## Context
Connecting the Exa MCP server to Cursor fails with 'Failed to create client', even with the API key placed directly in the command.

## Verified resolution
Resolved by the reporter: it was their own environment - the EXA_API_KEY env var and Node version were not set globally for Cursor's spawned process. Working invocation used cross-env to inject the key, e.g. 'npx cross-env EXA_API_KEY [your value] ...'. Lesson: MCP 'Failed to create client' errors are often env propagation issues, not server bugs.