| 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.
