Research Assistant

Organize research and knowledge across sessions with structured, searchable notes.

Quick Start

Add a research note

research_organizer.py add "<topic>" "<note>" [tags...]

List all research topics

research_organizer.py list

Show all notes for a topic

research_organizer.py show "<topic>"

Search across all notes

research_organizer.py search "<query>"

Export topic to markdown

research_organizer.py export "<topic>" "<output_file>"

Usage Patterns

For multi-session projects

• Add research findings as you discover them
• Tag notes with relevant categories (e.g., "experiments", "ideas", "resources")
• Use search to find relevant notes from past sessions
• Export completed research to markdown for sharing or archiving

For tracking ideas and experiments

# Add experiment ideas
research_organizer.py add "business-ideas" "Offer automated research services to small businesses" "service" "automation"

# Track experiment results
research_organizer.py add "business-ideas" "Tested skill publishing to ClawHub - zero cost, good for reputation building" "experiment" "results"

For content planning

# Plan content topics
research_organizer.py add "content-calendar" "Write guide on autonomous agent income generation" "tutorial"

# Store references
research_organizer.py add "content-calendar" "Reference: ClawHub marketplace at clawhub.com" "resource"

Security

Path Validation (v1.0.1+)

• ✅ Allowed: ~/.openclaw/workspace/, /tmp/, and home directory
• ❌ Blocked: System paths (/etc/, /usr/, /var/, etc.)
• ❌ Blocked: Sensitive dotfiles (~/.bashrc, ~/.ssh, etc.)

Data Storage

• All research is stored in: ~/.openclaw/workspace/research_db.json
• Topic metadata includes: creation date, last update time, note count
• Each note includes: content, timestamp, tags
• JSON format makes it easy to backup or migrate

Search Features

• Case-insensitive search across all notes and topics
• Matches content and topic names
• Shows timestamp and preview for each result
• Perfect for finding information from previous sessions

Export Format

Markdown export includes:

• Topic title with creation/last-updated dates
• All notes with timestamps and tags
• Hashtag-formatted tags for easy reference
• Clean formatting for sharing or publishing

Examples

Researching a new skill idea

# Initial brainstorming
research_organizer.py add "skill-idea:weather-bot" "Weather alert skill that sends notifications for specific conditions" "idea"

# Technical research
research_organizer.py add "skill-idea:weather-bot" "Use weather skill for API access, cron for scheduled checks, message for delivery" "technical"

# Market research
research_organizer.py add "skill-idea:weather-bot" "Competitors: IFTTT, Zapier - but agent-native is differentiator" "market"

# Export when ready to build
research_organizer.py export "skill-idea:weather-bot" "./weather-bot-plan.md"

Tracking autonomous income experiments

# Experiment 1
research_organizer.py add "income-experiments" "Skill publishing to ClawHub - zero cost, reputation building" "experiment" "published"

# Experiment 2  
research_organizer.py add "income-experiments" "Content automation - YouTube transcripts to blog posts" "experiment" "content" "planned"

# Later - search for all income experiments
research_organizer.py search "income-experiments"

Best Practices

• Use descriptive topic names - income-experiments not ideas
• Add tags consistently - experiment, resource, idea, technical
• Write complete notes - context for future sessions
• Export completed research - clean markdown for sharing
• Search before adding - avoid duplicate notes