# Research > Answer a hard research question by fanning it out across DISTINCT search modalities, each blind to the others, then synthesizing one sourced artifact. Codex agents run aggressive web search; Grok agents mine X/Twitter community chatter (its privileged data); Antigravity works Google; Perplexity runs a broad browser-driven Deep Research report; the Claude fleet deep-reads and synthesizes. Multi-modal because no single engine sees everything — a company's funding is in a press release, its reputation is in X replies, its moat is in a founder's blog. Triggers on: /research, /research:research, 'research X across sources', 'deep research on', 'market/competitive/landscape research', 'what's the real story on ', 'pull everything on', 'multi-source research'. For a hands-on PRODUCT exploration (drive it, screenshot each journey, prove claims visually) use /research:product. - Skill: `phnx-labs/research` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add phnx-labs/research` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/phnx-labs/research/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Docs & Writing - Author: phnx-labs (https://skillmd.com/u/phnx-labs) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/phnx-labs/research --- # research — one question, many engines, one sourced answer You were handed a research question. Your job is to **get the real, cited answer** — not one model's guess. No single search engine sees the whole picture: funding rounds live in press releases and SEC filings, reputation and traction live in X/Twitter replies, technical moat lives in a founder's blog or a HN thread, and adoption numbers surface in Perplexity's broad crawl. So you **fan the question out across distinct engines that each see a different slice**, run them in parallel, then reconcile their findings into one artifact where every claim carries a source. One engine is a rumor; three independent engines that agree is a fact. Question / topic: `$ARGUMENTS`. | This skill | Not this skill | |---|---| | A **question** answered from many live engines, synthesized + cited | `sessions:search` — search your own past transcripts | | Fan out across Codex / Grok / Antigravity / Perplexity / Claude | `browser` alone — one engine, one tab, by hand | | Produces a durable sourced report | `work:dispatch` — routes one unit of work to an executor | ## The core rule (load-bearing — read first) **Diversity beats depth from one source.** Do NOT just ask Claude (or any one model) harder. Spawn engines that have access the others lack, prompt each for the slice it is best at, and keep them **blind to each other** so they don't converge on the same first-page results. Then **cross-check**: a number only one engine reports is a lead to verify, not a finding. Every claim in the final report cites where it came from — an unsourced number is a defect. ## 1. Frame the question — angles + a target shape Turn the topic into **3–6 concrete sub-questions** (the angles you actually need answered), and decide the output shape up front (a table of companies with funding/investors/customers? a narrative with a claims list? a comparison matrix?). Pick `--depth` if the caller didn't: `quick` (one round, ~3 engines), `standard` (default: all engines, one verify pass), `deep` (loop-until-dry: keep spawning finders until two rounds add nothing new, then a completeness critic pass). Ground once in any local context (`AGENTS.md`, a prior research artifact under the project's artifacts home) so you don't re-derive what's already known. ## 2. Fan out across engines — parallel, blind, each to its strength Spawn these **concurrently** (one message, multiple dispatches). Give each the sub-questions and ask for **structured findings with source URLs**, not prose. Route by what each engine sees best: | Engine | How to run it | Best at | |---|---|---| | **Codex** | `agents run codex "" --device auto` | Aggressive multi-query **web search** — docs, filings, press, GitHub, changelogs. Ask for many queries, not one. | | **Grok** | `agents run grok "" --device auto` | **X/Twitter** community chatter — who's shipping, sentiment, real-user complaints, launch reactions. Its privileged data; nothing else sees it. | | **Antigravity** | `agents run antigravity "" --device auto` | **Google** search integration — the broad web index, news, forums. | | **Perplexity** | **Browser-driven Deep Research** — see §3 | A single **broad, cited report** that goes wider than a targeted crawl. Use it for the "everything on X" sweep. | | **Claude fleet** | `agents run claude ""` or the `rabbit-hole` subagent | **Deep reading + synthesis** — follow a lead all the way down, read the actual page, resolve conflicts. | Not every question needs all five. A pure market-map leans Codex + Perplexity; a reputation/sentiment question leans Grok; a technical-moat question leans Claude deep-read + HN. Pick the engines whose slice the question actually needs, but **always use at least three** so no single engine's blind spot becomes the answer's blind spot. ## 3. Perplexity (and Grok) Deep Research — the correct browser recipe Deep Research is a **dedicated mode**, NOT the Computer / Control-browser / Orchestrator mode. Driving it wrong (submitting the question through computer-use) produces nothing usable. Do this: 1. `agents browser start --profile --task research --url ` (a signed-in profile from the injected browser list — never guess `default`). 2. **Open a new tab / new thread**, then click the **Search** control's caret to open its dropdown and select **"Deep research"** (the telescope / "In-depth reports, files, and apps" option — the same dropdown carries Search · Deep research · Learn step by step · Control browser; you want **Deep research**, not Control browser). 3. Type the **broad** brief (Perplexity's job is width — give it the whole question, not one angle) and submit. 4. **Monitor to completion** — Deep Research takes minutes and runs asynchronously. Poll the tab (`agents browser screenshot` / `refs`) on a bounded loop; do not declare done while it's still "researching." 5. **Export** the finished report (PDF / markdown / the cited sources) and save it into the run's artifact dir. Capture the **source list** — that's the cross-check ammunition for §4. If the tool is **blocked on credits or a paywall**, that is a genuine owner blocker: post it (`agents feed post "" --blocked`) and continue with the other engines — never silently drop it and never fake a result. (This is exactly how a Perplexity run stalled unnoticed before.) ## 4. Reconcile — cross-check, dedup, and verify before you believe anything Collect every engine's structured findings and **merge on the entity/claim**, not by trusting one source. For each claim: - **Agreed by ≥2 independent engines** → high confidence, cite both. - **Only one engine** → a **lead**, not a fact. Send a Claude deep-read to open the actual source and confirm or kill it. Guessing a number to fill a cell is a fabrication, not research. - **Conflicting** (two funding totals, two customer counts) → surface the conflict with both sources; pick the more authoritative (filing > press > blog > tweet) and say why. On `--depth deep`, run a **completeness critic**: "what angle did no engine cover, what claim is still single-sourced, what source did nobody actually open?" — its answers are the next round. ## 5. Deliver — one sourced artifact, durable Synthesize into the target shape from §1, then **write it where it survives the session**, following the **current project's** durable-artifacts convention — never a hardcoded path. The fleet default (and this repo's own rule) is `.agents/artifacts//research-.md` with any rendered HTML beside it — **one dated layout, no kind-named subdirs**. A project that keeps **tracked** research in its tree instead — e.g. a product repo whose convention is `docs/research/-/` — is where you promote a keepable result; `--out ` overrides the destination explicitly. Render an `index.html` via the `artifacts` skill when it's worth showing visually, with the raw per-engine outputs beside it. Every claim cites its source; a confidence column marks single- vs multi-sourced. Open the rendered result in the owner's DEFAULT browser — `open ` / `xdg-open ` locally, or `scp` it over and `agents ssh 'open /tmp/'` when remote (the browser they actually use; no fleet browser profile needed) — and `share` it if it's meant to leave the machine. ## Anti-patterns - **Asking one model harder instead of many models each.** The whole point is orthogonal access — Grok sees X, Codex sees the web, Perplexity goes broad. One engine repeated is not "multi-source." - **Perplexity/Grok Deep Research via Computer/Control-browser mode.** Wrong mode → no usable output. Use the **Search → Deep research** dropdown, new tab, then monitor to completion. - **Trusting a single-sourced number.** One engine's claim is a lead; verify it or mark it low-confidence. Never launder a guess into a cited-looking cell. - **Declaring a browser Deep Research done while it's still running**, or silently dropping it when it's blocked on credits. Monitor to completion; park a real blocker on the feed. - **Leaving the answer in `/tmp` or scrollback.** A research result worth having is worth promoting to the project's durable-artifacts home (`.agents/artifacts//` by default) where the next agent finds it. - **Serial engines.** Fan out in one message; a research sweep that runs engines one-at-a-time wastes the fleet. ## Compose map - Engines → the `run` skill (`agents run codex|grok|antigravity|claude`) and `teams` for a wider fan-out. - Browser Deep Research → the `browser` skill; signed-in profiles + `secrets` for gated sources. - Deep single-lead reading → a Claude `agents run ""` (or a repo-local research subagent where the project defines one). - Render + publish → the `artifacts` skill (HTML) and `share` (shareable link). - A blocker only the owner can clear (credits, a login) → `agents feed post "" --blocked`.