exa-best-practices
This skill provides guidance on using Exa's web search and content fetching tools effectively.
Identity proven by GitHub's verified organisation badge (exa-labs)
- Agents
- Cursor
- License
- MIT (permissive)
- Pin
- 0c6bb4cpinned Oct 9, 2026
- Context cost
- about 370 tokenswhen the skill loads
- GitHub stars
- 9on exa-labs/exa-cursor-plugin
- Scripts
- None found
What it does
“Reference guide for Exa search tools. Covers tool selection, citation standards, search optimization, and troubleshooting. Also useful as background context for improving search quality.”
Generated summary from the skill's own text
This skill provides guidance on using Exa's web search and content fetching tools effectively. It covers when to use each tool, how to properly cite sources, techniques for optimizing search queries, and steps for setup and troubleshooting the Exa MCP server integration.
When to use it
- Agent needs to search the web for current information, news, or research
- Extracting content from a specific known URL
- Improving search result quality with better query techniques
- Setting up or debugging Exa search tools in Cursor
When not to
- Looking for pre-written search implementations rather than best practices guidance
- Need immediate results without understanding search optimization
- Agent already has reliable alternative search methods configured
Install
These commands install from the publisher's repository and need no account.
skills CLI
npx skills add exa-labs/exa-cursor-plugin --skill exa-best-practicesInstalls from the repository's default branch, which may have changed since the commit we checked.
GitHub CLI 2.90 or later
gh skill install exa-labs/exa-cursor-plugin exa-best-practices@0c6bb4c04067971681f5777606acb60a71ed7270Installs the commit we checked (0c6bb4c).
Copy by hand
Download the folder at 0c6bb4c and put it in .claude/skills/exa-best-practices for Claude Code and in .agents/skills/exa-best-practices for Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode.
Claude Code plugin
/plugin install exa@claude-plugins-officialThe publisher's plugin in Claude's official marketplace. It may hold more than this skill, and we have not pinned it.
Copy for your agent
A prompt for any coding agent. It installs this skill from GitHub at the pinned commit, copies the files as they are, and runs nothing unless you ask.
Prompt
Install the agent skill "exa-best-practices" by Exa. Source, pinned to commit 0c6bb4c04067971681f5777606acb60a71ed7270: https://github.com/exa-labs/exa-cursor-plugin/tree/0c6bb4c04067971681f5777606acb60a71ed7270/skills/exa-best-practices 1. Download that folder at exactly this commit. Do not use the default branch. 2. Copy every file unchanged, keeping the folder structure, into .claude/skills/exa-best-practices/ for Claude Code and .agents/skills/exa-best-practices/ for Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode. Create the folders if they do not exist. 3. Do not edit the files, and do not run any script in the folder unless I ask you to. 4. When you are done, list the files you copied and where you put them. Listing and checks: https://www.agentnative.dev/skills/exa/exa-best-practices
SKILL.md at the pin
--- name: exa-best-practices description: "Reference guide for Exa search tools. Covers tool selection, citation standards, search optimization, and troubleshooting. Also useful as background context for improving search quality." --- # Exa Best Practices ## Tool Selection | Need | Tool | When | |------|------|------| | Web search | `web_search_exa` | Current info, news, research, general questions, code examples | | Read a URL | `web_fetch_exa` | Extract content from a known URL | ## Citation Standards When using Exa search results, always cite sources: - **Inline citations**: Every fact or claim should reference its source - **Source URLs**: Include the actual URL, not just the title - **Sources section**: End responses with a list of all sources used - **Never fabricate URLs**: Only cite URLs that appear in search results ## Search Quality Tips 1. **Natural language queries** work better than keyword stuffing 2. **Be specific** — include dates, names, versions when relevant 3. **Multiple queries** with different phrasings improve coverage 4. **Adjust result count** to match the depth needed (3-5 quick, 10-20 deep) ## Getting Started 1. Get your API key at https://dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys 2. Add the MCP server in Cursor Settings → MCP 3. Start searching with `/exa-search` or `/exa-fetch` ## Troubleshooting - **Tools not available**: Check if the Exa MCP server is installed. If `web_search_exa` or `web_fetch_exa` are not in your tool list, stop and request the user to: (1) run `/exa-setup` in Cursor to add the MCP server, and (2) go to **Cursor Settings → Tools & MCP** and make sure Exa is toggled **on** (green). - **No results**: Try rephrasing the query or broadening search terms
From exa-labs/exa-cursor-plugin at 0c6bb4c, shown as plain text under its license: MIT (permissive). The license text is in LICENSE.
View SKILL.md on GitHub at 0c6bb4cFiles
- SKILL.md1.7 KB · 44db9324dcb3
1 file, 1.7 KB in total. Each file has a sha256 in the pin's manifest; the first 12 characters are shown.
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Open roles at Exa
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- Software Engineer, Intern
San Francisco, California, United States (On-site)
- Forward Deployed Engineer, APJ
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