How to integrate Pexels MCP with Grok Build

Connect Grok Build to Pexels MCP. Find free stock photos of beaches, get trending pexels videos this week, and more from your terminal, with authentication handled for you.

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Pexels is a free stock library offering high-quality photos and videos via API. Instantly boost your app or website with stunning visuals for any use case.

9 Tools

How to integrate Pexels MCP with Grok Build

Grok Build is xAI's terminal coding agent. It runs on Grok 4.5, plans its work before it acts, and can run multiple sub-agents in parallel. It also reads Claude Code's MCP configuration, so any server you already have in a .mcp.json is picked up with no changes.

In this guide, I will show you how to connect your Pexels account to Grok Build through Composio, so it can find free stock photos of beaches, get trending Pexels videos this week, list featured photography collections, and more without leaving the terminal. Composio holds the OAuth tokens for you, and Grok Build only calls the tools you approve.

Also integrate Pexels with

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Why use Composio over a standalone MCP server?

  • Read and write access. Composio's Pexels integration lets Grok Build take real actions like creating drafts, sending updates, and labeling records, not just reading data.
  • 1,000+ SaaS toolkits out of the box. One endpoint gives you a full catalog of pre-built connectors, from Gmail and Slack to Notion, Linear, and Salesforce.
  • One MCP server for every app. Wire up a single Composio server instead of maintaining a separate MCP entry for each app.
  • Smart, context-aware tool loading. Grok Build caps how many tools it holds in a single request. Composio loads only the tools a task needs, so you do not spend that budget on tools you are not using.
  • Cross-app automation. Chain actions across apps in one run. Pull a thread, summarize it in Notion, and post the highlights to Slack from a single prompt.

Prerequisites

  • Grok Build installed and signed in. Install with curl -fsSL https://x.ai/cli/install.sh | bash on macOS or Linux, or irm https://x.ai/cli/install.ps1 | iex on Windows PowerShell. On first launch Grok opens a browser to authenticate; for headless or CI use, set an XAI_API_KEY environment variable instead (create the key at console.x.ai).
  • Access to the Pexels account you want to connect.
  • The Composio MCP endpoint. Composio's server is remote and hosted, so there is nothing to run locally and no tunnel to set up.

Step-by-step: Connect Pexels to Grok Build

1. Install and verify Grok Build

Install the CLI, then restart your shell so the grok binary lands on your PATH:

bash
curl -fsSL https://x.ai/cli/install.sh | bash
which grok

On Windows, install with PowerShell instead: irm https://x.ai/cli/install.ps1 | iex. If which grok returns a path, you are set. Grok Build runs on Grok 4.5 by default; you can switch models inside the session with /model <name>.

2. Add the Composio server

Add Composio as a remote HTTP MCP server with the grok mcp add command:

bash
grok mcp add --transport http composio https://connect.composio.dev/mcp

You can also add and manage servers from inside a session. Run /mcps to open the extensions modal on the MCP tab, then add a new server and paste the Composio URL. Added this way, Grok auto-detects the name from the URL and lists the server as connect:

bash
https://connect.composio.dev/mcp
Grok Build /mcps extensions modal listing MCP servers Grok Build adding the Composio MCP server with its URL

Grok also reads Claude Code-style config, so an entry in ~/.grok/config.toml or a project .mcp.json works the same way.

3. Authenticate

Composio uses OAuth. In the /mcps modal, select the Composio server and press i to authenticate (Grok also triggers this browser flow automatically the first time it uses a Composio tool). Click Allow to authorize access. Grok stores the tokens under ~/.grok/mcp_credentials.json, and /mcps shows Composio as connected.

Grok Build prompting to authenticate the Composio MCP server Composio authorization screen with the Allow button for Grok Build

4. Start building

Ask Grok to work with your Pexels account through Composio. On the first Pexels action, Composio prompts you to connect the account through OAuth. Approve the scopes once, and Composio handles token refresh from there.

What you can do after connecting Pexels

  • Find free stock photos of beaches
  • Get trending Pexels videos this week
  • List featured photography collections
  • Show details for a specific photo ID

Security + privacy notes (important)

  • Use least-privilege access. Grant only the Pexels scopes you actually need.
  • Review OAuth scopes before approving. Check that the requested scopes match what you expect Composio and Grok Build to do.
  • Keep write actions human-reviewed. Grok Build proposes a plan before it acts. Leave that approval step on for actions like sending messages or editing records.
  • Keep secrets out of version control. Your XAI_API_KEY and any tokens should never be committed. Use environment variables or a secrets manager.
TOOLS

Supported Tools

Every Pexels action and event your agent gets out of the box.

Get Collection Media

Tool to get all media within a collection by its ID.

Get Curated Photos

Tool to get real-time curated photos.

Featured Collections

Tool to get featured collections.

Get Photo

Tool to retrieve detailed information about a specific photo.

Get Video by ID

Tool to retrieve detailed information about a specific video from Pexels.

Get My Collections

Tool to get all of the user's collections on Pexels.

Get Popular Videos

Tool to retrieve current popular Pexels videos.

Search Photos

Tool to search for photos on Pexels.

Search Videos

Tool to search for videos on Pexels by query and optional filters.

FRAMEWORKS

How to build Pexels MCP Agent with another framework

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ChatGPT Work

Use Pexels MCP with ChatGPT Work

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Antigravity

Use Pexels MCP with Antigravity

OpenAI Agents SDK logo

OpenAI Agents SDK

Use Pexels MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

Claude Agent SDK logo

Claude Agent SDK

Use Pexels MCP with Claude Agent SDK

Claude Code logo

Claude Code

Use Pexels MCP with Claude Code

Claude Cowork logo

Claude Cowork

Use Pexels MCP with Claude Cowork

Codex logo

Codex

Use Pexels MCP with Codex

Cursor logo

Cursor

Use Pexels MCP with Cursor

VS Code logo

VS Code

Use Pexels MCP with VS Code

OpenCode logo

OpenCode

Use Pexels MCP with OpenCode

OpenClaw logo

OpenClaw

Use Pexels MCP with OpenClaw

Hermes logo

Hermes

Use Pexels MCP with Hermes

CLI logo

CLI

Use Pexels MCP with CLI

Google ADK logo

Google ADK

Use Pexels MCP with Google ADK

LangChain logo

LangChain

Use Pexels MCP with LangChain

Vercel AI SDK logo

Vercel AI SDK

Use Pexels MCP with Vercel AI SDK

Mastra AI logo

Mastra AI

Use Pexels MCP with Mastra AI

LlamaIndex logo

LlamaIndex

Use Pexels MCP with LlamaIndex

CrewAI logo

CrewAI

Use Pexels MCP with CrewAI

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

A standalone Pexels MCP server gives Grok Build a fixed set of Pexels tools tied to that one server. The Composio Tool Router lets Grok Build load tools from Pexels and many other apps on demand, based on the task, all through a single endpoint.

Yes. Grok Build ships with native MCP support. Add a server with the grok mcp add command, from the in-session /mcps modal, or by editing ~/.grok/config.toml. It also reads Claude Code-style .mcp.json files, so Grok Build discovers the tools automatically.

Yes. Grok Build has zero-migration compatibility with Claude Code's configuration, so the same Composio server entry works in both without edits.

Tokens, keys, and configuration are encrypted at rest and in transit. Composio is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant, so your Pexels data and credentials are handled to that standard.

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Karan skipped his own birthday party to fix our critical issue. It was 10pm and he diverted his Waymo to help us instead. This really sets the bar — it shows the commitment you need when users rely on your software.

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Harsha Gaddipati
Co-founder, Slashy

A lot of students tell us that the moment their connected tools start talking to each other inside Opennote feels almost magical. The agent just knows them, and it's immensely helped keep new users on the platform.

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We chose Composio over Pipedream because it delivered depth where it mattered — niche tools and tricky edge cases other platforms simply ignored. That gave us confidence to scale without compromising.

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As a solo builder, shipping fast is life or death. The only way I can outcompete incumbents is by outmanoeuvring them. Getting bogged down managing agent auth would have been a death sentence.

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Ryan Yu
Founder, Extra Thursday

Before Composio, adding tool integrations was slow and resource-intensive. Each one could take weeks of engineering time, and maintaining them meant constantly keeping up with API changes.

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Tomisin Jenrola
Founder & CEO, SwarmZero

With hands-on help from their founder, we integrated Gmail and Google Drive in just 30 minutes. This level of personal support and commitment is exactly what startups should strive for.

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Jerome Leclanche
Co-Founder, Ingram Technologies