sg-research

name	sg-research
effort	low
description	Conduct autonomous web research on a topic using Claude Agent SDK, producing structured research.json. Use when researching a topic for slides, starting the pipeline from scratch, or you have a topic but no research.json yet.
argument-hint	<topic> [--output path] [--max-sources N]
allowed-tools	Bash, Read, Glob, Grep

Slide Generator: Research Step

Run the research phase of the slide-generator pipeline. This step uses the Claude Agent SDK to conduct autonomous web research, producing a structured research.json artifact that feeds the outline step.

Pre-loaded Context

Working directory: !pwd

Slide-generator installation check: !sg --version 2>&1 || echo "NOT INSTALLED"

API key status: !sg health-check 2>&1 | head -10

Prerequisites

• Preflight: sg --version must succeed before proceeding — if sg is missing, stop and tell the user this requires the private davistroy/slide-generator engine (owner-only; see ADR-0008)
• slide-generator package installed (pip install -e ".[all]" from the slide-generator repo)
• ANTHROPIC_API_KEY set in environment
• Working directory where output should be saved

Input Validation

Required:

• <topic> - The research topic (quoted string)

Optional:

• --output <path> - Output file path (default: research.json in current directory)
• --max-sources <N> - Maximum number of sources to research (default: 20)

Instructions

1. Validate environment: Confirm sg CLI is available and API keys are set via sg health-check
2. Run research:

   sg research "<topic>" --output research.json
   

3. Verify output: Confirm research.json was created and contains valid JSON with research findings
4. Report results: Show a brief summary of what was found (number of sources, key themes)

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Fix
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY not found	Missing env var	Set the key: export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=...
Rate limit exceeded	Too many API calls	Wait 60s and retry, or reduce --max-sources
Research timeout	Topic too broad	Narrow the topic or increase SG_API_TIMEOUT
sg: command not found	Not installed	Run pip install -e ".[all]" from slide-generator repo

Output

The research step produces research.json containing:

• Structured findings organized by subtopic
• Source URLs and citations
• Key facts and statistics
• Recommended presentation angles

Next Step

After research completes, run the outline step:

sg outline research.json --output outline.json

Or use /sg-outline to continue the pipeline.