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Provider Reference

Complete reference for all supported research providers.

Overview

Provider Env Variable Strengths Speed
OpenAI OPENAI_API_KEY Most comprehensive Slow
Perplexity PERPLEXITY_API_KEY Real-time web, multiple speeds Fast-Slow
Edison EDISON_API_KEY Scientific literature Slow
Consensus CONSENSUS_API_KEY Academic papers Fast
Cyberian (local agents) Agent-based, thorough Very slow

OpenAI Deep Research

Setup

export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-key"

Models

Model Aliases Description
o3-deep-research-2025-06-26 o3, o3-deep, o3dr Most comprehensive
o4-mini-deep-research-2025-06-26 o4m, o4-mini, mini Balanced speed/quality

Parameters

from deep_research_client.provider_params import OpenAIParams

params = OpenAIParams(
    allowed_domains=["pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov"],  # Filter to domains
    temperature=0.2,
    max_tokens=4000,
    top_p=0.95
)

Characteristics

  • Cost: High to Very High
  • Speed: 2-15 minutes
  • Context Window: 128K tokens
  • Capabilities: Web search, code interpretation, comprehensive synthesis

Perplexity AI

Setup

export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY="your-key"

Models

Model Aliases Description
sonar-deep-research deep, deep-research, sdr Comprehensive
sonar-pro pro, sp Balanced
sonar basic, fast, s Fastest

Parameters

from deep_research_client.provider_params import PerplexityParams

params = PerplexityParams(
    allowed_domains=["wikipedia.org", "github.com"],
    reasoning_effort="high",  # low, medium, high
    search_recency_filter="month"  # day, week, month, year
)

# Or use native domain filter with deny-list
params = PerplexityParams(
    search_domain_filter=[
        "github.com",       # Allow
        "-reddit.com",      # Deny (prefix with -)
    ]
)

Characteristics

  • Cost: Low to High (depends on model)
  • Speed: Seconds to minutes
  • Context Window: 100K-200K tokens
  • Capabilities: Real-time web search, recent data

Edison Scientific (Falcon)

Setup

export EDISON_API_KEY="your-key"

Models

Model Aliases Description
Edison Scientific Literature falcon, edison, eds, science Scientific papers

Parameters

from deep_research_client.provider_params import FalconParams

params = FalconParams(
    temperature=0.1,
    max_tokens=8000
)

Characteristics

  • Cost: High
  • Speed: 2-5 minutes
  • Capabilities: Scientific literature, powered by PaperQA3

Consensus

Setup

export CONSENSUS_API_KEY="your-key"

Note: Requires application approval.

Models

Model Aliases Description
Consensus Academic Search consensus, academic, papers, c Peer-reviewed only

Characteristics

  • Cost: Low
  • Speed: Seconds
  • Capabilities: Academic papers only, evidence-based summaries

Cyberian (Agent-Based)

Setup

pip install deep-research-client[cyberian]

Cyberian uses local AI agents (Claude, Aider, etc.) - no separate API key needed.

Parameters

from deep_research_client.provider_params import CyberianParams

params = CyberianParams(
    agent_type="claude",       # claude, aider, cursor, goose
    workflow_file=None,        # Custom workflow file
    port=3284,                 # agentapi server port
    skip_permissions=True,     # Skip permission checks
    sources="academic papers"  # Source guidance
)

Characteristics

  • Cost: Variable (depends on agent)
  • Speed: 10-30+ minutes
  • Capabilities: Iterative research, citation management, comprehensive synthesis

When to Use

  • Comprehensive literature reviews
  • Deep technical research
  • Multi-source citation management

Provider Detection

Providers are auto-detected based on environment variables:

# Check available providers
deep-research-client providers

Adding Custom Providers

Create a new provider in src/deep_research_client/providers/:

from . import ResearchProvider
from ..models import ResearchResult

class NewProvider(ResearchProvider):
    async def research(self, query: str) -> ResearchResult:
        # Implementation
        return ResearchResult(...)