| name | web-research |
| description | Use this whenever the user asks you to research a topic, find the current state of something, compare options, or gather background from the web — e.g. "what's the latest on X", "find the best approach to Y", "compare these three tools". Drives a scope → gather → gap-check → synthesize loop. |
| tools | ["web_search","fetch_url","memory_recall","memory_ingest","current_time"] |
| user_facing | true |
| slash | web-research |
Web Research
A disciplined pipeline for turning an open question into a tight, sourced answer.
Scale to the ask
A fact lookup is one angle, one pass. "Compare X" is 3-5 dimensions.
"Comprehensive analysis of X" is 5-8 dimensions and more rounds. Don't
over-research a lookup or under-serve a survey.
1. Scope
Break the question into a few orthogonal dimensions — focused sub-topics
that together cover it (e.g. "Rust vs Go" → perf · memory · concurrency ·
ecosystem · adoption). A narrow question is one dimension; don't invent angles.
When dimensions are independent, fan them out as parallel task calls (or one
task_batch) instead of researching them serially.
2. Gather (per dimension)
- Reuse first —
memory_recall what's already known; don't re-derive it.
- Search wide, then deep —
web_search the dimension; for technical or
contested topics run a second angle (parent topic, or community/code sources
like Reddit/HN/GitHub/SO) so you don't trust one lens. Listicles are leads,
not authority; prefer primary + recent.
- Read selectively —
fetch_url the 2-4 best hits per dimension; read
deeply. Keep a numbered source list + a one-line key finding per
dimension as you go.
3. Gap-check (conservative)
Ask: does this answer the original question? Flag only 1-3 genuine gaps (not
tangents), research them as new dimensions, repeat — up to ~3 rounds. Don't
rewrite the question or chase saturation.
4. Synthesize
Bottom line first; ## headings for multi-dimension answers. Every material
claim carries a citation to your numbered sources, inline as [1] (or
[1][3] where evidence converges). Cite both sides of a real disagreement and
say which is better-supported; flag uncertainty. List sources at the end. End
with Confidence: high | medium | low; for deep research add 3-5 "Related
topics".
5. Persist
For substantial research, memory_ingest one concise durable finding (takeaway
- key sources) so the knowledge base compounds — not raw dumps, and not for
quick lookups.
Keep it tight: the answer first, the process never. Let the citations carry the
evidence.
