Research Pipeline

Build an automated research workflow that fetches information, summarizes findings, and extracts key insights.

Difficulty: Intermediate Time: 20 minutes

What You'll Build

A flow that:

• Takes a research topic as input
• Searches for relevant information
• Summarizes findings
• Extracts actionable insights
• Outputs a structured report

TBD: Replace with screenshot of the research pipeline in the flow editor

Prerequisites

• Sciorex installed
• Understanding of Flows
• (Optional) Web search MCP server configured

Overview

┌─────────┐    ┌──────────┐    ┌───────────┐    ┌────────────┐
│  Input  │───▶│  Search  │───▶│ Summarize │───▶│  Extract   │
│  Topic  │    │  Agent   │    │   Agent   │    │  Insights  │
└─────────┘    └──────────┘    └───────────┘    └────────────┘
                                                       │
                                                       ▼
                                               ┌────────────┐
                                               │   Output   │
                                               │   Report   │
                                               └────────────┘

Step 1: Create the Agents

Search Agent

name: Research Searcher
description: Searches for information on a topic

systemPrompt: |
  You are a research assistant. Given a topic:

  1. Use web search to find relevant, authoritative sources
  2. Focus on recent information (last 2 years preferred)
  3. Gather at least 5 different sources
  4. For each source, note:
     - Title and URL
     - Key points
     - Publication date
     - Credibility assessment

  Return structured data that can be processed further.

model: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929
allowedTools:
  - WebSearch
  - WebFetch

Summarizer Agent

name: Research Summarizer
description: Summarizes research findings

systemPrompt: |
  You are an expert at synthesizing research. Given multiple sources:

  1. Identify common themes and consensus views
  2. Note any contradictions or debates
  3. Highlight the most important findings
  4. Organize by relevance, not source

  Write a clear, comprehensive summary that someone unfamiliar
  with the topic could understand.

model: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929
thinkingLevel: think

Insight Extractor Agent

name: Insight Extractor
description: Extracts actionable insights from research

systemPrompt: |
  You are an analyst who extracts actionable insights. Given research:

  1. Identify key takeaways
  2. Note practical applications
  3. Highlight risks or concerns
  4. Suggest next steps or areas for deeper research

  Format as a structured report with clear sections.

model: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929
thinkingLevel: think-hard

outputSchema:
  type: object
  properties:
    keyTakeaways:
      type: array
      items:
        type: string
    applications:
      type: array
      items:
        type: string
    risks:
      type: array
      items:
        type: string
    nextSteps:
      type: array
      items:
        type: string

Step 2: Build the Flow

1. Go to Flows → + New Flow
2. Name it "Research Pipeline"

Add Nodes

Drag these nodes onto the canvas:

1. Input Node - Starting point
2. Agent Node - Research Searcher
3. Agent Node - Research Summarizer
4. Agent Node - Insight Extractor
5. Output Node - Final report

Connect Nodes

Connect them in sequence:

Input → Searcher → Summarizer → Extractor → Output

Configure Input

Set up the input node:

{
  "topic": {
    "type": "string",
    "description": "Research topic to investigate"
  },
  "depth": {
    "type": "string",
    "enum": ["quick", "standard", "deep"],
    "default": "standard"
  }
}

Step 3: Run the Pipeline

1. Click Run in the flow editor
2. Enter your research topic:

   {
     "topic": "Current state of AI code assistants in 2025",
     "depth": "standard"
   }

3. Watch the execution progress through each stage

Example Output

{
  "keyTakeaways": [
    "AI code assistants have reached mainstream adoption with 70%+ developer usage",
    "Code quality improvements of 15-30% reported across studies",
    "Security concerns remain around training data and generated code"
  ],
  "applications": [
    "Automated code review and bug detection",
    "Documentation generation",
    "Test case creation",
    "Legacy code modernization"
  ],
  "risks": [
    "Over-reliance leading to skill atrophy",
    "Potential for introducing subtle bugs",
    "License and copyright considerations"
  ],
  "nextSteps": [
    "Evaluate specific tools for your tech stack",
    "Establish code review processes for AI-generated code",
    "Monitor emerging research on AI code quality"
  ]
}

Variations

Add Parallel Sources

Modify the flow to search multiple source types in parallel:

                ┌─── Academic Search ───┐
Input ──────────┼─── News Search ───────┼──── Merge ──── Summarize
                └─── Technical Blogs ───┘

Add Fact Checking

Insert a verification step:

Summarize ──── Fact Checker ──── Extract Insights

Export to Ticket

Add an output node that creates a ticket with the research findings.

Tips

• Start narrow: Begin with specific topics before broad ones
• Check sources: Review the searcher's sources for quality
• Iterate: Run multiple times with refined prompts
• Save outputs: Link to tickets for future reference

Related

• Flow Editor Overview
• Agent Outputs
• MCP Servers