search-hub

name	search-hub
description	Multi-source search that fans out to ALL available providers (Tavily, Perplexity, Gemini, Exa) in parallel and returns provider-attributed results. USE WHEN user asks to search, research, look up, find information, check current events, compare topics, get citations, semantic search, or needs web-grounded answers. ALWAYS use this skill for any web search — even simple lookups benefit from cross-provider verification. The default mode searches ALL providers simultaneously. Do not pick just one source when you have four.
allowed-tools	["Read","Bash","Glob"]
metadata	{"author":"erikb","version":"2.0.0","category":"integration","created":"2026-03-05T00:00:00.000Z","updated":"2026-03-06T00:00:00.000Z"}

search-hub

Multi-source search that fans out to all available providers in parallel. The goal is information density and signal, not cost optimization. A single source when you have four available is a failure to check.

Core Principle

Every search hits ALL available providers simultaneously. Each provider sees the web differently — Perplexity synthesizes with citations, Tavily returns raw results with snippets, Gemini uses Google's live index, and Exa does neural semantic matching. Cross-referencing what multiple providers surface for the same query reveals what's actually important versus what's noise.

Usage

# Default: multi-source across all available providers
bun ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/search.ts "<query>"

# Subset of providers
bun ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/search.ts "<query>" --providers tavily,perplexity

# Single provider (only when explicitly needed)
bun ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/search.ts perplexity "<query>" --model sonar-pro

Presenting Results: Provider-Attributed Brief

After running a multi-source search, present results organized BY PROVIDER so the user can see what each source independently found. This is the required output format:

### Google (Gemini)
[Gemini's answer reproduced faithfully — see rules below]

### Tavily
[Tavily's answer reproduced faithfully — see rules below]

### Perplexity
[Perplexity's answer reproduced faithfully — see rules below]

### Exa
[Exa's results reproduced faithfully — see rules below]

### Cross-Provider Signal
[YOUR synthesis goes here — this is the ONLY section where you add interpretation]

Provider Section Rules (CRITICAL)

Each provider returns an answer field and/or results array. Your job in the per-provider sections is to faithfully reproduce what the provider actually said — not to rewrite, summarize, editorialize, or "improve" it.

• If the provider returned an answer field: reproduce it verbatim or near-verbatim. You may lightly format for readability (add line breaks, bullet points) but do NOT change the substance, reorder claims, drop facts, or inject your own interpretation. The user needs to see what the provider actually said, not your version of it.
• If the provider returned only results (no answer): list the top results with their titles, snippets, and URLs. Do not blend them into a narrative.
• Include source URLs inline where the provider supplied them.
• Do NOT merge information across providers within a provider section. Each section reflects ONLY what that single provider returned.

The reason this matters: the whole point of multi-source search is to let the user compare what different providers independently found. If you rewrite their answers, you destroy the signal — the user can't tell what came from where, and can't judge source reliability. Provider sections are evidence; your job is to present the evidence cleanly, not to be the witness.

Cross-Provider Signal (your synthesis)

This is the ONLY section where you add your own analysis:

• What multiple providers agreed on (high-confidence findings)
• What only one provider surfaced (flag as potentially unique or unverified)
• Any contradictions between providers
• Which provider gave the most detailed/useful answer for this specific query

When to Use Single vs Multi

Situation	Mode	Why
Any research question	multi (default)	Cross-reference for signal
Quick factual lookup	multi (default)	Still benefits from verification
User says "search for X"	multi (default)	Always multi unless told otherwise
User explicitly names a provider	single	"ask Perplexity about..."
Deep research with Perplexity	single	sonar-deep-research is its own workflow
Semantic similarity search	single exa	Exa's neural search is specialized

The bias is always toward multi. Only go single-provider when the user explicitly requests it or the task is inherently single-provider (like Exa similarity search).

Provider Capabilities

Each provider brings something different to the table:

Provider	Strength	Returns
Gemini	Google's live index, free	Grounded answer + source URLs
Tavily	Fast web results, free tier	Ranked results with snippets
Perplexity	Cited synthesis, deep research	Answer with inline citations
Exa	Neural/semantic matching	Semantically relevant results

Provider-Specific Options

When targeting a single provider, these options are available:

• Perplexity: --model sonar|sonar-pro|sonar-reasoning-pro|sonar-deep-research
• Tavily: --depth basic|advanced, --max-results N
• Exa: --type fast|auto|deep, --category news|"research paper"|company, --answer
• Gemini: --max-results N

Check Provider Status

bun ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/search.ts --status

Reports which providers are configured and available before running queries.