How to use the Comprehensive Research Agent agent skill

What the skill makes the agent do

The skill targets common failures in multi-step research: tool errors that go unmentioned, missing validation, unexplained reasoning and conclusions declared too early. It sets out protocols for source validation, error recovery and transparent thinking.

In practice the agent is asked to rank search results by relevance, credibility, recency and authority before opening them, to note any failed fetch and say how it will recover, to track which URLs were actually retrieved, and to finish with a 'Limitations & Gaps' section.

• Rank sources before reading them and record why each was chosen.
• After every tool call, check the response for errors and state the recovery plan (retry, alternative source, or documented gap).
• Cite only URLs or papers that were successfully fetched or read.
• Cross-check key claims against at least two sources where possible and note agreement or contradiction.
• Avoid repeated searches by tracking what has already been obtained.
• Use read_file rather than list_directory to confirm a file's content after saving it.

Install the comprehensive-research-agent skill

Download the skill as a ZIP from the directory page and unzip it. The skill is a folder named comprehensive-research-agent that contains SKILL.md, a references folder, and the files references/optimization_summary.json, references/optimized_prompt.txt and references/patterns_found.json.

For a personal install, place the folder in ~/.claude/skills/. For a single project, place it in that project's .claude/skills/ folder. Alternatively, in the Claude apps, open Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload the skill there.

• Personal install: ~/.claude/skills/comprehensive-research-agent/
• Project install: .claude/skills/comprehensive-research-agent/ inside your project
• Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the skill

Trigger the skill with natural requests

You do not need a special command. The skill is meant to apply when a task involves web research with search, read_url or fetch operations, gathers information from several sources, has explicit requirements for completeness or verification, includes file saves that need checking, or involves any information-gathering workflow with three or more tool interactions.

To make activation more likely, say in plain words what you need: that you want sources checked, that you want to know what could not be verified, and what the final report should contain.

• Research the current options for X. Rank your sources first, read the best ones, and list any gaps at the end.
• Compare three papers on Y. Only cite pages you actually opened, and tell me which fetches failed.
• Write a report on Z and save it to a file. Check the saved file's contents before you finish.

Example: how the behaviour changes

The source's own example shows the difference. Without the skill, an agent might say it searched and found several results, read a few pages, and has enough information. With the skill, it lists the results, explains which ones it will read first and why, and says what it will do if the main source returns an error.

When a 404 occurs, the skill expects the agent to name the failure, try a fallback, and carry a disclaimer into the report if only secondary sources remain. A source tracking table then shows which URLs succeeded, which failed and which backup was used for each claim.

What the skill needs and what it does not do

The skill lists no requirements. It runs no scripts and makes no network calls of its own. It is written instructions and examples, not a search engine, browser or database.

It only shapes how the agent behaves with the tools it already has. If the agent cannot reach a source, the skill cannot make that source reliable. It also adds overhead, so it is not needed for a simple one-question lookup.

• Requirements: none listed
• Runs scripts: no
• Uses network: no

Safety notes

Because the skill runs no scripts and uses no network access, installing it does not by itself execute code or send data. Its effect depends entirely on the agent and tools you already use, so review what those tools are allowed to do before giving the agent web or file access.

Treat the skill's output as only as good as the sources the agent could retrieve. The protocol reduces unsupported claims, but it does not verify facts that the agent cannot access.

Tips for better results

Keep the protocol for research that really needs it. For a quick factual question, plain answers are faster. For larger tasks, ask for the source tracking table and the Limitations & Gaps section explicitly so you can check them.

Read the gaps list first. It shows what the agent could not confirm, which is often more useful than the summary.

• Ask for a source list with a success or failure status for each URL.
• Ask the agent to cross-check important numbers across two sources.
• Use the gaps list to decide what to research next.