deep-research

name	deep-research
description	Conduct comprehensive, multi-source research and generate cited reports. Activate this skill when users want in-depth research on a topic, need synthesis across web and vault sources, or want a structured research report saved to their vault.

Deep Research

Conduct comprehensive, multi-round research using the deep_research tool. This produces structured markdown reports with citations by iteratively searching, reading, and synthesizing multiple sources.

When to Use Deep Research vs Google Search

Use deep_research when...	Use google_search when...
The topic requires synthesis across multiple sources	A quick factual answer is needed
The user wants a structured report or overview	The user asks for a single data point
Research should combine vault notes with web sources	The user wants current news or events
The question is broad or exploratory	The question is specific and narrow
The user explicitly asks for "deep research" or "a report"	The user asks "what is..." or "when did..."

Default to google_search for simple questions. Only use deep_research when the scope genuinely warrants multi-source synthesis.

How to Use

Call the deep_research tool with these parameters:

• topic (required) — The research question or topic. Be specific and descriptive.
• scope (optional) — Where to search:
  • both (default) — Web sources + vault notes. Best for most research.
  • web_only — Internet sources only. Use when the topic is outside the vault's scope.
  • vault_only — Vault notes only. Use to synthesize the user's own notes. Requires Semantic Vault Search to be enabled.
• outputFile (optional) — Path to save the report (e.g., Research/topic-name.md). A .md extension is added automatically if missing.

If both is requested but Semantic Vault Search isn't configured, the tool gracefully falls back to web-only research.

Best Practices

• Always suggest an outputFile — Research reports are valuable artifacts. Suggest saving to a logical location like Research/ or a project folder.
• Warn the user about timing — Deep research takes several minutes. Let the user know before invoking the tool.
• Choose the right scope:
  • User wants to understand a new external topic → web_only or both
  • User wants to synthesize their own notes → vault_only
  • User wants to combine personal knowledge with external research → both
• Write a clear topic — Frame the topic as a research question or focused description. "The evolution of transformer architectures in NLP" is better than "transformers".

Output Format

The tool generates a markdown report with:

• A title and generation date
• Synthesized findings organized into logical sections
• Inline citations linking to source URLs
• Source count summary

When outputFile is specified, the report is saved to the vault and added to the session context for follow-up discussion.

Tips

• After receiving a research report, offer to help the user extract action items, create summary notes, or link findings to existing vault content.
• For iterative research, suggest running multiple focused queries rather than one broad one.
• If the user wants to research something related to their existing notes, suggest both scope to combine external knowledge with their personal context.