Build a Research Agent
Advanced · Save 4-6 hours per research task
Overview
Set up an AI agent that runs multi-step research on a topic—searching, gathering, and synthesizing across sources—so you get a structured brief instead of doing the digging yourself. This workflow covers designing the agent's task, sources, and guardrails.
Best For
- Consultants
- Analysts
- Researchers
- Knowledge workers
Problem
Deep research is high-value but time-consuming: framing the question, searching across sources, gathering findings, and synthesizing. Doing it manually every time doesn't scale, but naive AI answers taken at face value can be confidently wrong—so you need something that gathers and synthesizes with sources you can verify, not a black box that asserts.
Solution
A research agent chains the steps—decompose the question, search, gather, synthesize—into a repeatable process that produces a sourced brief. The key design work is defining what 'good' looks like: which sources to trust, requiring citations, and keeping a 'what we couldn't verify' section. You review the output as you would a junior researcher's: useful, fast, but checked before you rely on it.
Workflow Steps
- 1
Define the research task precisely: the question, the scope, and what the output should look like.
- 2
Choose your platform—a tool with agent/web-search capabilities (Claude, ChatGPT with search, or a purpose-built agent).
- 3
Write clear instructions: decompose the question, search, cite every claim, flag uncertainty.
- 4
Set guardrails: which sources to prioritize, and a required 'unverified / low-confidence' section.
- 5
Test on a topic you already know well, so you can catch where it goes wrong.
- 6
Review outputs and verify key claims against primary sources before acting—treat it as a fast first pass, not final truth.
Recommended Tools
Example Prompt
You are a research agent. Research this topic and produce a sourced brief. Research question: [the question] Scope: [what to include/exclude] Output needed: [brief / comparison / summary] Follow this process: 1. Break the question into sub-questions 2. Search for and gather relevant information for each 3. Synthesize findings into themes, citing a source for every claim 4. Maintain a clear "low-confidence / could not verify" section 5. End with a bottom-line answer and your confidence level Cite sources for every factual claim. Never present something you couldn't verify as certain. If sources conflict, say so rather than picking one silently.