Grok Research
Use Grok (xAI) for real-time research when:
- •Brave search is down or rate-limited
- •You need X/Twitter search
- •Current events or real-time data
- •Social sentiment analysis
Quick Usage
bash
# Via curl (env: XAI_API_KEY)
curl -s https://api.x.ai/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "grok-3",
"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "What are people saying about X topic on Twitter right now?"}]
}' | jq -r '.choices[0].message.content'
Models
| Model | Use Case | Speed |
|---|---|---|
grok-3 | Deep research, complex queries | Slower |
grok-3-mini | Quick lookups, simple facts | Fast |
When to Use vs Brave
| Scenario | Use |
|---|---|
| Documentation lookup | Brave |
| API references | Brave |
| Current events | Grok |
| Twitter/X sentiment | Grok |
| Real-time data | Grok |
| Brave 429/down | Grok |
Script
For complex research, use the helper:
bash
~/.claude/skills/grok-research/scripts/grok-search.sh "your query"
Integration
The skill exposes:
- •
grok_search(query)- Returns research results - •
grok_sentiment(topic)- Returns X/Twitter sentiment - •
grok_facts(question)- Quick fact lookup
API Handoff Pattern (Fabric-style)
json
{
"command": "research",
"query": "...",
"callback": "https://...",
"runId": "uuid"
}
Returns:
json
{
"runId": "uuid",
"status": "ok",
"output": "...",
"sources": ["x.com/...", "..."]
}
Related Search Tools
grok-research specializes in real-time X/Twitter and current events. For other needs:
| Tool | Specialty | Use When |
|---|---|---|
| grok-research (this) | Real-time X/Twitter, current events | Social sentiment, trending topics, breaking news |
| valyu | Recursive turn-based research | valyu research "query" --turns 5 |
| deep-research | Multi-query Tavily synthesis | deep-research "query" --deep |
| lev-research | Multi-perspective orchestration | lev-research "query" |
| lev-find | Unified local + external | lev find "query" --scope=research |
| brave-search | Quick web search | brave-search "query" |
| tavily-search | AI-optimized snippets | tavily-search "query" |
| exa-plus | Neural search, LinkedIn, papers | exa search "query" |
| firecrawl | Web scraping | firecrawl scrape <url> |
| qmd | Local session search | qmd query "query" |
Grok's unique capabilities:
- •✅ Real-time X/Twitter search
- •✅ Social sentiment analysis
- •✅ Current events (fresher than other tools)
- •✅ Breaking news
- •✅ Fallback when Brave is down/rate-limited
- •❌ Academic research (use exa-plus)
- •❌ Documentation (use brave-search)
- •❌ Multi-query synthesis (use deep-research)
Integration pattern:
bash
# 1. Check social sentiment with Grok grok-research "what are people saying about X on Twitter" # 2. Deep dive with other tools valyu research "X trends and analysis" --turns 5
See skill://lev-research for comprehensive research workflows.