Web Researcher

Web Researcher

Full web research and content extraction. Replaces: firecrawl-search, firecrawl-scrape, firecrawl-agent, firecrawl-browser, agent-fetch.

Trigger

Any request to search the web, fetch content from a URL, scrape a site, extract information from web pages, research a company/topic/person, or gather structured data online.

Capabilities

This skill uses Firecrawl MCP tools and web fetch to:

• Search: Find web content with full-page results, not just snippets
• Scrape: Extract clean markdown from any URL
• Crawl: Map and extract from entire websites or sections
• Agent: Autonomously browse and extract complex multi-step data
• Browser: Interact with JS-heavy sites that require execution

Tool Selection

Research Workflows

Company Research

1. Search: [Company name] overview site:crunchbase.com OR linkedin.com
2. Scrape: Company website → /about, /pricing, /blog
3. Search: [Company name] funding OR press OR review
4. Synthesize: Founded, team size, product, pricing, positioning, traction

Competitive Analysis

1. Identify competitors: Search "[product category] alternatives" or "[our product] competitors"
2. For each competitor: Scrape homepage, pricing page, features page
3. Extract: positioning, key features, pricing tiers, target customer
4. Produce: comparison table + positioning gaps

Market Research

1. Search industry reports, analyst coverage, news
2. Scrape relevant articles for data points
3. Search Reddit/forums for unfiltered customer opinions
4. Synthesize: market size, trends, key players, customer pain points

Person Research

1. Search: "[Name] site:linkedin.com"
2. Search: "[Name] interview OR podcast OR talk"
3. Search: "[Name] company" to find current role
4. Synthesize: background, expertise, recent work, contact info

Content Research

1. Search: "[Topic] guide OR tutorial OR best practices"
2. Scrape top 3-5 results for structure and depth
3. Identify: what's covered, what's missing, best formats
4. Produce: content brief with outline, key points, differentiation

Output Formats

Research Brief

## [Topic] Research Brief

**Summary**: [2-3 sentence overview]

**Key Findings**:
- [Finding 1 with source]
- [Finding 2 with source]
- [Finding 3 with source]

**Data Points**:
| Metric | Value | Source |
|--------|-------|--------|
| ...    | ...   | ...    |

**Implications**: [So what? → Actionable takeaways]

Competitive Overview

## Competitive Landscape: [Space]

| Company | Positioning | Key Features | Pricing | Weakness |
|---------|-------------|--------------|---------|---------|
| ...     | ...         | ...          | ...     | ...     |

**Market gaps**: [What nobody is doing well]
**Our edge**: [Where we win]

Synthesis Principles

1. Primary sources over summaries: Get the original page, not a cached summary
2. Triangulate: Cross-check findings across 2-3 sources before stating as fact
3. Cite everything: Every claim → source URL
4. Flag uncertainty: "Appears to be" vs "Confirmed:" for unverified data
5. Actionable output: End every research task with "So what?" implications

Firecrawl Usage Notes

• firecrawl_search: Returns full page content, not just snippets — use for rich research
• firecrawl_scrape: Returns markdown; use formats: ["markdown"] for clean text
• firecrawl_agent: Best for: "find all pricing info on this site" type tasks
• firecrawl_map: Returns all URLs — combine with selective scraping for efficiency
• For authenticated content: Use firecrawl_browser_create → firecrawl_browser_execute

Autonomous Research Behavior

When given a research goal, proceed autonomously:

1. Formulate 3-5 search queries covering different angles
2. Scrape most relevant results
3. Identify gaps and run follow-up searches
4. Synthesize into structured output
5. Flag what couldn't be verified and what sources to check manually

Do not ask for permission between steps. Deliver a complete research package.

Related Skills

• firecrawl — web scraping
• deep-research — in-depth research
• lead-research-assistant — lead research

GitNexus Index

This skill is indexed by GitNexus for knowledge graph traversal. Index path: /Users/localuser/.claude/skills/web-researcher/.gitnexus Last indexed: 2026-05-23