Tech Research

Orchestrate multi-source technical research by dispatching parallel subagents to gather intelligence from X/Twitter (via Grok), GitHub repositories (via DeepWiki), and the web (via WebSearch). Synthesize all findings into a single actionable report.

Architecture: The main agent orchestrates research using one of two modes — lightweight (Task Subagents) or heavyweight (Agent Teammates) — chosen based on research complexity.

Language

Match user's language: Respond in the same language the user uses. If the user writes in Chinese, the entire research report should be in Chinese. If in English, report in English.

Research Mode Selection

Before dispatching any agents, determine the appropriate mode:

Light Mode (default for single-topic research)

Dispatch up to 3 Task Subagents (Task with subagent_type: "general-purpose"). Each handles one data source independently. The main agent synthesizes results after all return.

Heavy Mode (for multi-topic / competitive research)

Use TeamCreate to create a research team → TaskCreate for each research task → spawn Agent Teammates (via Task with team_name and name parameters) → coordinate via SendMessage. Teammates can:

• Communicate to avoid duplication ("I found Project A uses the same approach as B — focus on their differentiators")
• Share discoveries across tasks ("The blog post I found compares all 3 frameworks, sending you the link")
• Dynamically adjust scope based on what others have found

When to Use

• Evaluating a technology, library, or framework for adoption
• Comparing alternatives (e.g., "Zustand vs Jotai vs Redux")
• Investigating a GitHub repo's architecture and community reception
• Gauging developer sentiment on a new API, tool, or announcement
• Cross-language research (Chinese/Japanese developer communities)

Research Sources

Source Degradation

Not every source will be available every time. Follow this degradation strategy:

Minimum viable research: At least one source must return results. If all sources fail, report the failures and suggest the user check their environment setup.

Grok Browser Backend

Grok requires browser automation with login state. Multiple backends are supported, detected in priority order:

IMPORTANT: Do NOT modify the user's default playwright MCP to add --user-data-dir. This would force ALL browser operations through a single profile, breaking parallel agent usage. Instead, use a separate playwright-grok instance.

Grok Pre-flight

Before dispatching a Grok subagent, detect the best available browser backend. There are two paths:

Path A — claude-in-chrome (runtime detection, no script needed): If mcp__claude-in-chrome__* tools are available in your current session, you already have the best backend. The chrome extension is injected at runtime and never appears in ~/.claude.json, so the shell script cannot detect it. Skip the preflight script entirely — set backend=chrome and proceed to dispatch.

Path B — Playwright fallback (script-based detection): If claude-in-chrome is NOT available, run the preflight script to detect playwright backends:

bash ${SKILL_PATH}/scripts/grok_setup.sh check

The script outputs preflight JSON: {"ready": true, "backend": "playwright-grok", "login_status": "logged_in", "hint": "..."}.

Key fields: ready (boolean), backend (playwright-grok/playwright/none), login_status (logged_in/logged_out/unknown), hint (human-readable summary).

Live validation note: Preflight checks MCP server presence in ~/.claude.json (existence check) but cannot live-test browser MCP connectivity from shell — MCP servers are runtime-managed by Claude Code and only accessible during agent execution. The skill compensates with optimistic dispatch: assume the backend works, then update the login status cache based on actual browser interaction results (see Login Status Cache below).

Config safety: The setup command always creates a timestamped backup of ~/.claude.json before writing. If the new config causes issues, restore with the rollback command in the setup output (e.g., cp ~/.claude.json.backup.<timestamp> ~/.claude.json).

Login Status Cache

Login state is cached at ~/.claude/tech-research/.grok-status.json. Cache semantics: logged_in persists until a subagent observes logout; logged_out auto-expires after 2 hours (or clear with grok_setup.sh reset); unknown/missing = optimistic, try Grok.

Subagent responsibility: After interacting with Grok, update login status:

• Success: bash ${SKILL_PATH}/scripts/grok_setup.sh status logged_in <backend>
• "Sign in" page: bash ${SKILL_PATH}/scripts/grok_setup.sh status logged_out <backend>

Cache corruption recovery: If the status file is corrupted (invalid JSON, permission errors), delete it (rm ~/.claude/tech-research/.grok-status.json) and proceed in optimistic mode. See references/troubleshooting.md for the full decision tree.

Workflow

Progress:

• Step 1: Preflight — Run grok_setup.sh check, complete any setup BEFORE research
• Step 2: Analyze — Break question into per-source sub-queries
• Step 3: Dispatch — Launch subagents in parallel (Light or Heavy mode)
• Step 4: Synthesize — Merge findings into unified report

1. Preflight Gate (MUST run first)

Run preflight before doing anything else. This determines which sources are available and whether one-time setup is needed.

1. Check if mcp__claude-in-chrome__* tools are available in your session.
   • Yes → backend=chrome, skip the script, proceed directly to Step 2.
   • No → Run bash ${SKILL_PATH}/scripts/grok_setup.sh check and act on exit code:

Exit code 0 (READY)     → Note the backend and login_status, proceed to Step 2.
Exit code 1 (NEEDS_SETUP) → Run `grok_setup.sh setup` NOW.
                            If setup succeeds, tell the user:
                              "playwright-grok has been configured. Restart Claude Code
                               to activate it. For this session, Grok will use the
                               default playwright backend as a fallback."
                            Then proceed to Step 2 with backend=playwright.
Exit code 2 (NOT_AVAILABLE) → Grok is unavailable. Proceed to Step 2 without Grok.

Key principle: Setup completes before research begins. Never discover setup needs mid-research.

2. Analyze the Research Question

Break the user's question into sub-queries for each source:

• Grok query: Developer opinions, community sentiment, expert recommendations
• DeepWiki query: Repository architecture, API design, code quality (requires owner/repo)
• WebSearch query: Official docs, benchmarks, comparisons, recent announcements

Not every research task needs all 3 sources. Select sources based on the question:

3. Dispatch Research Agents

Choose the dispatch method based on the research mode selected above.

Light Mode: Task Subagents

Launch subagents concurrently using Task. See references/subagent_templates.md for complete prompt templates.

Grok subagent:

Task(subagent_type: "general-purpose", description: "Ask Grok about [topic]", prompt: <grok_template with BACKEND>)

DeepWiki subagent:

Task(subagent_type: "general-purpose", description: "DeepWiki research [repo]", prompt: <deepwiki_template>)

WebSearch subagent:

Task(subagent_type: "general-purpose", description: "Web research [topic]", prompt: <websearch_template>)

Heavy Mode: Agent Teammates

1. TeamCreate(team_name: "research-[topic]")
2. TaskCreate(subject: "Research [Project A]", description: "...", activeForm: "Researching [Project A]")
3. TaskCreate(subject: "Research [Project B]", description: "...", activeForm: "Researching [Project B]")
4. Task(subagent_type: "general-purpose", team_name: "research-[topic]", name: "researcher-a", prompt: "...")
5. Task(subagent_type: "general-purpose", team_name: "research-[topic]", name: "researcher-b", prompt: "...")
6. Coordinate via SendMessage — share findings, adjust scope, avoid duplication
7. Synthesize after all teammates report back
8. Shutdown teammates and TeamDelete when done

Each teammate should use all relevant data sources (Grok, DeepWiki, WebSearch) for their assigned topic, rather than splitting by data source.

4. Synthesize and Report

After all subagents return, merge findings into a unified report with these sections:

• TL;DR — 2-3 sentence executive summary with clear recommendation
• Community Sentiment (from X/Twitter) — Key opinions with @username attribution and post URLs
• Repository Analysis (from DeepWiki) — Architecture, code quality, API design, maintenance status
• Web Intelligence — Official docs, benchmarks, blog insights, announcements
• Comparison Matrix (if comparing alternatives) — Criteria-based table
• Recommendation — Clear, actionable recommendation based on all sources
• Limitations — What couldn't be verified, including skipped sources and why

Grok Query Strategies

See references/grok_query_overview.md for strategy selection table and references/query_strategies.md for full prompt templates.

Troubleshooting & Self-Recovery

See references/troubleshooting.md for the full decision tree and common scenarios.

Tips

• For CJK communities, query Grok in the target language directly
• DeepWiki accepts up to 10 repos in a single query for comparisons
• WebSearch is best for recent information (include current year in queries)
• Always verify Grok post URLs before citing — accuracy is ~80%
• Run subagents in parallel to minimize total research time