# Pexafy Stock Photos MCP server

Find free-to-use stock photos by words, by image or by similarity; every result names its licence.

## At a glance

Pexafy Stock Photos is an MCP server in the Finance & Data category. It is hosted remotely and connects over HTTP, and declares no required credentials. It exposes 5 tools, including search_photos, search_photos_by_image and get_photo_file_by_photo_id. It scores B (73/100) on the MCP Skills Hub health score as of Oct 28, 2026.

## Install

### How to install Pexafy Stock Photos in Claude Code

1. Add the server

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

2. Verify it's connected

```bash
claude mcp list
```

3. Sharing it with your team?

   Add `--scope project` to write it to .mcp.json in the repository root, which you can commit (with the secrets left as environment variables).

4. Use it in a session

   Ask Claude to use the tools this server exposes (e.g. search_photos, search_photos_by_image, get_photo_file_by_photo_id). It discovers them automatically.

### How to install Pexafy Stock Photos in Claude Desktop

1. Open your MCP config

   macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json · Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this server

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pexafy-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.pexafy.com/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

3. Why the wrapper?

   This is a remote (HTTP) server and Claude Desktop only launches local processes, so mcp-remote proxies the connection. It will open a browser window if the server needs OAuth.

4. Restart Claude Desktop

   The tools appear under the 🔌 menu once the app reloads.

### How to install Pexafy Stock Photos in Cursor

1. Create / edit .cursor/mcp.json in your project

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

2. Enable it

   Cursor Settings → MCP → toggle the server on. Tools become available to the Composer/Agent.

### How to install Pexafy Stock Photos in Codex CLI

1. Add to ~/.codex/config.toml

```toml
[mcp_servers.pexafy-mcp]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.pexafy.com/mcp"]
```

2. Why the wrapper?

   Codex runs MCP servers as local processes, so mcp-remote bridges this HTTP endpoint to stdio.

3. Run Codex

   Codex loads MCP servers from config.toml on startup and exposes their tools to the agent.

### How to install Pexafy Stock Photos in Windsurf

1. Edit ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pexafy-mcp": {
      "serverUrl": "https://mcp.pexafy.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

2. Reload

   Windsurf → Cascade → refresh MCP servers. Cascade can now call the tools.

### How to install Pexafy Stock Photos in Cline

1. Open Cline → MCP Servers → Configure

   Adds to cline_mcp_settings.json.

2. Add the server

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pexafy-mcp": {
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "url": "https://mcp.pexafy.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### How to install Pexafy Stock Photos in VS Code

1. Create .vscode/mcp.json

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "pexafy-mcp": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.pexafy.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

2. Start it

   VS Code shows a ▶ Start action above the server entry. Agent mode (Copilot Chat) can then use the tools.

## Tools

- `search_photos` — Use this when the user asks for a real photograph, or states a need that a photograph fills, and the picture is not already in the conversation. Call it when they ask outright: “find me photos of…”, “show me images of…”, “I need a picture of…”, “do you have a photo of…”, “where can I find free photos of…”, in any language. Call it when they describe the need without asking to search: “I'm writing 
- `search_photos_by_image` — Use this when the user wants photographs that look like a picture, rather than ones described in words: a picture they link to, one the host passes to the tool as a file, or a Pexafy photo already found or liked in the grid. Call it for “find images like this”, “something similar to this photo”, “find a free alternative to this image”, “I need this but royalty-free”, “photos in this style”, “more 
- `get_photo_file_by_photo_id` — Returns one photograph from an earlier Pexafy result as an image file, identified by its `photo_id`. A result's link points to the image; this tool returns the image itself, so the person does not need to send the photograph again. Use it when the user wants a photograph found here as a file: to place it in a document, a slide or a post, to attach, send or download it, or to have it cropped, capti
- `get_grid_selected_photos` — Returns the photographs the person liked (hearted) in the Pexafy results grid. Use it when the person refers to that selection rather than asking for new photos — for example “the images I selected”, “the ones I chose”, “my selection”, “the photos I hearted”, “the photos I liked”, “use the ones I picked”, “put my selection in the document”, “download the ones I chose”, or “write the article around
- `connect_account` — Asks the host to offer its own flow for connecting a Pexafy account, when none is attached. Use it when the person asks to connect, link or sign in to a Pexafy account — including from the account button in the Pexafy grid — or wants more searches than the daily allowance available without an account. When no account is attached, it returns an error result that carries an account-connection reques

Source repository: https://github.com/Pexafy/pexafy-mcp

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Source: https://mcp-skills-hub.vercel.app/mcps/com-pexafy-pexafy-mcp · MCP Skills Hub · data as of 2026-10-28T12:31:05Z