| name | Research |
| description | Comprehensive research and content extraction with 4 depth modes: Quick (1 Perplexity agent, ~10-15s), Standard (4 agents — Claude + Gemini + Grok + Perplexity, cross-checked, ~30-60s), Extensive (7 explorers + 2 independent verifiers, ~60-90s), Deep Investigation (progressive iteration with persistent MEMORY/RESEARCH/ vault, loop-compatible, ~3-60min). Every URL verified before delivery — hallucinated links are a catastrophic failure. Verification architecture: per-agent self-verification, cross-check synthesis, and independent verifier agents (Extensive/Deep). Confidence-tagged output: [HIGH] [MED] [LOW] [CONFLICT]. Additional workflows: ExtractAlpha (highest-signal insights), Retrieve (CAPTCHA/bot-blocked content), YoutubeExtraction (fabric -y), WebScraping, InterviewResearch (Tyler Cowen style), AnalyzeAiTrends, Fabric (242+ patterns), Enhance, ExtractKnowledge. USE WHEN research, do research, quick research, extensive research, deep investigation, find information, investigate, extract alpha, analyze content, retrieve content, AI trends, enhance content, extract knowledge, interview research, web scraping, YouTube extraction, map landscape, competitive analysis. NOT FOR people/company/entity deep background (use OSINT), academic paper search (use ArXiv), or structured JSON parsing (use Parser). |
| effort | high |
| context | fork |
⚠️ MANDATORY TRIGGER
When user says "research" (in any form), ALWAYS invoke this skill.
| User Says | Action |
|---|
| "research" / "do research" / "research this" | → Standard mode (4 agents: Claude + Gemini + Grok + Perplexity + cross-check) |
| "quick research" / "minor research" | → Quick mode (1 Perplexity agent) |
| "extensive research" / "deep research" | → Extensive mode (7 explorers + 2 verifiers) |
| "deep investigation" / "investigate [topic]" / "map the [X] landscape" | → Deep Investigation (iterative + verification) |
"Research" alone = Standard mode. No exceptions.
Customization
Before executing, check for user customizations at:
~/.claude/PAI/USER/SKILLCUSTOMIZATIONS/Research/
If this directory exists, load and apply any PREFERENCES.md, configurations, or resources found there. These override default behavior. If the directory does not exist, proceed with skill defaults.
🚨 MANDATORY: Voice Notification (REQUIRED BEFORE ANY ACTION)
You MUST send this notification BEFORE doing anything else when this skill is invoked.
-
Send voice notification:
curl -s -X POST http://localhost:31337/notify \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"message": "Running the WORKFLOWNAME workflow in the Research skill to ACTION"}' \
> /dev/null 2>&1 &
-
Output text notification:
Running the **WorkflowName** workflow in the **Research** skill to ACTION...
This is not optional. Execute this curl command immediately upon skill invocation.
Research Skill
Comprehensive research, analysis, and content extraction system.
MANDATORY: URL Verification
READ: UrlVerificationProtocol.md - Every URL must be verified before delivery.
Research agents hallucinate URLs. A single broken link is a catastrophic failure.
Workflow Routing
Route to the appropriate workflow based on the request.
CRITICAL: For due diligence, company/person background checks, or vetting -> INVOKE OSINT SKILL INSTEAD
Research Modes (Primary Workflows)
- Quick/minor research (1 Perplexity, 1 query) ->
Workflows/QuickResearch.md
- Standard research - DEFAULT (4 agents: Claude + Gemini + Grok + Perplexity, cross-checked) ->
Workflows/StandardResearch.md
- Extensive research (7 explorers + 2 verifiers = 9 agents) ->
Workflows/ExtensiveResearch.md
- Deep investigation / iterative research (progressive deepening + verification, loop-compatible) ->
Workflows/DeepInvestigation.md
Verification
- Verify research findings / cross-check claims / confidence scoring ->
Workflows/Verify.md
Deep Content Analysis
- Extract alpha / deep analysis / highest-alpha insights ->
Workflows/ExtractAlpha.md
Content Retrieval
- Difficulty accessing content (CAPTCHA, bot detection, blocking) ->
Workflows/Retrieve.md
- YouTube URL extraction (use
fabric -y URL immediately) -> Workflows/YoutubeExtraction.md
- Web scraping ->
Workflows/WebScraping.md
Specific Research Types
- Claude WebSearch only (free, no API keys) ->
Workflows/ClaudeResearch.md
- Perplexity API research (use Quick for single-agent) ->
Workflows/QuickResearch.md
- Interview preparation (Tyler Cowen style) ->
Workflows/InterviewResearch.md
- AI trends analysis ->
Workflows/AnalyzeAiTrends.md
Fabric Pattern Processing
- Use Fabric patterns (242+ specialized prompts) ->
Workflows/Fabric.md
Content Enhancement
- Enhance/improve content ->
Workflows/Enhance.md
- Extract knowledge from content ->
Workflows/ExtractKnowledge.md
Quick Reference
READ: QuickReference.md for detailed examples and mode comparison.
| Trigger | Mode | Speed |
|---|
| "quick research" | 1 Claude agent | ~10-15s |
| "do research" | 2 agents + cross-check | ~15-30s |
| "extensive research" | 7 explorers + 2 verifiers | ~60-90s |
| "deep investigation" | Progressive iteration + verification | ~3-60min |
Verification Architecture
Inspired by Nomad (arXiv:2603.29353). Three layers of verification, zero added latency:
| Layer | What | Where | Cost |
|---|
| Self-Verification | Each agent verifies own URLs and tags confidence before returning | All agents | 0s (inside parallel window) |
| Cross-Check | Synthesis step detects conflicts and cross-references findings | Standard, Extensive, Deep | 2-3s (within synthesis) |
| Independent Verification | Dedicated verifier agents with no access to explorer reasoning | Extensive, Deep only | 0s (parallel with explorers) |
Confidence tags in output: [HIGH] [MED] [LOW] [CONFLICT]
See Workflows/Verify.md for full verification protocol.
Integration
Feeds Into
- blogging - Research for blog posts
- newsletter - Research for newsletters
- xpost - Create posts from research
Uses
- be-creative - deep thinking for extract alpha
- OSINT - MANDATORY for company/people comprehensive research
- BrightData MCP - CAPTCHA solving, advanced scraping
- Apify MCP - RAG browser, specialized site scrapers
Deep Investigation Mode
Progressive iterative research that builds a persistent knowledge vault. Works in both single-run (one cycle) and loop mode (Algorithm-driven iterations).
Concept: Broad landscape → discover entities → score importance/effort → deep-dive one at a time → loop until coverage complete.
Domain template packs customize the investigation for specific domains:
Templates/MarketResearch.md — Companies, Products, People, Technologies, Trends, InvestorsTemplates/ThreatLandscape.md — Threat Actors, Campaigns, TTPs, Vulnerabilities, Tools, Defenders- No template? The workflow creates entity categories dynamically from the landscape research.
Example invocation:
"Do a deep investigation of the AI agent market"
→ Loads MarketResearch.md template
→ Iteration 1: Broad landscape + first entity deep-dive
→ Loop mode: Each iteration deep-dives the next highest-priority entity
→ Exit: When all CRITICAL/HIGH entities researched + all categories covered
Artifacts persist at ~/.claude/PAI/MEMORY/RESEARCH/{date}_{topic}/ — the vault survives across sessions.
See Workflows/DeepInvestigation.md for full workflow details.
File Organization
Working files (temporary work artifacts): ~/.claude/PAI/MEMORY/WORK/{current_work}/
- Read
~/.claude/ to get the work_dir value
- All iterative work artifacts go in the current work item directory
- This ties research artifacts to the work item for learning and context
History (permanent): ~/.claude/History/research/YYYY-MM/YYYY-MM-DD_[topic]/
Gotchas
- Research agents hallucinate URLs. EVERY URL must be verified before delivery. A single broken link is a catastrophic failure.
- "research" alone = Standard mode (2 agents + cross-check). Never default to Quick. Users saying "research this" expect thorough results.
- Due diligence, background checks, people lookup → OSINT skill, NOT Research. Research handles general investigation; OSINT handles entity-specific deep investigation.
- Don't spawn redundant research agents when you already have the answer in context. If prior work in the session already covers the topic, skip agent spawning.
- "extract alpha" routes to ExtractAlpha workflow — not the ExtractWisdom skill. Different things.
- YouTube extraction uses
fabric -y URL directly — don't try to scrape YouTube pages with WebFetch.
Examples
Example 1: Quick lookup
User: "quick research on Hono SSR middleware patterns"
→ Invokes QuickResearch workflow (1 Claude agent)
→ Returns summary with key patterns and links
→ ~10-15 seconds
Example 2: Standard multi-source research
User: "research the current state of AI agent frameworks"
→ Invokes StandardResearch workflow (2 agents: Claude + Gemini, cross-checked)
→ Cross-references findings, confidence-tags, verifies URLs
→ Returns synthesized report with citations
→ ~15-30 seconds
Example 3: Deep investigation
User: "do a deep investigation of the AI agent market"
→ Invokes DeepInvestigation workflow
→ Broad landscape scan → entity discovery → priority scoring → deep-dives
→ Builds persistent knowledge vault in MEMORY/RESEARCH/
→ Loop-compatible for multi-session investigation
Execution Log
After completing any workflow, append a single JSONL entry:
echo '{"ts":"'$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)'","skill":"Research","workflow":"WORKFLOW_USED","input":"8_WORD_SUMMARY","status":"ok|error","duration_s":SECONDS}' >> ~/.claude/PAI/MEMORY/SKILLS/execution.jsonl
Replace WORKFLOW_USED with the workflow executed, 8_WORD_SUMMARY with a brief input description, and SECONDS with approximate wall-clock time. Log status: "error" if the workflow failed.
