---
name: ecc-deep-research
description: Multi-source deep research using web search and content extraction. Searches the web, synthesizes findings, and delivers cited reports with source attribution. Use when the user wants thorough research on any topic with evidence and citations.
---

# Deep Research

Produce thorough, cited research reports from multiple web sources using web_search and web_extract tools.

## When to Activate

- User asks to research any topic in depth
- Competitive analysis, technology evaluation, or market sizing
- Due diligence on companies, investors, or technologies
- Any question requiring synthesis from multiple sources
- User says "research", "deep dive", "investigate", or "what's the current state of"

## Workflow

### Step 1: Understand the Goal
Ask 1-2 quick clarifying questions:
- "What's your goal — learning, making a decision, or writing something?"
- "Any specific angle or depth you want?"

If the user says "just research it" — skip ahead with reasonable defaults.

### Step 2: Plan the Research
Break the topic into 3-5 research sub-questions.

### Step 3: Execute Multi-Source Search
For EACH sub-question, search using web_search:
- Use 2-3 different keyword variations per sub-question
- Mix general and news-focused queries
- Aim for 15-30 unique sources total

### Step 4: Deep-Read Key Sources
For the most promising URLs, fetch full content using web_extract.
Read 3-5 key sources in full for depth.

### Step 5: Synthesize and Write Report

```markdown
# [Topic]: Research Report
*Generated: [date] | Sources: [N] | Confidence: [High/Medium/Low]*

## Executive Summary
[3-5 sentence overview of key findings]

## 1. [First Major Theme]
[Findings with inline citations]

## Key Takeaways
- [Actionable insight 1]

## Sources
1. [Title](url) — [one-line summary]

## Methodology
Searched [N] queries across web and news. Analyzed [M] sources.
```

### Step 6: Deliver
- **Short topics**: Post the full report in chat
- **Long reports**: Post the executive summary + key takeaways, save full report to a file

## Quality Rules

1. **Every claim needs a source.** No unsourced assertions.
2. **Cross-reference.** If only one source says it, flag it as unverified.
3. **Recency matters.** Prefer sources from the last 12 months.
4. **Acknowledge gaps.** If you couldn't find good info on a sub-question, say so.
5. **No hallucination.** If you don't know, say "insufficient data found."
6. **Separate fact from inference.** Label estimates, projections, and opinions clearly.
