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AI Deep Research Guide

Overview

SlideFlow’s AI Deep Research feature (ai deep-research) is a specialized tool focused on the research phase of presentation creation. It provides integrated support for web search, document analysis, and information organization.

Basic Usage

1. Initialize Research Environment

Initialize the research environment within your presentation directory:

cd presentations/my-presentation
slideflow ai deep-research init

This creates the following directory structure:

research/
├── sources/          # Information sources
│   ├── web/         # Web collection
│   ├── documents/   # Documents
│   └── data/        # Data files
├── notes/           # Research notes
├── ai-research/     # AI research results
└── analysis/        # Analysis results

Interactive Mode (Default) 

slideflow ai deep-research search "latest trends in generative AI"

Claude Code launches interactively, allowing you to monitor and guide the research process.

Automatic Mode 

slideflow ai deep-research search --auto "machine learning algorithms"

Executes search and save operations automatically in the background.

Timeout Settings 

# 10-minute (600 seconds) timeout for detailed research
slideflow ai deep-research search -t 600 "deep learning applications"

# Combining multiple options
slideflow ai deep-research search --auto -t 900 "large language models"

3. Document Analysis

Analyze PDFs, text files, and other documents:

slideflow ai deep-research analyze research-paper.pdf
slideflow ai deep-research analyze technical-spec.docx

4. Research Information Management

Adding Notes 

slideflow ai deep-research add-note "GPT-4 features: multimodal support, 128k tokens"

Recording Source Information 

slideflow ai deep-research add-source "https://openai.com/research/gpt-4"
slideflow ai deep-research add-source "/path/to/local/document.pdf" document

Viewing Research Content 

# List research content
slideflow ai deep-research list

# Display summary
slideflow ai deep-research summary

Advanced Usage

AI Tool Priority

AI Deep Research attempts to use AI tools in the following order:

  1. Claude Code
  2. Gemini
  3. llm (generic LLM command)
  4. Ollama
  5. Continue
  6. aider
  7. GitHub Copilot

Available tools are automatically detected and the optimal one is used.

Research Session Management

Each research session is managed in the following format:

ai-research/
└── 2025-01-07-143025-web-search/
    ├── query.txt        # Search query
    ├── metadata.json    # Session information
    ├── summary.md       # Research results
    └── raw-results/     # Raw data

Integration with Presentations

Research results can be directly utilized in presentation creation:

# Research phase
slideflow ai deep-research search "presentation topic"

# Review research results
slideflow ai deep-research summary

# Move to presentation creation phase
slideflow ai --phase creation
# → Create slides while referencing research results

Best Practices

1. Systematic Research Flow 

# 1. Initialize
slideflow ai deep-research init

# 2. Broad research
slideflow ai deep-research search "topic overview"

# 3. Detailed research
slideflow ai deep-research search -t 900 "specific technical details"

# 4. Document analysis
slideflow ai deep-research analyze important-paper.pdf

# 5. Record important information
slideflow ai deep-research add-note "key points"
slideflow ai deep-research add-source "https://source.url"

# 6. Review summary
slideflow ai deep-research summary

2. Leveraging Interactive Mode

  • Default interactive mode allows you to monitor AI operations
  • You can provide additional instructions as needed
  • Research direction can be adjusted mid-process

3. Appropriate Timeout Settings

  • Simple research: Default (300 seconds)
  • Detailed research: 600-900 seconds
  • Comprehensive research: 1200+ seconds

4. Utilizing Research Results

Research results are stored in a structured format in the research/ directory:

  • Easy to reference later
  • Shareable with team members
  • Can be directly cited during presentation creation

Troubleshooting

When Claude Code Doesn’t Work

  1. Verify Claude Code is installed
  2. Other AI tools (Gemini, llm, etc.) will be used automatically

Timeout Errors 

# Extend timeout
slideflow ai deep-research search -t 1200 "complex topic"

Directory Errors 

# Execute within presentation directory
cd presentations/my-presentation
slideflow ai deep-research init
  • slideflow ai - Comprehensive AI assistance
  • slideflow ai --phase research - General research phase assistance
  • slideflow new - Create new presentation