hermes-skills/deep-research/SKILL.md

name, description, version, author, license, platforms, metadata

name	description	version	author	license	platforms	metadata
deep-research	Dispatch exhaustive deep web research to the research profile. Triggered by "deep research", "ask web", or "research this". The research profile runs with the deep-web-research skill loaded — six-move flow, external ledger, mechanical saturation, disconfirmation, condensation from disk.	2.2.0	Hermes Agent	MIT	linux	hermes tags related_skills research deep-research delegation web-search scraping ask-hermes ask-claude ask-dev deep-web-research writing-plans

deep-research — Exhaustive Web Research Delegation

Overview

Dispatches a research question to the research profile, which runs with the deep-web-research skill loaded. The research agent does exhaustive, trail-following research — any tool, any trail, no rush — then condenses everything into a tight, concrete, evidence-backed answer. This agent just relays the result.

See references/design-rationale.md for the v2.0 architecture decisions and Claude validation findings.

Trigger phrases: "deep research", "ask web", "research this", "deep dive on", "exhaustive research on"

Clarifying Questions (Before Dispatch)

If the operator's question is ambiguous enough that the research agent would waste the first ~20 turns guessing, ask clarifying questions BEFORE dispatching. Cap is tight on purpose — if you find yourself writing more than 5, the question itself is under-specified and the right move is to push back to the operator, not interrogate them.

Limits:

• Default cap: 3 questions. Most well-formed questions need 0–3.
• Hard cap: 5 questions. Only if the question has multiple high-stakes branches that genuinely change the research strategy.
• Abort at 6+: If you think you need more than 5, the question is under-specified. Stop and tell the operator: "This question has too many branches to dispatch cleanly. Can you narrow it to [specific scope]?" Do NOT fire 6+ questions.

When to ask vs. when to dispatch:

• Ask when the answer would change the research strategy (e.g., "Are you researching a person, a company, or a topic?" — different toolkits).
• Do NOT ask when the research agent can sensibly find out (e.g., "What year did X happen?" — the research will find it).
• Do NOT ask to delay dispatching. Asking is a cost, not a hedge.

Multi-turn narrowing: If after 1–2 rounds of clarifying questions the scope is still unclear, abandon the dispatch and ask the operator to rewrite the question with the scope made explicit. Do not loop.

Command

hermes -p research -s deep-web-research chat -q "<question>" -Q --max-turns 600 --yolo

• Output line 1: session_id: <id> — capture this
• Output line 2+: the research agent's condensed answer
• Hold the session_id for follow-up questions

Subsequent asks (resume the session):

hermes -p research -s deep-web-research chat --resume <session_id> -q "<follow-up>" -Q --max-turns 600 --yolo

What the Research Agent Does

The deep-web-research skill on the research profile enforces:

0. Analyze & Strategize — analyze the question, select tools from the arsenal, write strategy to ledger
1. Decompose — break the question into sub-questions with time classifications
2. Landscape Pass — shallow sweep, identify key sources and terms
3. Deep-Dive — 3+ search angles per sub-question, full-page reads, citation trails, depth-first
4. Disconfirmation — actively hunt for contradiction and outdated claims
5. Condensation — read the external findings ledger from disk, synthesize into a concrete answer

The research agent writes all findings to /tmp/research-<sid>.md (external ledger) and uses a phase gate file to enforce completion before condensing. Mechanical saturation checks (grep -c) prevent endless searching. Re-strategize checkpoints after Move 2 and every ~10 findings during Move 3 enable mid-research pivots.

When to Use

• User says "deep research", "ask web", "research this", "deep dive on"
• Question requires exhaustive multi-source investigation
• User wants current, verified, cross-referenced information
• Phone number lookup, person research, topic investigation, fact verification

When NOT to Use

• Simple factual question (capital of France, current time)
• Question I can answer from a single search
• Task that needs my exact context state
• User explicitly says "quick search" or "just look it up"

Relay Rule

Relay the research agent's actual response. Do not paraphrase or summarize. If the response is long, chunk it. The research agent already condensed — don't re-condense.

Spot-check Rule

The research agent self-reports are not verified fact. If it claims a file write, read_file the path to confirm. If it claims a specific finding, spot-check the source URL.

Session Persistence

HARD RULE: Same topic = resume. New topic = new session.

• Same topic / same line of research: Always --resume <session_id>. Capture session_id from output line 1. Every follow-up in the same line of research MUST use --resume <session_id>. Starting fresh discards the research context and wastes turns.
• New topic / new line of research: Start a fresh session. Do NOT resume an unrelated session — the research context is polluted with the old topic and will produce confused results.

Common Pitfalls

1. Profile flag required. Always use -p research. The sticky default may be general.
2. Skill flag required. Always use -s deep-web-research. Without it, the research agent runs in normal mode without the methodology.
3. --yolo is required. The research agent runs headless. Without it, approval prompts fail closed.
4. 600 turns is the ceiling, not the target. The research agent should condense well before 600. Hitting the ceiling means it failed to condense. The operator's standing rule: 600 is a safety net, not a budget — "I just want a safety net. I would even be okay with 600 as a catch. I mostly want the job done right. Not concerned with time or tokens." Apply 600 for any plan-building, research, or evidence-based work; default to lower only for short factual lookups.
5. Don't re-condense. The research agent already produced a condensed answer. Relay it, don't summarize it further.
6. Don't do the research yourself. If the user triggers deep research, dispatch it. Don't run a few searches and call it done. This is the #1 failure mode: the agent runs 2-3 mcp_searxng_searxng_web_search calls, gets empty results, and gives up. That's not deep research — that's a casual lookup. If you catch yourself typing mcp_searxng_searxng_web_search for a deep research request, STOP. You're doing it wrong. Dispatch to the research profile.
7. The methodology skill lives on the research profile. deep-web-research is at ~/.hermes/profiles/research/skills/research/deep-web-research/SKILL.md. It does NOT exist on the general profile. Don't search for it here — it won't be found. The general profile only has this delegation skill.

Pre-Dispatch Reasoning Check (MANDATORY)

Before EVERY deep research dispatch, set the research profile's reasoning_effort to max. This is a hard gate — do not dispatch without it.

hermes -p research config set agent.reasoning_effort max

max is the highest effort setting universally supported by all models. No model-specific table needed. If the model changes to one that supports xhigh, the user will set it in config — the pre-dispatch check just ensures it's at max minimum.

Research → Validate → Fix Pipeline

When the user wants a research deliverable validated and corrected, use this three-stage pipeline:

Stage 1: Deep research → produces <plan>.md
Stage 2: Ask-hermes validation → produces <plan>_validation.md
Stage 3: Deep research fix pass → updates <plan>.md with corrections

Operational guide (exact prompts, session handling, failure modes): references/research-validate-fix.md. The summary below is the quick reference; the reference file is the deep version.

Stage 2 prompt template (dispatch to ask-hermes):

Validate the plan at <path>. Read the full file first.
CRITICAL: Use mcp_searxng_searxng_web_search for EVERY claim and cite the source URL.
Validate: model versions, license claims, VRAM claims, tool availability, new tools since plan was written, hardware benchmarks.
For each finding: CLAIM → VERIFIED/CONTRADICTED/UPDATED → source URL → recommended fix.
Save to <path>_validation.md.

Stage 3 prompt template (resume the research session):

Read the validation report at <path>_validation.md. Read the current plan at <path>.md.
Apply ALL fixes from the validation report. Keep all existing content. Make targeted edits only. Do NOT rewrite the whole plan.

Key rules:

• Stage 2 and 3 can run in parallel with other work (both are background processes).
• Stage 3 MUST use --resume <session_id> from Stage 1 — same research session, same context.
• The validation agent (Stage 2) is a fresh ask-hermes session each time — no resume needed.
• If Stage 2 finds CRITICAL omissions, Stage 3 must address them before the plan is considered complete.
• Operator must apply the Disagreement Scan (see ask-hermes skill) to Stage 2 findings before applying them in Stage 3 — peer findings are input, not commands.