web-research

web-research is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from TentacleOpera/switchboard. It costs 0 tokens per session (890 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A skill for conducting broad, multi-step web research using several search strategies and source types. It is intended for questions needing authoritative sources, comparisons, or current information.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to investigate a topic, find current information, compare alternatives, or collect authoritative and academic sources. It requires proposing a research plan before searching.
Why use it?
It gives research work a defined process for planning searches, selecting a depth level, and gathering evidence from multiple angles.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/tentacleopera/switchboard/web-research
Any agent
npx skills add TentacleOpera/switchboard --skill web-research
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/TentacleOpera/switchboard

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for web-research

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/tentacleopera/switchboard/web-research.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/tentacleopera/switchboard/web-research)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/tentacleopera/switchboard/web-research"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/tentacleopera/switchboard/web-research.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 0 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 890 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00000 $0.00890
Opus 5 $0.00000 $0.00445
Sonnet 5 $0.00000 $0.00178
Haiku 4.5 $0.00000 $0.00089

Measured 4d ago against content hash 1e67d378ac60, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

web-research scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 4d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

.agents/protocols/web-research/SKILL.md · 79 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 79 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Comprehensive Web Research

Purpose

Perform deep, multi-angle web research on any topic using iterative search strategies.

When to Use

  • User asks to "research X", "investigate Y", "find comprehensive information about Z"
  • User needs authoritative sources, comparisons, or deep dives
  • User asks for "latest information on", "state of the art in", "best practices for"

Research Protocol

Phase 0: Research Plan Proposal

Before conducting any searches, propose a research plan to the user for approval:

Present the plan with:

  1. Research objectives: What specific questions will be answered
  2. Research depth options: Present source count options for user to choose:
    • Quick (5-10 sources): Rapid overview, 1-2 search phases, high-level summary
    • Standard (15-30 sources): Balanced depth, 3-4 search phases, moderate detail
    • Deep (50-100+ sources): Comprehensive analysis, 5+ search phases, exhaustive coverage
    • Academic (100-200+ sources): Scholarly rigor, includes academic databases, systematic review
  3. Search strategy: Initial search queries and domains to target
  4. Expected sources: Types of sources (official docs, academic papers, industry reports, etc.)
  5. Scope: What will and won't be covered
  6. Estimated phases: Brief outline of research phases
  7. Estimated time: Time estimate based on chosen depth level
  8. Clarifying questions: If the research topic or context is thin, vague, or missing crucial details (e.g. tech stack, target regulations, country limits), formulate 2-3 specific clarifying questions and include them at the end of the proposal.

Wait for user response:

  • If approved: Proceed with Phase 1
  • If amendments requested: Revise plan and re-present
  • If rejected: Clarify requirements and propose new plan
  • If clarifying questions were posed: wait for answers before proceeding to Phase 1. Incorporate answers into the refined research plan.

Phase 1: Initial Broad Search

Before starting: Check system date/time and use dynamic date ranges in queries (e.g., current year and previous 2 years).

Read the full file on GitHub · 79 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 4d ago First seen · 79 lines · 0 tokens per session scan A 1e67d378ac60

Subscribe to this mod's changes

web-research is a skill published in the GitHub repository TentacleOpera/switchboard (213 stars, last pushed 4d ago), licensed MIT. It costs nothing until one of its globs matches a file; then it loads 890 tokens. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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