Systematic deep research methodology using multiple sources. USE when: researching SOTA techniques, comparing libraries/frameworks, finding best practices, verifying claims, investigating bugs via GitHub issues, technical due diligence, literature review. Trigger: "research X", "find the best way to Y", "what's the SOTA for Z", "compare A vs B", "is X still maintained". Combines web, GitHub, docs and codebase sources.
Query: "best free LLM for code generation 2026"
Decompose into:
- What: free LLMs (no cost inference)
- Domain: code generation (function, debug, complete)
- Constraint: 2026 (recent, not outdated)
- Implicit: API vs local, speed vs quality
| Priority | Source | Tool | What to look for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Codebase | semantic_search, grep | Existing patterns, prior art |
| 2 | Official docs | fetch_webpage | Latest API, breaking changes |
| 3 |
| GitHub |
| fetch_webpage issues/discussions |
| Known bugs, community solutions |
| 4 | Community | fetch_webpage (SO, Reddit, Discord) | Real-world experiences |
| 5 | Registries | npm/PyPI/crates.io | Popularity, maintenance status |
Validation checklist:
Structure output as:
1. TL;DR (1 sentence answer)
2. Recommendation (with rationale)
3. Key findings (3-5 bullet points)
4. Trade-offs (pros/cons table)
5. Sources (cited with date)
6. Next steps (actionable)
Compare [A] vs [B] for [use case]:
| Criteria | A | B |
|----------|---|---|
| Performance | | |
| Cost | | |
| Community | | |
| Maintenance | | |
| License | | |
| Learning curve | | |
Recommendation: [A/B] because [reason]
SOTA for [topic] as of [date]:
State of the art:
- Best approach: [name] — [why]
- Performance benchmark: [metric] = [value]
- Key paper: [authors, venue, year]
- Production-ready implementation: [repo/package]
Recent game changers:
- [paper/technique]: changes [what] by [how much]
What's still open:
- [challenge 1]
- [challenge 2]
Bug: [description]
Search: GitHub issues → repo/issues?q=[keywords]
Findings:
- Issue #[N]: [title] — Status: [open/closed/PR merged]
- Fix: [commit/PR link]
- Workaround: [if applicable]
Root cause: [explanation]
Solution: [steps]
Use these search patterns for better results:
# Web search — specific and recent
"[technology] [problem] site:github.com 2025"
"[library] best practices [year]"
"[error message] fix [language]"
# GitHub issues
"repo:[owner/repo] [keyword] is:issue"
"[error] in:title is:closed"
# Docs
"[library] [version] [feature] docs"
# Trigger deep research SOP
zeroclaw agent -m "hint:smart research: what's the best free embedding model for RAG in 2026?"
# Research + store in memory
zeroclaw agent -m "research zeroclaw provider rotation patterns and save findings to memory"