Deep Research

In Pi with the web_research tool active, use that tool, passing outputPath when creating a report. In every other harness, run scripts/deep-research with EXA_API_KEY set.

Rules

• Exa is the research source. Substitute a general web search only when Exa is unavailable and the user approves the fallback.
• Write findings.md to the path the caller requested, exactly. Given no path, write it to tmp/plans/<slug>-research.md, never under a tracked docs/ path; the full rule is agents/planner.md § Plan Artifacts. The report reaches other sessions as an attachment on its tracker issue.
• Research on building against another system is held to code-quality § Over-Engineering.
• Cite sources for material claims. Provider payloads go in the sidecar JSON (findings.raw.json beside the report by default), never inline. Sanitize evidence excerpts: source-page headings must not render as headings.
• Once the report and its sidecar exist, run validate and stop. No local reproduction, benchmarks, tests, code inspection, or implementation unless the caller asked for it.
• A missing EXA_API_KEY fails with setup instructions. Set it on this package's Customize tab in the kendex app, or by hand in the project's private env file — .env.local unless KENDEX_ENV_FILE names another. The value may be a key or a 1Password op://vault/item/field reference when the op CLI is installed and signed in.
• Every mode uses the same findings sections. Record mode and source counts in ## Research Metadata.

Running

.agents/skills/deep-research/scripts/deep-research report "question" --mode standard --output path/to/findings.md
.agents/skills/deep-research/scripts/deep-research report --query-file prompt.txt --context-glob 'context-*.md' --mode full --output findings.md
.agents/skills/deep-research/scripts/deep-research json "question" --output raw.json
.agents/skills/deep-research/scripts/deep-research validate findings.md findings.raw.json
.agents/skills/deep-research/scripts/deep-research doctor

deep-research help lists every flag. Exa /search caps the settings behind them: numResults 1-100, text.maxCharacters 1-10000, additionalQueries at most 10.

standard is the default; lite for fast spikes, full for strategic or high-risk decisions. --type, --num-results, and --text-max-characters override a mode's defaults.

--additional-query (repeatable) reaches Exa as additionalQueries within the single request under lite and standard, and as one request per query with URLs deduped across responses under full.

--include-domain is a hard host filter, not a quality filter: --include-domain github.com admits every repo on it and excludes everything else. Name authoritative projects and organizations in the query text for quality; audit the returned source list either way.

Validation

.agents/skills/deep-research/scripts/deep-research validate path/to/findings.md path/to/findings.raw.json

Prints {ok, errors, warnings, mode, synthesis, queryCount}; exits 0 when there are no errors. Checks structure only: required sections present, sidecar parses, query-expansion metadata self-consistent, synthesized answer present for modes that requested one.

Read for these yourself:

• Claims the cited sources contradict. Spot-check material numbers against the sidecar source text.
• Off-topic sources that share an acronym or name with the subject.
• Recommendations with no claim-level support in Evidence and Sources.
• Results generalized past what the source established.

Findings format

templates/findings.md carries exactly the sections validate requires, in order. Key Findings holds distinct claims, not a restatement of the summary.