Deep Research Agent for nous.

An autonomous AI system that conducts multi-step, multi-source investigation to produce comprehensive cited reports. Unlike simple RAG, deep research iteratively plans, searches, analyzes gaps, follows up, and synthesizes.

Quick Start

{:ok, report} = Nous.Research.run(
  "What are the best practices for Elixir deployment in 2026?",
  model: "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",
  search_tool: &Nous.Tools.BraveSearch.web_search/2,
  max_iterations: 3
)

IO.puts(report.content)

With Human Checkpoints

Nous.Research.run("Compare React vs Svelte for enterprise apps",
  model: "openai:gpt-4o",
  search_tool: &Nous.Tools.BraveSearch.web_search/2,
  on_plan_ready: fn plan ->
    IO.inspect(plan.steps, label: "Research Plan")
    :approve
  end,
  on_iteration_complete: fn synthesis ->
    IO.puts("Gaps remaining: #{length(synthesis.gaps)}")
    :continue
  end
)

Streaming Progress (for LiveView)

Nous.Research.run("...",
  search_tool: &search/2,
  notify_pid: self()
)
# Receives:
#   {:research_progress, %{phase: :planning, iteration: 0}}
#   {:research_progress, %{phase: :searching, ...}}
#   {:research_finding, %{query: "...", phase: :searching}}
#   {:research_progress, %{phase: :synthesizing, ...}}
#   {:research_progress, %{phase: :reporting, ...}}

Architecture

The research loop follows five phases:

1. Planning - Decomposes query into searchable sub-questions
2. Searching - Parallel search agents investigate each sub-question
3. Synthesis - Consolidates findings, detects contradictions, identifies gaps
4. Evaluation - Decides whether to iterate or stop
5. Reporting - Generates structured markdown report with citations

Options

• :model - Model for coordination (default: "openai:gpt-4o-mini")
• :search_tool - Search tool function (required)
• :max_iterations - Maximum research loops (default: 5)
• :timeout - Hard timeout in milliseconds (default: 10 minutes)

• :strategy - :parallel | :sequential | :tree (default: :parallel)

• :on_plan_ready - HITL callback for plan review
• :on_iteration_complete - HITL callback between iterations
• :callbacks - %{on_progress: fn event -> ... end}
• :notify_pid - PID for progress messages
• :deps - Dependencies for search tools (e.g., API keys)