| name | research |
| description | Conduct open-ended research on a topic, building a living markdown document. Supports interactive and deep research modes. |
Research Skill
Description
Conduct open-ended research on a topic, building a living markdown document. The conversation is ephemeral; the document is what matters.
Trigger
Activate when the user wants to:
- Research a topic, idea, or question
- Explore something before committing to building it
- Investigate options, patterns, or approaches
- Create a "research doc" or "investigation"
- Run deep async research on a complex topic
Research Directory
Each research topic gets its own folder:
~/.openclaw/workspace/research/<topic-slug>/
├── prompt.md # Original research question/prompt
├── research.md # Main findings (Parallel output or interactive notes)
├── research.pdf # PDF export (when generated)
└── ... # Any other related files (data, images, etc.)
Two Research Modes
1. Interactive Research (default)
For topics you explore together in conversation. You search, synthesize, and update the doc in real-time.
2. Deep Research (async)
For complex topics that need comprehensive investigation. Uses the Parallel AI API via parallel-research CLI. Takes minutes to hours, returns detailed markdown reports.
When to use deep research:
- Market analysis, competitive landscape
- Technical deep-dives requiring extensive source gathering
- Multi-faceted questions that benefit from parallel exploration
- When user says "deep research" or wants comprehensive coverage
Interactive Research Workflow
1. Initialize Research
-
at
