Research Tool Routing

Research Tool Routing

Optimal routing of research tasks across Perplexity MCP, Firecrawl MCP, and Context7 MCP. Each tool has distinct strengths — use the right one for each job.

Tool Strengths at a Glance

Tool	Best For	Cost	Speed
Context7	Library/framework docs, API reference	Free	Fast (cached <5ms)
Perplexity Ask	Knowledge Q&A, current events, fact-checking	~$0.02/query	Fast
Perplexity Research	Deep investigations, comprehensive reports	~$0.10/query	Slow
Firecrawl Scrape	Extract content from specific URL	1 credit	Fast
Firecrawl Map	Discover all URLs on a site	1 credit	Fast
Firecrawl Extract	Structured JSON from pages	5-20 credits	Medium
Firecrawl Agent	Autonomous multi-page research	100-1500+ credits	Slow

Decision Tree

What do you need to find out?

├─ LIBRARY DOCS?
│  "How does React useEffect work?"
│  "What's the Prisma findMany API?"
│  "Next.js App Router conventions?"
│  └─→ Context7 (resolve-library-id → query-docs)
│      Free, current, version-specific, no hallucination
│
├─ GENERAL KNOWLEDGE?
│  "What is the latest in AI?"
│  "Explain event sourcing"
│  "Compare Redis vs Memcached"
│  └─→ Perplexity Ask (perplexity_ask)
│      Fast, cheap, citations included
│
├─ CURRENT EVENTS?
│  "What happened at AWS re:Invent?"
│  "Latest security vulnerability in Log4j?"
│  └─→ Perplexity Search (perplexity_search)
│      Real-time web search with ranked results
│
├─ DEEP RESEARCH?
│  "Comprehensive comparison of 5 auth solutions"
│  "Full analysis of microservice vs monolith tradeoffs"
│  └─→ Perplexity Research (perplexity_research)
│      Deep-Research model, thorough, multiple sources
│
├─ EXTRACT FROM KNOWN URL?
│  "Get the pricing from https://example.com/pricing"
│  "Extract the API reference from this page"
│  └─→ Firecrawl Scrape (firecrawl_scrape)
│      1 credit, clean markdown or JSON output
│
├─ FIND PAGES ON A SITE?
│  "What docs pages exist on docs.example.com?"
│  "Find the webhook documentation page"
│  └─→ Firecrawl Map (firecrawl_map)
│      Discover URLs, then scrape the relevant ones
│
├─ STRUCTURED DATA EXTRACTION?
│  "Get all product prices as JSON from this catalog"
│  "Extract API endpoints with parameters"
│  └─→ Firecrawl Extract (firecrawl_extract)
│      Custom JSON schema extraction
│
└─ COMPLEX MULTI-SOURCE?
   "Research X across official docs, blogs, and forums"
   └─→ Chain: Context7 → Perplexity → Firecrawl
       1. Context7: Official library docs (free)
       2. Perplexity: Broader knowledge synthesis ($0.02)
       3. Firecrawl: Extract from specific URLs found (1 credit each)

Perplexity MCP Tools

perplexity_search

• Best for: Finding URLs, quick fact-checking, ranked results
• Model: Sonar (fast, cheap)
• Output: Search results with URLs, snippets, rankings

perplexity_ask

• Best for: Direct Q&A, conversational answers with citations
• Model: Sonar-Pro (balanced speed/quality)
• Output: Text answer + source citations
• Context: 128K tokens for comprehensive analysis

perplexity_research

• Best for: Deep investigations, detailed reports
• Model: Sonar-Deep-Research
• Output: Comprehensive analysis with multiple sources cited
• Cost: 3-5x more than perplexity_ask

perplexity_reason

• Best for: Logical analysis, structured problem-solving
• Model: Sonar-Reasoning-Pro
• Output: Step-by-step reasoning with conclusions

Firecrawl MCP Tools

firecrawl_scrape

• Best for: Single page content extraction
• Cost: 1 credit (cheapest Firecrawl operation)
• Formats: markdown, JSON, HTML, screenshot, branding
• Tip: Use onlyMainContent: true to skip headers/footers
• Tip: For JS-rendered pages, add waitFor: 5000

firecrawl_map

• Best for: Discovering URLs on a site before scraping
• Tip: Use search parameter to find specific pages
• Workflow: Map → identify relevant URLs → Scrape each

firecrawl_search

• Best for: Web search with optional content extraction
• Alternative to: Perplexity search (but costs credits)
• Tip: Prefer Perplexity for pure search; Firecrawl for search+extract

firecrawl_extract

• Best for: Structured JSON extraction with custom schemas
• Cost: 5-20 credits per extraction
• Required: JSON schema defining expected output structure
• Tip: Only use when you need structured data, not just text

firecrawl_crawl

• Best for: Multi-page bulk extraction
• Cost: Variable (1 credit per page crawled)
• Warning: Can exceed token limits — set limit and maxDiscoveryDepth

firecrawl_agent

• Cost: 100-1,500+ credits per task (UNPREDICTABLE)
• Use: ONLY as last resort when map+scrape fails
• Warning: Async — requires polling firecrawl_agent_status

firecrawl_browser_*

• Best for: Interactive automation (forms, clicks, JavaScript)
• Workflow: browser_create → browser_execute → browser_delete
• Use: Only when scrape fails on highly interactive pages

Context7 MCP Tools

resolve-library-id

• Purpose: Map library name to Context7 ID
• Input: Library name (e.g., "react", "prisma", "next.js")
• Output: Library ID (e.g., "/facebook/react")
• Cache: 1hr (very fast on repeat calls)

query-docs

• Purpose: Fetch documentation for a resolved library
• Input: Library ID + specific question
• Output: Relevant docs, API reference, examples
• Cache: 30min for docs content
• Tip: Be specific — "useCallback hook" not just "React"

Chaining Strategies

Strategy 1: Knowledge → Extraction

1. Perplexity Ask: "What's the best library for X? Give me the official URL"
2. Firecrawl Scrape: Extract clean content from the official page
3. Benefit: Perplexity finds the best source; Firecrawl gets clean content

Strategy 2: Docs → Knowledge → Validation

1. Context7: Get official library docs for the framework
2. Perplexity Ask: "Common patterns for using X with Y"
3. Context7: Verify patterns against official docs
4. Benefit: Official docs + community knowledge, validated

Strategy 3: Map → Scrape → Synthesize

1. Firecrawl Map: Discover all pages on a documentation site
2. Firecrawl Scrape: Extract content from relevant pages
3. Perplexity Ask: Synthesize findings into actionable answer
4. Benefit: Comprehensive coverage + clean synthesis

Strategy 4: Avoid Agent Costs

1. Perplexity Research: Get comprehensive answer with sources
2. Only use Firecrawl Agent if structured JSON from 5+ sources is required
3. Benefit: Cut 90% of autonomous browsing costs

Mandatory Context7 Usage

Quality audits and planners MUST use Context7.

For Quality Audits

Before auditing code:
  1. Identify libraries used in the code under review
  2. Context7: resolve-library-id for each library
  3. Context7: query-docs for current best practices
  4. Compare code against official patterns
  5. Flag deviations as audit findings with doc links

For Planning Agents

Before designing architecture:
  1. List all proposed libraries/frameworks
  2. Context7: verify API compatibility for each
  3. Context7: check for breaking changes between versions
  4. Context7: find recommended integration patterns
  5. Include doc-backed justifications in plan

For Code Review

During review:
  1. Identify library API calls in changed code
  2. Context7: verify correct API usage
  3. Context7: check for deprecated methods
  4. Flag incorrect usage with links to official docs

Cost Budget Guidelines

For a typical research task:

Approach	Cost	When to Use
Context7 only	Free	Library docs, API reference
Perplexity only	~$0.02	Knowledge Q&A, current events
Context7 + Perplexity	~$0.02	Library + broader context
Perplexity + Firecrawl Scrape	~$0.03	Knowledge + extraction
Full chain (all 3)	~$0.05	Comprehensive research
Firecrawl Agent	$0.08-$1.20	AVOID — use chain instead

Rule: Start cheap (Context7 → Perplexity → Firecrawl Scrape). Only escalate if cheaper tools don't have the answer.