. Hosted MCP endpoints are health-checked live.

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Documentation & tools11/30

Adoption & activity1/15

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Documentation Overview

mcp-server-pexels

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for the Pexels API. Built in Rust, exposes photo search, video search, and curated/featured content as MCP tools.

Communicates via stdio using JSON-RPC 2.0.

Tools

Tool	Description
`search_photos`	Search photos by query with optional orientation/size/color/locale filters
`curated_photos`	Get a paginated list of curated, hand-picked photos
`get_photo`	Retrieve a single photo by ID
`search_videos`	Search videos by query with optional orientation/size/locale filters
`popular_videos`	Get popular videos with optional dimension and duration filters
`get_video`	Retrieve a single video by ID
`featured_collections`	List featured collections (themed sets of media)
`collection_media`	List media in a specific collection (filterable by photos/videos)

Prerequisites

Rust (edition 2024)
A Pexels API key from pexels.com/api

Setup

bash

mkdir -p ~/.config/mcp-server-pexels

Create ~/.config/mcp-server-pexels/config.toml:

toml

api_key = "your-pexels-api-key"

Build

bash

cargo build --release

Produces target/release/mcp-server-pexels.

MCP configuration

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pexels": {
      "command": "/path/to/mcp-server-pexels"
    }
  }
}

Project structure

Code

src/
  main.rs    - entry point, config loading, stdio transport
  server.rs  - MCP tool definitions
  api.rs     - Pexels HTTP client and response types
  params.rs  - tool parameter types
  config.rs  - TOML config loading

License

MIT