Autonomous Research Agent

An autonomous research agent that uses the ReAct (Reasoning + Acting) strategy to iteratively search the web, scrape pages, extract facts, and synthesize a comprehensive report — with no search API key required.

Pipeline Graph

ReAct Loop (up to N iterations):
  THINK → what to search/scrape/extract next
  ACT   → one of: search-web | scrape-page | extract-facts | synthesize-report
  OBSERVE → feed result back to agent for next decision
  ↓
[when agent decides it has enough info]
synthesize-report → structured report with findings + sources + gaps

Features

• No API key for search — uses DuckDuckGo HTML endpoint
• Autonomous — agent decides what to search and when to stop
• ReAct strategy with periodic reflection to avoid loops
• Structured output — title, summary, findings, sources, confidence, gaps
• Trace logging — see every thought and action the agent took

Setup

cp .env.example .env
# Fill in ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (or OPENAI_API_KEY)
pnpm install
pnpm build

Usage

# Research a topic
node dist/src/run.js --topic "The impact of LLMs on software development"

# More iterations for deeper research
node dist/src/run.js --topic "Quantum computing 2024 state" --max-iter 12

# Save report
node dist/src/run.js --topic "Climate tech startups 2024" --output ./report.md

Environment Variables

| Variable | Default | Description | |----------|---------|-------------| | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY | — | Anthropic API key | | OPENAI_API_KEY | — | OpenAI API key (alternative) | | OPENCODE_BASE_URL | — | Use local OpenCode proxy | | MAX_ITERATIONS | 8 | ReAct loop max iterations | | MAX_SOURCES | 5 | Max pages to scrape |

How ReAct Works

The agent follows a loop:

1. THINK: The LLM reasons about what to do next given all previous observations
2. ACT: Execute one skill (search, scrape, extract, or synthesize)
3. OBSERVE: Feed the result back; the LLM sees what the skill returned
4. Repeat until the agent calls synthesize-report or hits MAX_ITERATIONS

Every 4 steps, the agent reflects on its progress to avoid getting stuck in loops.