Pexels MCP Server

A production-ready Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for the Pexels API. It gives AI assistants — Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, and any MCP client — tools to search and…

Local serverstdioMIT

What is the Pexels MCP Server?

pexels-mcp-server is an MCP project maintained in the hanoak/pexels-mcp-server repository. The maintainer describes its purpose as “A production-ready Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for the Pexels API. It gives AI assistants — Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, and…”. Read the project documentation for the complete scope.

Installation

The documented npm package is @hanoak/pexels-mcp-server. The configuration below comes from the maintainer’s example; adapt its paths and account values to your environment.

Configuration values

The example declares PEXELS_API_KEY. Secret-looking values have been replaced with placeholders. Required and optional labels are shown only when the documentation states them.

Source

Project documentation · Repository · Discovery listing. This profile records the public documentation checked on 2026-10-08.

Recorded tools

Check the linked publisher documentation and your connected client's tool list. Names and availability can vary with the server version and account permissions.

ToolWhat it does
Resourcesa compact guide your client can pull in as context:
pexels//guides/usage — the license restrictions that apply, the optional courtesy-credit convention, and content-safety notes.
Promptsready-made tasks your client can surface directly; each expands into a guided, multi-step tool-calling task:
DomainTools
Photossearch_photos, curated_photos, get_photo
Videossearch_videos, popular_videos, get_video
Collectionslist_featured_collections, list_my_collections, get_collection_media
pexels_search_photosquery (required), orientation? (landscape\
pexels_curated_photospage?, per_page?
pexels_get_photoid (required)
pexels_search_videosquery (required), orientation?, size? (large=4K\
pexels_popular_videosmin_width?, min_height?, min_duration?, max_duration?, page?, per_page?
pexels_get_videoid (required)
pexels_list_featured_collectionspage?, per_page?
pexels_list_my_collectionspage?, per_page?
pexels_get_collection_mediaid (required), type? (photos\

How to install the Pexels MCP Server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pexels": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@hanoak/pexels-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PEXELS_API_KEY": "YOUR_PEXELS_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

From the project documentation. Replace placeholders and example paths before connecting.

Configuration

VariableDescriptionRequired
PEXELS_API_KEYDeclared in the maintainer’s client configuration.Check documentation