Deep Research
affaan-m/ECC
Produce cited research reports from multiple web sources using firecrawl and exa MCP tools — plan sub-questions, search and deep-read sources, then synthesize findings with inline citations and…
Authoring playbook for building agents that search, read, and synthesize information into a report.
Install Research Agent
$ npx skills add mastra-ai/mastra --skill research-agent -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install mastra-ai/mastra research-agent --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent .claude/skills/research-agent && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.
Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/
Install the "research-agent" agent skill from https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra/tree/main/packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent into .claude/skills/research-agent/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research-agent", then confirm the skill loads.Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$skill-installer install https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra/tree/main/packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agentType this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.
$ npx skills add mastra-ai/mastra --skill research-agent -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install mastra-ai/mastra research-agent --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent .agents/skills/research-agent && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "research-agent" agent skill from https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra/tree/main/packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent into .agents/skills/research-agent/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research-agent", then confirm the skill loads.Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add mastra-ai/mastra --skill research-agent -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install mastra-ai/mastra research-agent --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent .cursor/skills/research-agent && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "research-agent" agent skill from https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra/tree/main/packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent into .cursor/skills/research-agent/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research-agent", then confirm the skill loads.Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gemini skills install https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra.git --path packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add mastra-ai/mastra --skill research-agent -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install mastra-ai/mastra research-agent --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent .gemini/skills/research-agent && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.
Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "research-agent" agent skill from https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra/tree/main/packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent into .gemini/skills/research-agent/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research-agent", then confirm the skill loads.Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gh skill install mastra-ai/mastra research-agentInstalls for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ npx skills add mastra-ai/mastra --skill research-agent -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent .github/skills/research-agent && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.
GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "research-agent" agent skill from https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra/tree/main/packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent into .github/skills/research-agent/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research-agent", then confirm the skill loads.GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add mastra-ai/mastra --skill research-agent -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install mastra-ai/mastra research-agent --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent .opencode/skills/research-agent && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "research-agent" agent skill from https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra/tree/main/packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent into .opencode/skills/research-agent/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "research-agent", then confirm the skill loads.OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
Facts
- Skill name
research-agent- GitHub stars
- 29k
- Token cost
- ~2.1k tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 531 words
- Files
- 1
- Skills in repo
- 44
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- Custom licence
At a glance
Authoring playbook for building agents that search, read, and synthesize information into a report.
- Works in 4 steps: A web search tool (one is enough — do… → A web-page fetch / browser tool if the… → A document search tool if the user wants… → …
- Wants an agent to research a topic
- SKILL.md covers When to use, Agent identity template, Freshness policy and System prompt template, plus 4 more sections
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
What it does
Research Agent is an agent skill from mastra-ai/mastra. Authoring playbook for building agents that search, read, and synthesize information into a report. Use this when the user wants an agent to research a topic, summarize sources, compare options, do competitive analysis, monitor news, generate briefs, or pull together a citation-backed report from the web or internal documents.
Its SKILL.md is about 2.1k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.
It sits in Research & Science, covering Deep research, Citation management and Building AI agents. The repository describes itself as: Mastra is the modern TypeScript framework for AI-powered applications and agents.
When your agent uses it
- Wants an agent to research a topic
- Summarize sources
- Compare options
- Do competitive analysis
Example prompts
- “/research-agent”
Workflow steps
4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.
- A web search tool (one is enough — do not stack multiple search providers).
- A web-page fetch / browser tool if the agent needs to read full articles.
- A document search tool if the user wants research over internal docs.
- A summarization sub-agent ONLY if the source documents are large.
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit b98829a. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.
Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.
Context cost
Research Agent loads about 2.1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 86 tokens; SKILL.md has 531 words of instructions outside code blocks.
Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.
Safety
Auto-check passed
The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.
Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.
SKILL.md
Its licence (Custom licence) doesn't allow us to republish the file, so here is its outline and opening line. It has 531 words (~2,068 tokens).
“Pick this playbook when the user mentions: research, investigate, analyze, summarize, compare, find out about, look into, brief, report, news, market, competitive, sources, citations, references, articles, papers, or any topic the agent needs to learn about before answering.”
- name
- research-agent
Files
Just SKILL.md in packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent of mastra-ai/mastra.
Open the folder on GitHubat commit b98829a
Compare with similar skills
Research Agent next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research Agent this skillmastra-ai/mastra | 29k | — | ~2.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | Custom licence | |
| Deep Researchaffaan-m/ECC | 276k | — | ~1.5k | Automated safety check: Warn | MIT | |
| Claude To MedrixflowCitrus-bit/Anaxa | 120 | — | ~1.7k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| GitHub Deep Researchbytedance/deer-flow | 84k | 4 repos | ~1.3k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Deep Research WorkflowTokenRhythm/opensquilla | 7.1k | — | ~1.3k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Horizontal-Vertical Deep ResearchKKKKhazix/khazix-skills | 21k | — | ~2.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT |
Similar skills
Claude To Medrixflow
Citrus-bit/Anaxa
Interact with MedrixFlow AI agent platform via its HTTP API.
GitHub Deep Research
bytedance/deer-flow
Researches a GitHub repository over four rounds using the GitHub API and web search, then writes a structured markdown report with timeline, metrics and Mermaid diagrams.
Deep Research Workflow
TokenRhythm/opensquilla
Runs multi-round research in three stages with a persisted state file, evidence tracking and a long-form report with per-claim citations.
Horizontal-Vertical Deep Research
KKKKhazix/khazix-skills
Runs a two-axis deep research method on a product, company, concept or person: its full history over time, compared with peers today, delivered as a typeset PDF report.
Academic Research Suite for Codex
Imbad0202/academic-research-skills-codex
A router skill that sends academic work such as literature reviews, drafting, citation checks, peer review and revision to the right workflow in the ARS suite.
More from mastra-ai/mastra
All 44 skills in this repoDocs Audit
mastra-ai/mastra
Autonomous, report-only documentation review for Mastra docs.
Builder Smoke Test
mastra-ai/mastra
Smoke test the Agent Builder feature branch end-to-end against a hermetic project scaffolded by the skill (linked to the current worktree).
Mastra Smoke Test
mastra-ai/mastra
Smoke test Mastra projects locally or deploy to staging/production.
React Best Practices
mastra-ai/mastra
React performance optimization guidelines from Mastra Engineering.
Agent Prompt Quality Bar
mastra-ai/mastra
Universal quality bar and final audit rubric for any agent system prompt.
Coding Agent
mastra-ai/mastra
Authoring playbook for building agents that write, edit, review, or refactor code.
Related
Categories
Questions about Research Agent
What does Research Agent do?
Authoring playbook for building agents that search, read, and synthesize information into a report. Research Agent is an agent skill from mastra-ai/mastra. Authoring playbook for building agents that search, read, and synthesize information into a report.
When should I use Research Agent?
Research Agent fits situations like: wants an agent to research a topic; summarize sources; compare options; do competitive analysis.
How do I install Research Agent in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add mastra-ai/mastra --skill research-agent -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent in mastra-ai/mastra) into .claude/skills/research-agent in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Research Agent in Codex?
Run `npx skills add mastra-ai/mastra --skill research-agent -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (packages/editor/src/ee/workspace/skills/research-agent in mastra-ai/mastra) into .agents/skills/research-agent in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Research Agent in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?
Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add mastra-ai/mastra --skill research-agent -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/research-agent, .gemini/skills/research-agent, .github/skills/research-agent and .opencode/skills/research-agent in your project.
What does Research Agent need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Research Agent is instructions for the agent only.
Does Research Agent access the network?
SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.
Is Research Agent safe to install?
Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.
What licence does Research Agent use?
Research Agent has a licence file (the repository's licence) that doesn't match a standard licence. Read it on GitHub before reusing the skill.
How many tokens does Research Agent use?
About 2.1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 8.3k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.
What are the alternatives to Research Agent?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Research Agent: Deep Research (affaan-m/ECC, 276k stars), Claude To Medrixflow (Citrus-bit/Anaxa, 120 stars), GitHub Deep Research (bytedance/deer-flow, 84k stars) and Deep Research Workflow (TokenRhythm/opensquilla, 7.1k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Research Agent?
mastra-ai (a GitHub organization) maintains it in mastra-ai/mastra, which has 28,698 GitHub stars. The repository holds 44 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 11, 2026.
Source: mastra-ai/mastra on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.