Research Skill

Conduct comprehensive research on any topic with automatic source gathering, analysis, and response generation with citations.

Authentication

The script uses OAuth via the Tavily MCP server. No manual setup required - on first run, it will:

Check for existing tokens in ~/.mcp-auth/
If none found, automatically open your browser for OAuth authentication

Note: You must have an existing Tavily account. The OAuth flow only supports login — account creation is not available through this flow. Sign up at tavily.com first if you don't have an account.

Alternative: API Key

If you prefer using an API key, get one at https://tavily.com and add to ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "env": {
    "TAVILY_API_KEY": "tvly-your-api-key-here"
  }
}

Quick Start

Tip: Research can take 30-120 seconds. Press Ctrl+B to run in the background.

Using the Script

./scripts/research.sh '<json>' [output_file]

Examples:

# Basic research
./scripts/research.sh '{"input": "quantum computing trends"}'

# With pro model for comprehensive analysis
./scripts/research.sh '{"input": "AI agents comparison", "model": "pro"}'

# Save to file
./scripts/research.sh '{"input": "market analysis for EVs", "model": "pro"}' ./ev-report.md

# Quick targeted research
./scripts/research.sh '{"input": "climate change impacts", "model": "mini"}'

Parameters

Field	Type	Default	Description
`input`	string	Required	Research topic or question
`model`	string	`"mini"`	Model: `mini`, `pro`, `auto`

Model Selection

Rule of thumb: "what does X do?" -> mini. "X vs Y vs Z" or "best way to..." -> pro.

Model	Use Case	Speed
`mini`	Single topic, targeted research	~30s
`pro`	Comprehensive multi-angle analysis	~60-120s
`auto`	API chooses based on complexity	Varies

Examples

Quick Overview

./scripts/research.sh '{"input": "What is retrieval augmented generation?", "model": "mini"}'

Technical Comparison

./scripts/research.sh '{"input": "LangGraph vs CrewAI for multi-agent systems", "model": "pro"}'

Market Research

./scripts/research.sh '{"input": "Fintech startup landscape 2025", "model": "pro"}' fintech-report.md

Tavily Research