Research Client

AI-powered research CLI and web UI for market research, competitive intelligence, web scraping, SEO audits, academic search, and automated briefing generation.

Powered by Google Gemini 2.5 Pro and Firecrawl.

Install

npm install -g research-client

Or run without installing:

npx research-client

Quick Start

# Initialize config and set up your Google AI API key
research init

# Start an interactive AI chat
research chat

# Search the web
research scrape search "agent harness architecture"

# Scrape a URL to markdown
research scrape url https://example.com

# Ask a research question
research research-query ask "What is the current state of AI regulation?"

# Launch the web UI
research ui -p 3000

Commands

Setup & Auth

Command	Description
research init	Initialize config directories and API key
research login	Authenticate with Google AI (browser or paste key)
research config	View current configuration
research config get <key>	Get a specific config value
research ui -p <port>	Launch the Next.js web UI

Interactive Chat

Command	Description
research chat	Start an AI chat session in terminal
research chat -m <model>	Use a specific Gemini model
research chat -s <prompt>	Use a custom system prompt

Briefs (Research Reports)

Briefs are structured research reports that can be scheduled to auto-refresh.

Command	Description
research briefs list	List all briefs
research briefs show <id>	Show full brief details
research briefs create <title>	Create a new brief
research briefs update <id>	Update title, topic, summary, or status
research briefs delete <id>	Delete a brief
research briefs settings <id>	View/update brief settings
research briefs schedule <id>	View/set schedule (hourly/daily/weekly)
research briefs add-source <briefId> <sourceId>	Add a source with weight
research briefs remove-source <briefId> <sourceId>	Remove a source
research briefs sources <briefId>	List sources with weights
research briefs set-weight <briefId> <sourceId> <weight>	Set source weight (0-5)
research briefs add-peer-repo <briefId> <name> <url>	Add academic peer review repo
research briefs remove-peer-repo <briefId> <repoId>	Remove peer review repo
research briefs peer-repos <briefId>	List peer review repos
research briefs export <id>	Export brief as markdown
research briefs export <id> -o file.md	Export to file
research briefs runs <briefId>	List scheduled runs
research briefs run-show <runId>	Show full run content

Sources

Command	Description
research sources list	List all sources
research sources add <url>	Add a source URL
research sources remove <id>	Remove a source
research sources scrape <id>	Scrape a source via Firecrawl

Spaces

Command	Description
research spaces list	List research spaces
research spaces create <name> -f <areas...>	Create with focus areas
research spaces remove <id>	Remove a space

Trends

Command	Description
research trends list	List trend monitors
research trends add <keyword>	Add a trend monitor
research trends remove <id>	Remove a trend

Web Scraping

Command	Description
research scrape url <url>	Scrape a URL to markdown
research scrape url <url> --json	Output raw JSON
research scrape search <query>	Search the web via Firecrawl
research scrape search <query> --scrape	Search + scrape top results
research scrape crawl <url> -l <limit>	Crawl a domain

AI Research Queries

Command	Description
research research-query ask <question>	AI-powered research question
research research-query company <name>	Company analysis
research research-query market <topic>	Market analysis

SEO Audits

Command	Description
research seo audit <url>	AI-powered SEO audit
research seo lighthouse <url>	Full Lighthouse audit (local Chrome)
research seo robots <url>	Check robots.txt
research seo sitemap <url>	Parse sitemap.xml

Academic Search

Command	Description
research academic search <query>	Search Semantic Scholar, CrossRef, PubMed
research academic search <query> --source pubmed	Search single database
research academic paper <doi>	Get paper details by DOI

Scheduling

Command	Description
research cron run	Manually trigger brief scheduler
research cron status	Check scheduled brief status

API Keys

Key	Required	Purpose
GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY	Yes	Powers AI chat, research queries, and brief generation
FIRECRAWL_API_KEY	Recommended	Web search, scraping, and crawling

Get your keys:

• Google AI: aistudio.google.com/apikey
• Firecrawl: firecrawl.dev/app/api-keys

Keys are stored in ~/.research/.env.

Web UI

The research client includes a full Next.js web UI with:

• AI chat with 40+ tools (scraping, research, SEO, academic, briefs)
• Brief management with scheduled auto-refresh
• Source library and trend monitoring
• SEO audit dashboard
• Academic peer review matching

research ui -p 3000

Data Storage

All data is stored locally in ~/.research/data/ as JSON files:

• briefs.json — Research briefs
• brief-runs.json — Scheduled brief outputs
• sources.json — Source URLs and excerpts
• spaces.json — Research workspaces
• trends.json — Trend monitors
• chat.json — Chat history
• settings.json — Preferences

Tech Stack

• CLI: Commander.js, Chalk, Inquirer
• AI: Google Gemini 2.5 Pro via @ai-sdk/google
• Scraping: Firecrawl API
• Academic: Semantic Scholar, CrossRef, PubMed
• SEO: Google PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse
• Web UI: Next.js 15, React 19, Tailwind CSS, Vercel AI SDK

License

MIT