research

name	research
description	Deep research on any topic — competitors, markets, technologies, people, or companies. Use when user says "research X", "look into X", "what do we know about X", or "competitive analysis on X".
model	sonnet
context	fork
user-invokable	true

Research

Investigate any topic thoroughly and return structured findings.

Intent

1. Cross-reference before concluding — a single source is a starting point, not an answer; conflicting information between sources is signal, not noise
2. Cite everything or flag the gap — unsourced claims erode trust; if you can't find a reliable source, say "I couldn't verify this" rather than presenting it as fact
3. Distinguish facts from inferences — "Company X raised $50M" is a fact; "Company X is growing fast" is an inference; the user needs to know which is which
4. Recency matters for fast-moving topics — a 2024 market size number is misleading if the market doubled in 2025; flag when information may be stale
5. Save everything to scratch — research that lives only in chat history is research that will be redone; .tmp/research/ ensures it persists for the session

Process

1. Clarify scope — What specifically does the user want to know? Ask if the request is vague.

2. Research — Use available tools in this order of preference:

   • WebSearch (always available, no API key needed)
   • WebFetch (for specific URLs)
   • Perplexity MCP (if configured — deeper synthesis)
   • Firecrawl (only for scraping specific URLs, NOT for research)

3. Cross-reference — Check at least 2-3 sources. Flag conflicting information.

4. Structure findings — Organize into the output format below.

5. Save to scratch — Write the full brief to .tmp/research/[topic]-[date].md

Output Format

## Research Brief: [Topic]

### Summary
[2-3 sentence overview of key findings]

### Key Findings
- [Finding 1] — Source: [URL or reference]
- [Finding 2] — Source: [URL or reference]
- [Finding 3] — Source: [URL or reference]

### Details
[Deeper analysis organized by subtopic]

### Open Questions
[Things you couldn't confirm or need more investigation]

### Sources
1. [URL] — [what it contributed]
2. [URL] — [what it contributed]

Research Types

People: LinkedIn profile, recent activity, company role, mutual connections, public speaking, content they've published.

Companies: What they do, size, funding, tech stack, recent news, competitors, leadership, hiring signals.

Markets: Size, growth rate, key players, trends, regulation, opportunities, threats.

Topics: Current state of the art, key concepts, recent developments, expert opinions, practical applications.

Rules

• Always cite sources — never present unsourced claims as fact
• Distinguish between facts, estimates, and opinions
• Flag when information is outdated (older than 6 months for fast-moving topics)
• If you can't find reliable information, say so — don't fill gaps with speculation
• Save all research output to .tmp/research/ for future reference