Deep Research Pro 🔬

A powerful, self-contained deep research skill that produces thorough, cited reports from multiple web sources. No paid APIs required — uses DuckDuckGo search.

How It Works

When the user asks for research on any topic, follow this workflow:

Step 1: Understand the Goal (30 seconds)

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 (think before searching)

Break the topic into 3-5 research sub-questions. For example:

• Topic: "Impact of AI on healthcare"
  • What are the main AI applications in healthcare today?
  • What clinical outcomes have been measured?
  • What are the regulatory challenges?
  • What companies are leading this space?
  • What's the market size and growth trajectory?

Step 3: Execute Multi-Source Search

For EACH sub-question, run the DDG search script:

# Web search
${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.codex}/skills/ddg-search/scripts/ddg "<sub-question keywords>" --max 8

# News search (for current events)
${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.codex}/skills/ddg-search/scripts/ddg news "<topic>" --max 5

Search strategy:

• Use 2-3 different keyword variations per sub-question
• Mix web + news searches
• Aim for 15-30 unique sources total
• Prioritize: academic, official, reputable news > blogs > forums

Step 4: Deep-Read Key Sources

For the most promising URLs, fetch full content:

curl -sL "<url>" | python3 -c "
import sys, re
html = sys.stdin.read()
# Strip tags, get text
text = re.sub('<[^>]+>', ' ', html)
text = re.sub(r'\s+', ' ', text).strip()
print(text[:5000])
"

Read 3-5 key sources in full for depth. Don't just rely on search snippets.

Step 5: Synthesize & Write Report

Structure the report as:

# [Topic]: Deep 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 point ([Source Name](url))
- Supporting data ([Source Name](url))

## 2. [Second Major Theme]
...

## 3. [Third Major Theme]
...

## Key Takeaways
- [Actionable insight 1]
- [Actionable insight 2]
- [Actionable insight 3]

## Sources
1. [Title](url) — [one-line summary]
2. ...

## Methodology
Searched [N] queries across web and news. Analyzed [M] sources.
Sub-questions investigated: [list]

Step 6: Save & Deliver

Save the full report:

mkdir -p ${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.codex}/research/[slug]
# Write report to ${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.codex}/research/[slug]/report.md

Then deliver:

• Short topics: Post the full report in chat
• Long reports: Post the executive summary + key takeaways, offer full report as 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."

Examples

"Research the current state of nuclear fusion energy"
"Deep dive into Rust vs Go for backend services in 2026"
"Research the best strategies for bootstrapping a SaaS business"
"What's happening with the US housing market right now?"

For Sub-Agent Usage

When spawning as a sub-agent, include the full research request and context:

spawn_agent(
  task: "Run deep research on [TOPIC]. Follow the deep-research-pro SKILL.md workflow.
  Read ${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.codex}/skills/deep-research-pro/SKILL.md first.
  Goal: [user's goal]
  Specific angles: [any specifics]
  Save report to ${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.codex}/research/[slug]/report.md
  When done, wake the main session with key findings.",
  label: "research-[slug]",
  model: "opus"
)

Requirements

• DDG search script: ${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.codex}/skills/ddg-search/scripts/ddg
• curl (for fetching full pages)
• No API keys needed!