research

Implementation Reference

• src/index.ts:89-108 (handler)

  The handler function for the 'research' MCP tool. It invokes youClient.research with the query and optional instructions, formats the result as text content, and handles errors appropriately.

  async ({ query, instructions }: { query: string; instructions?: string }) => {
    try {
      const result = await youClient.research(query, instructions);
      return {
        content: [{ 
          type: "text", 
          text: JSON.stringify(result, null, 2)
        }]
      };
    } catch (error) {
      console.error("Research error:", error);
      return {
        content: [{ 
          type: "text", 
          text: `Error performing research: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)}` 
        }],
        isError: true
      };
    }
  }

• src/index.ts:85-88 (schema)

  Zod input schema for the 'research' tool defining the required 'query' parameter and optional 'instructions'.

  {
    query: z.string().describe("The research query to send to You.com's Research API"),
    instructions: z.string().optional().describe("Custom instructions for tailoring the response (optional)")
  },

• src/index.ts:83-109 (registration)

  Registration of the 'research' tool on the MCP server using server.tool(), including schema and handler.

  server.tool(
    "research",
    {
      query: z.string().describe("The research query to send to You.com's Research API"),
      instructions: z.string().optional().describe("Custom instructions for tailoring the response (optional)")
    },
    async ({ query, instructions }: { query: string; instructions?: string }) => {
      try {
        const result = await youClient.research(query, instructions);
        return {
          content: [{ 
            type: "text", 
            text: JSON.stringify(result, null, 2)
          }]
        };
      } catch (error) {
        console.error("Research error:", error);
        return {
          content: [{ 
            type: "text", 
            text: `Error performing research: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)}` 
          }],
          isError: true
        };
      }
    }
  );

• src/services/youApiClient.ts:117-139 (helper)

  Helper method in YouApiClient class that performs the actual API call to You.com's '/research' endpoint, used by the tool handler.

  /**
   * Get a citation-backed response using You.com Research API
   */
  async research(
    query: string, 
    instructions?: string
  ): Promise<ResearchResult> {
    try {
      const params: Record<string, string> = {
        query: query
      };
      
      if (instructions) {
        params.instructions = instructions;
      }
  
      const response = await this.chatClient.get('/research', { params });
      return response.data;
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('Error in You.com research API call:', error);
      throw error;
    }
  }

• src/services/youApiClient.ts:19-26 (schema)

  TypeScript interface defining the structure of the response from the You.com Research API.

  interface ResearchResult {
    answer: string;
    citations: Array<{
      url: string;
      title: string;
      content: string;
    }>;
  }