research

Use the obsidian-second-brain skill. Execute /research [topic]:

1. Resolve the topic from the user's argument. Multi-word topics fine ("AI memory tools", "vector databases for RAG"). If no topic, ask: "What topic should I research?"

2. Run the script from the skill root (its absolute path was given at session start as Skill root; substitute it for SKILL_ROOT):

   uv run --directory "SKILL_ROOT" -m scripts.research.research "<topic>"
   

   The script auto-selects its mode: if PERPLEXITY_API_KEY is set it uses Perplexity Sonar (paid); otherwise it falls back to free, key-less sources. Pass --free to force free mode even when a key is set, or --academic (free mode only) to restrict to scholarly sources (arXiv, Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, CrossRef). If TAVILY_API_KEY or BRAVE_API_KEY is set, that source joins the free-mode pool as an extra web source; without them the pool stays fully key-less - never require either.

3. Handle the output by mode:

   • Paid mode - the script prints a finished dossier (Summary, Key Facts with recency markers, Timeline, Key Players, Contrarian Views, Further Reading, Open Questions, Sources) and saves the AI-first note itself to Research/Web/ plus a log line. Show the dossier verbatim, then surface the saved file path. Nothing else to do.
   • Free mode - the script prints a JSON block with "mode": "free-sources", containing results (raw items per source: title, url, snippet/abstract, authors, year, points, comments), stats, and warnings. YOU synthesize the dossier from it: a. Read the JSON. If stats.success is false (fewer than 3 sources returned results), say so plainly and flag the thin coverage in Open Questions - do not pad. b. Write a dossier with the same structure as paid mode. Every Key Fact carries a recency marker and the source domain/URL it came from. Never invent facts to fill a section; if the sources are thin, the section is short or empty (see the anti-fabrication rule below). c. Save it yourself as an AI-first note at Research/Web/YYYY-MM-DD - <slug>.md per references/ai-first-rules.md (preamble, frontmatter with type: research, ai-first: true, a sources list of every result URL verbatim, tags). Append a one-line entry to the operation log (Logs/YYYY-MM-DD.md if it exists, else log.md). d. Show the dossier to the user and surface the saved path.

4. Plain English triggers: "research [topic]", "look up [topic]", "deep research on [topic]" (note: "do deep research" or "research deep" should route to /research-deep instead - the chained version), "find me info on [topic]".

5. If the user wants ALSO X discourse on the same topic, suggest running /x-pulse [topic] after this. If they want full vault-aware synthesis with propagation, suggest /research-deep [topic].

6. Errors handled inside the script with auto-retry on transient failures. Surface fatal errors verbatim.

AI-first rule: Every note created or updated by this command MUST follow references/ai-first-rules.md - ## For future agent preamble, rich frontmatter (type, date, tags, ai-first: true, plus type-specific fields), recency markers per external claim, mandatory [[wikilinks]] for every person/project/concept referenced, sources preserved verbatim with URLs inline, and confidence levels where applicable. If that path does not resolve from your working directory, search upward for it; if you still cannot read it, say so before writing rather than producing a note that silently skips the rule. The vault is for future agent retrieval - not human reading.

Anti-fabrication: Search exhaustively before claiming any note, person, or file is absent - false absence is the most common failure mode - and never invent facts, entities, or dates (mark unknowns as TBD). See the anti-fabrication and search-completeness hard rules in references/ai-first-rules.md.