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, codex
    workflow_file=None,        # Custom workflow file
    port=3284,                 # agentapi server port
    skip_permissions=True,     # Skip permission checks
    manage_server=True,        # Start/stop agentapi server (set False for external server)
    sources="academic papers", # Source guidance
    workdir_base=None,         # Base directory for workspaces (default: system temp)
    max_iterations=None,       # Limit looping task iterations (requires cyberian >= 0.3.0)
)

If you want to run a pre-configured agentapi server (for example, Codex with yolo mode), start it manually and set manage_server=False so deep-research-client does not restart it.

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

Testing and Iteration Control

Use max_iterations to limit how many times looping tasks (like the iterate subtask) can run. This is passed through to cyberian's TaskRunner and requires cyberian >= 0.3.0.

# Limit to 2 iterations for testing
deep-research-client research --provider cyberian "query" \
    --param agent_type=codex \
    --param max_iterations=2

This is useful for:

• Testing: Run a quick verification without full research
• Cost control: Limit agent API calls
• Debugging: Inspect intermediate results after fixed iterations

---

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(...)