Deep research and specialists

For questions where being right matters: a long, fact-checked research run that ends in a cited report, and expert helpers with their own instructions.

What to ask for

• “Do deep research on heat pumps versus gas boilers for a 1970s house.” It runs in the background; the Research tab of the Workspace shows it working and the cited report when it is done.
• “Is it true that creatine helps memory? I want sources.” The same, on a narrower question.
• “Follow up on the heat pump research: what does an installation cost this year?” A follow-up builds on the earlier answer instead of starting from zero, and stays in the same conversation.
• “Ask a medical expert whether ibuprofen and paracetamol can be taken together.” He consults a specialist and tells you what it said.
• “Open the specialists.” The Specialists window opens; pick one and ask it yourself.
• “Make me a specialist for German tax law who always cites the paragraph.” He saves a specialist with your instructions.
• “Keep the tax specialist on while I work on my return.” It quietly reads along and speaks up only when something in its field is wrong.

How it works

• Research: several searchers read the web at once. Pinchy then opens every page they cite himself and checks that the quoted words are really there; a quote that is not there counts for nothing. A claim needs two independent sites to count as verified.
• Specialists: each one is set up for its job. It starts with the tools that fit it (a code reviewer reads your files, a fact-checker uses the web, a devil’s advocate reasons without looking anything up; you can change that in its settings), and it brings its own checklist, its own steps, and its own kind of answer: a code review comes back as findings with a verdict, a fact-check as claims marked right, wrong, misleading or cannot tell, each with its source. No specialist can change a file or run a command.
• Switched to “Always on”, a specialist reads parts of Pinchy’s work (answers, research, documents, code) and leaves him a short note only when something in its field is wrong or missing.
• A quick fact is answered in the chat. Research is for questions that need real investigation.

The Specialists window

• Ask Pinchy to open the specialists, or use Settings → Work & Code → Specialists → Open Specialists. To have it one click away, add “Specialists” to his right-click menu (right-click Pinchy → Customize → Add something).
• On the left are your specialists, each with one line saying what it is for. Pick one to see what it uses, what it knows (its checklist, the files and links you gave it, and what it noted about your work) and how it works.
• Ask it in the box at the bottom. Its answer is drawn as what it is: findings, claims, edits or points. A follow-up continues the same conversation.
• What Pinchy asked a specialist, and what the specialist noticed while Pinchy worked, show up in that same conversation.
• ”+” adds one of the ready-made specialists. To make your own, tell Pinchy what you need (“make me a specialist for German tax law who always cites the paragraph”).
• The switch “Always on” is on the specialist itself.

The Research tab

• Workspace → Research (Alt+4 in the Workspace). You can also start a research there: write the question, pick Quick, Standard or Deep, and start.
• While it runs you see the steps (Plan, Search, Re-read, Verify, Write), the sub-questions Pinchy split your question into, and the pages as they come in: found, then “quote found” once he has re-read the page himself, “not opened” when the page was blocked, or “thrown out” when the quoted words are not on the page.
• The report is read in the tab. A number like [3] after a sentence is its source: click it to see the page and the exact quote. The side panel lists Sources, the Plan, and the Claims with how well each is confirmed.
• The box under the report asks a follow-up. The question and its follow-ups are one conversation, one row in the list on the left. Right-click a row to rename, pin or delete it.
• Stop ends a running research and keeps what it found so far. “Open as a document” opens the saved report (it is also kept under Artifacts).

Settings

• Settings → Work & Code → Deep research: default depth (Quick, Standard, Deep), the model for planning and writing, the model for the searchers.
• Settings → Work & Code → Specialists: open the Specialists window, the default model and thinking effort, use specialists, let always-on specialists work alongside Pinchy, what each may spend per hour, the pause between two looks, let Pinchy correct an answer right away.

Limits

• A research run uses several models at once and takes minutes; it costs more of your plan than a chat answer.
• A follow-up is a new research run with its own cost. Its report cites only pages it checked itself; the earlier answer is background for it, not a source.
• Pages appear when a searcher comes back with them, not one by one while it reads.
• A specialist is a careful second opinion, not a professional. For medical, legal or money decisions, check with a person.

---

All pages · Download Pinchy