Exerciseapi MCP server

@exerciseapi/mcp-server

Official MCP server for exerciseapi.dev — give your AI coding agent direct access to 2,198+ vetted exercises across 12 categories.

Building a fitness, workout, training, rehab, or wellness app with Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, or Cline? Stop asking your agent to make up exercise data. Install this MCP server and your agent gets six tools that pull real, structured exercises directly from the exerciseapi.dev library.

Why this exists

LLMs hallucinate exercise instructions. They invent muscle groups. They mix up form cues. They'll happily tell you to do a "reverse-grip incline cable fly" with safety tips that could hurt someone.

This server gives your agent access to:

• 2,198+ exercises across strength, calisthenics, yoga, pilates, mobility, physical therapy, plyometrics, stretching, and more
• Real anatomical muscle data — primary and secondary, specific muscles not just "chest" or "legs"
• Form tips and safety notes written by humans, not generated
• Equipment, difficulty, and category filters so the agent can build accurate workouts
• Demonstration videos for a growing subset of exercises (and counting)

It's a thin wrapper around the exerciseapi.dev REST API. All filtering and search runs server-side — the MCP layer just makes it callable as tools.

Install

1. Get a free API key

Sign up at exerciseapi.dev/dashboard. The free tier gives you 100 requests/day, which is plenty for development. No credit card required.

2. Add to your MCP client

Claude Desktop / Claude Code — add to ~/.config/claude/claudedesktopconfig.json (or your project's .mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exerciseapi": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@exerciseapi/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "EXERCISEAPI_KEY": "exlib_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor — add to .cursor/mcp.json in your project:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exerciseapi": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@exerciseapi/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "EXERCISEAPI_KEY": "exlib_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf, Cline, Zed — same shape, paste into your client's MCP config.

3. Restart your agent

Restart Claude Desktop / Cursor / Windsurf so it picks up the new server. You're done.

Try it

After install, ask your agent something like:

Find me five chest exercises I can do with just dumbbells, intermediate level. For each one, show me the form tips.

Your agent will call search_exercises with the right filters, get real data back, and respond with accurate, library-sourced exercises. No hallucination.

Or:

I'm building a beginner full-body workout app. Pull 8 exercises across push, pull, and legs that don't need any equipment.

Or:

What's the difference between a barbell bench press and a dumbbell bench press in terms of muscle activation?

Tools

This server exposes six tools:

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.