web-search_skill

Overview

This skill provides a repeatable, file-driven workflow for conducting comprehensive web research by spawning focused subagents. It emphasizes upfront planning, controlled delegation, and a systematic synthesis step to produce well-sourced answers and optional final reports. The process keeps all artifacts organized in a local research folder and limits web searches to avoid over-researching.

How this skill works

First, create a dedicated research folder and write a short research plan defining the main question and 2–5 distinct subtopics. Next, spawn research subagents (tasks) for each subtopic; each subagent performs a small number of web searches and writes findings to local files. Finally, read the saved findings, synthesize a unified answer with citations and identified gaps, and optionally write a final report back to the research folder.

When to use it

• Research complex topics that require multiple distinct information threads
• Gather current, web-based evidence and synthesize it into a single report
• Perform comparative analysis across technologies, vendors, or methods
• Produce well-cited research deliverables for stakeholders
• Break down a large investigation into parallel, bounded subtasks

Best practices

• Always create research_[topic_name] and a research_plan.md before spawning subagents
• Define 2–5 non-overlapping subtopics; keep each subagent’s scope narrow and specific
• Limit each subagent to 3–5 web searches to maintain focus and efficiency
• Require subagents to write findings to files; use local read_file to collect results
• Synthesize by reading all findings files, cite URLs from those files, and note limitations

Example use cases

• Compare pricing, features, and user reviews for three cloud AI providers
• Compile recent academic and industry findings on a niche machine learning technique
• Create a vendor-neutral report on security best practices for Java web apps
• Survey regulatory developments across multiple countries for compliance planning
• Produce a concise, sourced briefing for product management or executive teams