research
Decomposes complex questions into sub-queries, searches in parallel, fetches sources, and produces a cited report with key findings and gaps.
Instructions
Multi-step research on a complex question. Decomposes into sub-queries, searches in parallel, fetches sources, synthesizes a cited report. Beats chaining search + fetch manually for multi-source synthesis.
Key parameters:
question: the research question.
depth: 'quick' (~15s, 2 sub-queries) | 'standard' (~40s, 4 sub-queries, default) | 'comprehensive' (~80s, 7 sub-queries).
max_sources: override per-depth source count.
include_domains / exclude_domains: scope.
schema: optional JSON Schema — structures the report.
stream: progress notifications per phase.
max_tokens_out / include_full_markdown / citation_format: budget + shape controls.
Returns report (markdown with [N]), citations[], sources[], sub_queries[], depth, total_time_ms, sampling_supported, and brief with topics, highlights, key_findings, sections (overview.cross_references, comparison, gaps — gaps lists any named sub-entity research could not corroborate).
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| depth | No | Research depth: quick (~15s), standard (~40s, default), comprehensive (~80s) | |
| schema | No | Optional JSON Schema -- structure the report to extract these fields | |
| stream | No | Send progress notifications as each research phase completes | |
| question | Yes | The research question to investigate | |
| max_sources | No | Override the default source count for the chosen depth (max 50) | |
| max_tokens_out | No | Token-budget cap on total output. Uses cl100k-base BPE; non-OpenAI tokenizer counts may drift ~5-15%. When both max_tokens_out and max_chars are set, max_tokens_out wins. | |
| citation_format | No | Citation rendering style. 'numbered' (default) inline [N] markers; 'json' returns a citations[] array; 'anthropic_tags' wraps sources in <source id='...'> tags. | |
| exclude_domains | No | Exclude results from these domains | |
| include_domains | No | Only search results from these domains | |
| include_full_markdown | No | Include full markdown body in the response. Default false on multi-result tools (returns evidence excerpts only); set true to restore. |