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Agency Domain

Research Agency

Control how your agent searches for, gathers, and synthesizes information.

The Research agency governs how your agent searches for information, gathers data, and synthesizes findings. Research is typically one of the safest domains for agent autonomy because the actions are non-destructive and highly reversible.

What Research Covers

Research actions include searching for information online, reading documentation, analyzing data sets, comparing options, summarizing findings, exploring topics in depth, and compiling reference materials. When your agent investigates competitor pricing or summarizes the latest research on a topic, that is a research action.

Oversight Levels

Silent

Your agent researches freely, gathering and synthesizing information without asking. It proactively looks into topics it thinks are relevant, explores questions that come up during other work, and builds context independently. This is the most common setting for research because the activity carries almost no risk.

For example, your agent might notice a gap in its understanding of a technology you mentioned and independently research it so it can give you better advice next time.

Report

Your agent researches and shares what it found. You get summaries like "I looked into the three CRM platforms you mentioned. Here's a comparison of pricing, features, and integration options." You stay informed about what your agent is learning and can redirect its research focus if needed.

Report is a natural fit if you want to stay aware of what your agent is investigating, especially when research results might influence strategic decisions.

Approval

Your agent proposes research activities before starting them. You see requests like "I'd like to spend time researching alternative hosting providers. Should I go ahead?" Your agent waits for your confirmation before beginning.

This is rarely needed for research. The main scenario where Approval makes sense is if research involves accessing paid resources, consuming API credits, or if you want tight control over how your agent spends its time.

When to Use Each Level

Research is almost entirely reversible and non-destructive. Gathering information does not change anything in your project, codebase, or public presence. The worst outcome of unwanted research is wasted time, which is usually a minor cost compared to the value of having a well-informed agent.

Most users set Research to Silent or Report from the start. Report is a good choice if you want visibility into what your agent is learning. Silent works well when you trust your agent to be proactive about building context. Approval is best reserved for cases where research has a real cost, like querying paid APIs or accessing metered data sources.