Pexafy Stock Photos MCP ServerVerifiedFeatured

What is Pexafy Stock Photos MCP Server?

Pexafy Stock Photos MCP Server is a hosted MCP server that lets Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code and other assistants search millions of free-to-use photos from Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay and more, returning real photos with their licence and credit line.

Pexafy searches its own index of photographs collected from free stock libraries (nine free-licence sources, per the website), indexed by meaning rather than tags. You describe a scene in a sentence, in any language, and get matching photos. In ChatGPT, Claude, VS Code and Cursor the results appear as a grid in the conversation; in terminals and agents each result arrives as a link. The server code is MIT licensed on GitHub.

How to use Pexafy Stock Photos MCP Server?

The server URL is the same everywhere: https://mcp.pexafy.com/mcp. Nothing needs installing. In Claude and ChatGPT you sign in to Pexafy once in a browser window (OAuth; a free account is enough). Editors and coding agents can search right away without an account, within a daily allowance; to use your own account and plan limits you can connect your account or send an MCP-type Pexafy API key as a Bearer token.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http pexafy https://mcp.pexafy.com/mcp

To use your Pexafy key (create an MCP-type key in the Pexafy dashboard):

claude mcp add --transport http pexafy https://mcp.pexafy.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_MCP_KEY"

Check it with claude mcp list. Optionally add the Pexafy skill, which tells the agent when and how to use the tools:

npx skills add Pexafy/pexafy-mcp --skill find-stock-photos

Claude Desktop / claude.ai

Open Customize → Connectors, click +, then Add custom connector. Paste https://mcp.pexafy.com/mcp, click Add, and sign in with your Pexafy account in the window Claude opens. Pexafy marks Claude support as in preview.

Cursor

Create .cursor/mcp.json in your project (or ~/.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pexafy": {
      "url": "https://mcp.pexafy.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Pexafy's docs show the same entry with a "headers": {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_MCP_KEY"} field if you want to use your key.

VS Code

Run MCP: Add Server, or use the one-line command from the README:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"pexafy","type":"http","url":"https://mcp.pexafy.com/mcp"}'

Then open Chat in Agent mode and pick Pexafy in the tools list.

Other clients

ChatGPT users can add Pexafy from the plugin directory. Codex uses codex mcp add pexafy --url https://mcp.pexafy.com/mcp.

Key features of Pexafy Stock Photos MCP Server

• One search across photos from Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay and other free-licence libraries.
• Semantic search: a full sentence describing the scene, mood or light works better than keywords, in any language.
• Search by image: find photos that look like a link, an upload or a previous result, optionally adjusted in words ("like this, but at night").
• Every result names its source and licence and carries the credit line to display.
• Inline grid in supporting clients: sixteen photos per request, with like, similar and download actions; your picks go back to the assistant in the order you chose.
• Photos can be returned as image files (up to 1280 px wide) for documents, slides or posts.
• All five tools are read-only; the connector cannot write to your account.

Pexafy Stock Photos MCP Server tools

• Search: search_photos finds photographs from a one-sentence description, optionally limited to landscape, portrait or square. search_photos_by_image finds photographs similar to a reference picture or an earlier Pexafy result.
• Files and selection: get_photo_file_by_photo_id returns one photograph from an earlier result as an image file with its credit line. get_grid_selected_photos returns the photos you hearted in the results grid, in your order.
• Account: connect_account asks the host to start its account-connection flow, for when you want more searches than the allowance without an account.

Use cases of Pexafy Stock Photos MCP Server

• Blog illustration: "I'm writing a short article about Kyoto in autumn. Find photos of a temple garden with red maple leaves."
• Landing pages: "My landing page needs a hero image of a small team working in a bright office," then place the chosen file in your HTML.
• Consistent sets: pick one photo and ask for "more like the second one" to build a matching series for a deck.
• Coding agents: have Claude Code fetch a photo file, save it in your repo and write the Markdown with the credit line.

Troubleshooting Pexafy Stock Photos MCP Server

• Claude Code project file rejected: in .mcp.json, an entry with a url and no "type": "http" is rejected; add the type.
• Search limit reached without an account: call connect_account or ask the agent to connect your Pexafy account, or add an MCP-type key as a Bearer header.
• No grid appears: the grid only renders in clients that draw MCP UI (ChatGPT, Claude, VS Code, Cursor). Other clients receive links instead.
• Cursor does not show Pexafy: reopen Cursor after editing mcp.json and check under Customize in the sidebar.