Search & Research Skills

Enhance search and research workflows with specialized tools and patterns.

Tool Selection Guide

Match tool to need (see search:patterns for detailed hierarchy):

Need	Tool	Strength
Quick facts	WebSearch	Fast, always available
Library docs	Context7	Current APIs, version-specific
Code examples	Context7	Framework patterns, official usage
Deep research	Perplexity	Synthesis with citations
Parallel investigation	Explore agents	Multi-threaded research

MCP Availability Check

Before using MCP-dependent features, verify availability:

# Context7 tools
mcp__context7__resolve-library-id
mcp__context7__get-library-docs

# Perplexity tools
mcp__perplexity__perplexity_ask
mcp__perplexity__perplexity_reason

If tools are unavailable, fall back to WebSearch with targeted queries.

Date Guard

All searches are validated against current date. Queries containing years older than the current year are blocked to prevent stale results.

Opt-out: Add "historical" to your query for intentional past data lookups.

Progressive Enhancement

Start simple, escalate based on results (see search:patterns for full model):

Level	Tools	Trigger to Escalate
1	WebSearch	Insufficient results
2	+ Context7/Perplexity	Need docs or synthesis
3	+ Explore agents	Multi-faceted question
4	+ User checkpoints	High-stakes decision

Key principle: Escalation is reactive (based on results), not predictive. User approval required before Level 3+.

Sub-Skills

• search:context7 - Library documentation patterns
• search:perplexity - Deep research workflows
• search:patterns - General search best practices
• search:deep-research - Multi-step investigation workflow
• search:verify - Source verification and fact-checking
• search:plan - Research planning before execution