| name | using-deep-research |
| description | This skill should be used when the user asks 'how do I do deep research', 'show me research skills', 'help me research a topic', 'what research methodology should I use', or at the start of any structured web research task. Provides the index of all deep research principle skills and the /research command. |
| version | 1.2.0 |
Deep Research Methodology
Structured deep research transforms ad-hoc web searches into a repeatable, hallucination-resistant research pipeline. Without deliberate structure, research agents gravitate toward the first sources found, fail to verify claims, and produce confident reports built on unreliable foundations.
This plugin provides 4 methodology skills and the /deep-research:research command for orchestrated multi-agent research sessions.
How to Access Skills
Use the Skill tool to invoke any skill by name. When invoked, follow the skill's guidance directly.
Principle Skills
| Skill | Triggers On |
|---|
deep-research:research-methodology | Starting any research task — query analysis, decomposition strategies, effort scaling, dynamic replanning, stopping criteria |
deep-research:source-evaluation | Evaluating sources — credibility ranking (T1-T6 tiers), multi-provider search strategy, SEO spam detection, domain-specific source selection |
deep-research:hallucination-prevention | Any research output — hallucination taxonomy, citation verification rules, circuit breaker patterns, confidence scoring, cascading prevention |
deep-research:synthesis-and-reporting | Combining findings — deduplication, conflict resolution, narrative construction, citation formatting, report quality assessment |
When to Invoke Skills
Invoke a skill when there is even a small chance the work touches one of these areas:
- Starting research: Load
research-methodology to plan decomposition and effort scaling
- Searching the web: Load
source-evaluation to assess what you find
- Writing any claim: Load
hallucination-prevention to verify before stating
- Combining findings: Load
synthesis-and-reporting to merge and cite properly
The /deep-research:research Command
For full orchestrated research sessions, use /deep-research:research. The command:
- Checks web access permissions (one-time setup per project)
- Analyzes the research query — if too vague, asks 2-3 clarifying questions
- Decomposes into subtopics based on query complexity (not a fixed number)
- Spawns parallel
research-worker agents (Sonnet) — each writes findings with a Verifiable Claims Table
- Spawns parallel
research-verifier agents (Sonnet) — each re-fetches sources and checks claims independently
- Dispatches a
research-synthesizer agent (Opus) — applies corrections, merges findings, writes final document with Confidence Assessment
- Preserves intermediate docs and verification reports for traceability
The Three Meta-Principles
All research skills rest on three foundations:
-
Every claim needs a source — No unsourced assertions. If it cannot be cited, it cannot be stated as fact. Flag uncertainty explicitly.
-
Source quality determines output quality — 57% of research errors originate in early retrieval. Front-load high-quality sources. Prefer primary sources (T1-T2) over secondary sources.
-
Verify before synthesizing — Treat each agent's output as untrusted input. Cross-reference claims between sources. Use deterministic validation where possible.
