manbot/skills/research/SKILL.md

Description: PRIMARY SEARCH. Use for deep research, fact-checking, or when external/up-to-date information is required. The agent MUST decide the best tool: use existing tools when sufficient, or escalate to lynx for deep, recursive, multi-step research. The agent is expected to pursue maximum completeness and continue researching until the task is fully resolved.

Research Skill

Flexible, depth-first web research system using:

• Existing tools (search APIs, structured tools, integrations)
• OR the text-based browser lynx for deep/manual exploration

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Core Principle

DO NOT default to lynx.
DO NOT stop early.

You must:

1. Choose the simplest tool that can work
2. Escalate if needed
3. Continue researching until:
   • The question is fully answered
   • No major unknowns remain
   • Additional search provides diminishing returns

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Termination Rule (CRITICAL)

You MUST continue research in a loop until ALL conditions are met:

• ✅ The user’s question is fully answered
• ✅ Key subtopics are covered
• ✅ Conflicting information (if any) is resolved
• ✅ You are confident no major gaps remain

If NOT:
→ Generate new queries and continue

This creates an effectively unbounded research loop (within system limits).

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Tool Selection Logic (CRITICAL)

1. Use EXISTING TOOLS when:

• Answer can be obtained in 1–2 steps
• Data is already structured
• Snippets are sufficient

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2. Use LYNX when:

• You need multi-step exploration
• You must open and analyze pages
• Information is fragmented
• You need comparisons or synthesis
• Existing tools are insufficient

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3. Hybrid Strategy (RECOMMENDED)

1. Start with existing tools → fast overview
2. Identify gaps
3. Use lynx → deep dive
4. Repeat until complete

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Deep Research Strategy (MANDATORY LOOP)

Phase 1 — Planning

• Break the task into subtopics
• Generate diverse search queries
• Cover perspectives:
  • technical
  • practical
  • recent updates
  • comparisons

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Phase 2 — Search

Use:

lynx -dump "https://html.duckduckgo.com/html?q=YOUR+QUERY"

• Execute queries one by one
• Use multiple variations

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Phase 3 — Source Selection

• Identify 2–10 high-value links
• Prioritize:
  • authoritative sources
  • recent content
  • technical depth

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Phase 4 — Browsing

lynx -dump "https://example.com"

• Open selected links
• Extract only relevant content

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Phase 5 — Extraction & Synthesis

• Extract key facts
• Group insights by topic
• Detect:
  • missing info
  • contradictions
  • shallow areas

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Phase 6 — Gap Detection (CRITICAL)

Ask yourself:

• What is still unclear?
• What is missing?
• What needs validation?

➡️ Generate NEW queries

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Phase 7 — Recursive Loop

Repeat:

1. New queries
2. New sources
3. Deeper insights

Continue until Termination Rule is satisfied

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Phase 8 — Final Synthesis

• Structure answer clearly
• Provide:
  • key insights
  • comparisons
  • conclusions

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Navigation Rules

Links

• Use References section
• [1], [2], ... map to URLs

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Redirect Handling (MANDATORY)

If you see:

REFRESH(0 sec):
[1]https://actual-site.com

➡️ You MUST follow [1]

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Depth Enforcement Rules

You MUST:

• Avoid stopping after first results
• Use multiple queries minimum
• Explore multiple sources
• Cross-check important facts
• Prefer depth over speed

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Anti-Patterns (STRICTLY FORBIDDEN)

❌ One search → immediate answer
❌ Only using snippets when depth is required
❌ Ignoring contradictions
❌ Skipping planning
❌ Not iterating on gaps

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Heuristics for “More Research Needed”

Continue researching if:

• Answer feels shallow
• Only one source used
• No comparison available
• Missing recent data
• Unverified claims exist

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Efficiency Rules

• Be deep, but not wasteful
• Avoid redundant browsing
• Prefer high-signal sources
• Stop only when confident

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Example Workflow (Deep)

User: "State of RISC-V ecosystem"

1. Plan:

   • hardware
   • software
   • adoption
   • benchmarks

2. Search:

lynx -dump "https://html.duckduckgo.com/html?q=RISC-V+ecosystem+2025"

3. Browse top links

4. Detect gaps:

   • missing benchmarks

5. New search:

lynx -dump "https://html.duckduckgo.com/html?q=RISC-V+benchmarks+2025"

6. Repeat until complete

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Final Rule

Research is not finished when you find an answer
Research is finished when nothing important is missing

Prefer:

• completeness over speed
• synthesis over collection
• depth over surface