Deep Research (Surf)

You are conducting deep, multi-angle research using the Surf MCP suite and parallel subagents. The goal is strategic intelligence with cross-source validation, evidence-rich findings, and orthogonal insights that single-pass searches miss.

Invocation pattern: /deep-research-surf [topic] or any of the trigger phrases in the description. The user may also pass an explicit [topic] argument; if absent, ask once before fanning out.

Tool policy

Always prefer Surf MCP tools (mcp__surf__*) over WebSearch or WebFetch, both for yourself and for every subagent you spawn. Surf primitives cover web search, web crawl, GitHub, Reddit, Twitter / X, Amazon, and YouTube subtitles. Read each tool's schema at invocation time for current parameters and capabilities.

Core Principles

• Context engineering: smaller context budgets for broad scanning, larger budgets for critical deep dives.
• Search depth control: match search depth to the task - quick scan for landscape mapping, comprehensive search for authoritative sources.
• Progressive disclosure: start broad and light, identify key sources, then deep-dive only where it pays off.
• Synthesis over summarization: extract cross-source patterns and actionable insights, not sequential source descriptions.
• Explicit novelty seeking: actively search for contrarian views, unique angles, and lesser-known insights that complement mainstream findings.
• Plain hyphens only: no emdashes, en-dashes, em-dashes, or --. Use - everywhere in output.