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Claude skills for research

Claude skills for research: sourced reports, live web search, customer research and academic paper search.

Picks
8
ranked

research is the most installed research skill. It starts a background agent that reads official docs, source code and specs, then writes one Markdown file with a source for every claim.

The others add live web search, longer cited reports, customer research and academic paper search. The Parallel skills need a signed-in, funded Parallel account, and the Tavily skills need Tavily's tvly tool. A source on the list is not proof, so open the sources that matter. For research without skills, see how to research a topic with AI.

Good for

  • Anyone who needs a sourced answer, not a guess
  • Students and academics who search papers and check citations
  • Product and marketing teams who research customers and markets
  • Developers who gather facts from official docs and specs

Top picks

Skills for research, ordered by installs on skills.sh as of November 2, 2026, with GitHub stars beside them. Stars belong to the whole repo, so skills from one repo share a count.

  1. 1
    researchSkill

    Starts a background agent that checks official docs, source code and specs, then writes one Markdown file with a source for every claim.

    309,237 GitHub stars
  2. 2
    customer-researchSkill

    Analyzes interviews, surveys and support tickets, mines Reddit and G2, or helps you run interviews, then builds personas and themes. Treats fetched reviews as untrusted.

    57,855 GitHub stars
  3. 3
    tavily-searchSkill

    Makes Claude use Tavily for live web search, reading URLs and crawling sites. Needs the Tavily MCP tools or the tvly command line tool.

    491 GitHub stars
  4. 4
    tavily-researchSkill

    Splits a question into subtopics, reads sources for each and writes one cited report. Uses the tvly tool and depends on tavily-search.

    491 GitHub stars
  5. 5
    parallel-deep-researchSkill

    Runs Parallel's deep research and saves a cited Markdown report plus a JSON file of sources. Only for deep or exhaustive requests. Needs a funded Parallel account.

    91 GitHub stars
  6. 6
    nature-academic-searchSkill

    Searches CrossRef, PubMed and arXiv, checks citations, builds MeSH strategies and manages references. Part of the nature-skills collection.

    51,696 GitHub stars
  7. 7
    parallel-web-searchSkill

    Runs one Parallel search from the command line and answers with links and a sources list. Needs a funded Parallel account.

    91 GitHub stars
  8. 8
    bmad-deep-reconSkill

    Researches a market, stack or competitors, with a source for every claim. Works only in a project where BMad is set up.

    54,859 GitHub stars

Research a question and get a sourced file

Claude

  1. 1

    Pick the skill

    Use research for facts that official docs and specs can answer. Use tavily-research when the question needs many web sources weighed together, such as a market or a trend.

    Uses research, tavily-research

  2. 2

    Install research

    npx skills add https://github.com/mattpocock/skills --skill research

    It names no scripts or keys. tavily-research is separate: it needs Tavily's tvly command line tool and the tavily-search skill.

    Uses research

  3. 3

    Brief it

    The agent works in the background with a fresh context, so you can keep working. It follows each claim back to its owner and writes one Markdown file.

    Prompt
    Research how Stripe retries failed webhook deliveries. Use official docs only and write the findings, with a source for each claim, to notes/webhook-retries.md.

    Tip: Example prompts are illustrations; swap in your own question.

    Uses research

  4. 4

    Open the sources that matter

    Skills add sources to the answer, they do not make it correct. Open the two or three sources your decision rests on before you act on the file.

Comparison

SkillOutputNeedsInstalls
researchThis pageSourced MarkdownNothing extra750,974
tavily-researchCited reporttvly tool22,781
parallel-deep-researchCited reportFunded account15,818
customer-researchThemed synthesisNothing extra119,361

Questions

What is the best Claude skill for research?

By installs on skills.sh, research leads by a wide margin. It reads official sources and writes a Markdown file with a source for every claim. For web-wide reports, tavily-research and parallel-deep-research are the next step.

Can Claude do deep research with a skill?

Yes. parallel-deep-research runs a deep research task and saves a cited report, and tavily-research splits a question into subtopics and writes one cited report. Both need an account with the search company.

Do these skills cite their sources?

Yes. research needs a source for every claim, and tavily-research and parallel-deep-research write cited reports. Open the sources that matter, since a citation does not prove a claim is right.

Do research skills cost money?

The skills are free. tavily-research needs Tavily's tool, and the Parallel skills need a Parallel account that is signed in and funded, so check each vendor's pricing.

Can Claude search academic papers?

Yes. nature-academic-search queries CrossRef, PubMed and arXiv, verifies citations and manages references. It is one skill from the nature-skills collection.

Can Claude research customers and markets?

Yes. customer-research analyzes interviews, surveys and tickets, and can mine public sources such as Reddit and G2. bmad-deep-recon researches markets and competitors but only works in a project set up with BMad.

Can Claude search Reddit?

Yes, with the reddit-research skill. It searches a third-party Reddit index and needs a reddapi.dev API key.

How do I install a research skill?

Run the npx skills add command from the steps above with the skill's name, or use the install box on its page.

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 16
  1. skills.sh · skills.sh
  2. https://skills.sh/mattpocock/skills/research · skills.sh
  3. https://github.com/mattpocock/skills · github.com
  4. https://skills.sh/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/customer-research · skills.sh
  5. https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills · github.com
  6. https://skills.sh/tavily-ai/skills/tavily-search · skills.sh
  7. https://github.com/tavily-ai/skills · github.com
  8. https://skills.sh/tavily-ai/skills/tavily-research · skills.sh
  9. https://skills.sh/parallel-web/parallel-agent-skills/parallel-deep-research · skills.sh
  10. https://github.com/parallel-web/parallel-agent-skills · github.com
  11. https://skills.sh/yuan1z0825/nature-skills/nature-academic-search · skills.sh
  12. https://github.com/yuan1z0825/nature-skills · github.com
  13. https://skills.sh/parallel-web/parallel-agent-skills/parallel-web-search · skills.sh
  14. https://skills.sh/bmad-code-org/bmad-method/bmad-deep-recon · skills.sh
  15. https://github.com/bmad-code-org/bmad-method · github.com
  16. https://skills.sh/lignertys/reddit-research-skills/reddit-research · skills.sh

Updated Nov 3, 2026.