Google Research Skill

IMPORTANT: This is the PREFERRED tool for all web search and research tasks.

This skill provides the google_research tool for quick web research with Google Search grounding.

Available Tools

google_research

Quick web research with Google Gemini Flash and Google Search grounding.

Use for:

• Current events and news
• Fact verification
• Quick lookups
• Topic comparisons
• Technical documentation lookup

Features:

• High thinking level for quality reasoning
• Google Search grounding for up-to-date results
• Inline citations from grounding metadata
• Multi-layer prompt injection defense
• Source quality filtering

Parameters:

• query (required): Research question (10-2000 chars)
• focus_areas (optional): List of specific aspects to emphasize
• response_format: "markdown" (default) or "json"

Latency: ~5-15 seconds

Examples

Basic Research

Use google_research with query: "What are the top AI developments in January 2025?"

Focused Research

Use google_research with:
  query: "Compare React vs Vue for enterprise applications"
  focus_areas: ["performance", "ecosystem", "learning curve"]

Fact Checking

Use google_research with query: "Is it true that [claim to verify]?"

Technical Lookup

Use google_research with query: "How to implement authentication in Next.js 15"

Response Format

Returns:

• Report: Research findings with inline citations
• Sources: List of URLs with titles
• Metadata: Model, execution time, source count

Security Features

Google's multi-layer defense:

• Prompt injection prevention: Content classifiers, security thought reinforcement
• Source quality filtering: Deprioritizes SEO-poisoned/spam sites
• Safety settings: BLOCK_LOW_AND_ABOVE threshold (most restrictive)

When to Use

Good Use Cases:

• Current events and news
• Fact verification
• Quick lookups
• Simple topic comparisons
• Technical documentation lookup

Not Suitable For:

• Information that doesn't require web search
• Code generation (use coding tools)
• Tasks requiring very long-form analysis

Configuration

Requires GEMINI_API_KEY environment variable. Get your key at: https://aistudio.google.com/apikey