Pexels MCP server

mcp-pexels — Pexels MCP server for Claude, Cursor, and other AI agents

A Model Context Protocol server that exposes the Pexels API — free stock photos, videos, and curated collections — as MCP tools that any compatible AI client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, Continue, etc.) can call directly from a chat.

📦 npm: mcp-pexels · 🏷 Latest release: v1.0.0 · 💻 Source: developer-ishan/mcp-pexels

Photos & videos provided by Pexels.

Drop-in config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pexels": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-pexels"],
      "env": { "PEXELS_API_KEY": "your_key_here" }
    }
  }
}

Paste into your MCP client's config, restart, and the nine pexels_* tools are live. Get a free key at .

Table of contents

• What can you build with this?
• Capabilities — nine tools
• Connect to your MCP client
• Claude Desktop
• Claude Code
• Cursor
• Cline (VS Code)
• Continue.dev
• Generic / other clients
• Example prompts
• How it compares
• FAQ

What can you build with this?

Once mcp-pexels is connected to an AI client, the agent can pull royalty-free photos and videos straight into its workflow. A few concrete uses:

• Slide-deck and document illustration — "Find me a landscape photo of mountains at sunset for slide 3" → the agent searches Pexels, picks one, and embeds it.
• Blog post / social media drafting — "Suggest three thumbnail options for an article about remote work" → returns three Pexels URLs with photographer credit.
• Background research for video editing — "Show me popular drone footage under 30 seconds in 4K" → uses pexelspopularvideos with size and duration filters.
• Mood boards — "Build me a mood board of warm-toned coffee shop photos" → searches with color: "orange".
• Coding agents — generate CSS/HTML with realistic placeholder imagery instead of lorem-pixel boxes.
• Curated collections — pull a specific Pexels collection (e.g. company-owned shots tagged on Pexels) into the agent's context.

Because every response includes a _rateLimit object, the agent can self-throttle and respect the Pexels free-tier quota (200 req/hour, 20 000/month).

Capabilities — nine tools

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.