Deep Research

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name: deep-research description: "Automated deep research that performs comprehensive multi-source investigation and produces detailed reports with citations. Use when user requests research, investigation, or in-depth analysis of any topic. Capabilities: generate structured research plans, and start sub agent to execute the plan. "

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Deep Research

Two-phase research workflow: planning then execution.

Overview

This skill provides a structured approach to deep research:

Phase 1: Planning (High Freedom)

Discuss with user to clarify and refine research questions.

Define what to investigate and what the report should cover.

Set expectations for research depth and output.

Create research plan document.

Phase 2: Execution (Low Freedom)

Sub-agent reads the research plan

Independently decides how to search for each sub-question

Can dynamically add searches based on findings

Analyzes content and generates report with citations

Phase 1: Generate Research Plan

The coordinator (main session) performs:

1. Understand the research topic — Listen to user's request and understand what they want to investigate 2. Collaborate with user — Discuss and clarify research questions together. Present 3-5 potential sub-questions or research angles for user to review 3. Define scope together — Discuss what to include/exclude, confirm boundaries of the research 4. Confirm report expectations — Ask user what sections they want, what depth, any specific focus areas 5. Get user confirmation — Present the draft plan to user and wait for approval before proceeding 6. Output: Research plan document — Only after user confirms, save to plans/research-plan-{timestamp}.json

Key principle: The plan is a collaboration between coordinator and user. Never proceed to Phase 2 without explicit user confirmation of the research plan.

Research plan format (JSON):

{
  "topic": "Original research topic",
  "research_questions": [
    "What are the latest breakthroughs in this field?",
    "Who are the leading organizations or researchers?",
    "What are the current limitations or challenges?",
    "What are the practical applications?"
  ],
  "scope": {
    "include": ["recent developments", "key players", "technical details"],
    "exclude": ["historical background before 2020", "unrelated applications"]
  },
  "report_requirements": {
    "sections": ["executive_summary", "findings", "conclusion", "references"],
    "depth": "comprehensive",
    "min_sources": 8,
    "focus_areas": ["technical analysis", "market landscape"]
  }
}

Research Plan Schema

Required fields:

topic: Original research topic

research_questions: Array of questions to investigate

report_requirements: Object specifying output expectations

Optional fields:

scope: Define boundaries of research (include/exclude)

min_sources: Minimum sources to analyze (default: 8)

max_sources: Maximum sources to analyze (default: 20)

notes: Additional context or special instructions

Save plan to: plans/research-plan-{timestamp}.json

⚠️ WAIT FOR USER CONFIRMATION — Do not proceed to Phase 2 until user explicitly approves the research plan.

Key principle: The plan defines WHAT to research and WHAT the output should contain. It does NOT specify HOW to search (keywords, sources, rounds) - that is up to the research agent to determine dynamically.

Phase 2: Execute Research Plan

Launch sub agent with the research plan. Launch sub agent with session_spawn tool. Instruct subagent to use deep-research-executor to execute the plan EXPLICITLY.