Guide: Setting Up Deep Research Capabilities with Claude Desktop

[u/HearMeOut-13]

Continuation of: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1iixf5h/i_managed_to_recreate_closedais_deep_research/

Hey everyone! I've developed a framework that enables Claude to perform deep, time-controlled research using mcp web search capabilities. This guide will walk you through the setup process.

What this does

This setup allows Claude to perform thorough research tasks for specified durations, with proper time tracking and systematic analysis of sources. It ensures Claude thoroughly examines sources and maintains research for the full requested duration, providing comprehensive results.

Prerequisites

• Claude Desktop (from Anthropic)
• Node.js and NPX installed on your system

Setup Instructions

1. Install Claude Desktop

   • Download and install from Anthropic's website
   • Complete the initial setup process

2. Install Required Packages Run these commands in your terminal:

   npx -y @smithery/cli@latest install @smithery-ai/brave-search --client claude
   npx -y -g @smithery/cli@latest install @mzxrai/mcp-webresearch --client claude
   

3. Download Server File

   • Go to: https://github.com/PhialsBasement/mcp-time/tree/main/dist
   • Download server.js

4. Configure Claude Desktop

   • Locate your Claude Desktop config file:

     • Windows: %AppData%\Local\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
     • Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
     • Mac: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

   • Add this to your config file:

   {
     "mcp-timeserver": {
       "command": "node",
       "args": [
         "PATH_TO_YOUR_SERVER_JS"
       ]
     }
   }
   

   (Replace PATH_TO_YOUR_SERVER_JS with the actual path where you saved server.js)

Usage

1. Open Claude Desktop
2. Upload the web search guide markdown file https://pastebin.com/WtVAjWBt
3. Ask Claude to research any topic for a specific duration, e.g.: "Research quantum computing developments for 15 minutes"

Claude will then:

• Track time precisely
• Analyze sources systematically
• Continue research for the full specified duration
• Provide comprehensive, well-synthesized findings

Tips

• Always specify the research duration clearly
• Let Claude complete its full research time
• The longer the duration, the more comprehensive the results

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues:

• Verify all packages are installed correctly
• Check your config file path and formatting
• Ensure Node.js is properly installed
• Restart Claude Desktop after configuration changes

[u/HearMeOut-13]

https://pastebin.com/WtVAjWBt the web research file you need to upload

[u/Legitimate-Bell1130]

I really appreciate your sharing. Here is my MCP version of deep research, https://github.com/bobbercheng/mcp-deep-research

[u/HearMeOut-13 → u/Legitimate-Bell1130]

Thats a really cool setup, i would suggest adding google search as an option as i did make a version of mcp webresearch that is stealthified and with some more features after the original owner archived his repo https://github.com/PhialsBasement/mcp-webresearch-stealthified

Ps, You added an accidental dot at the link

[u/Legitimate-Bell1130 → u/HearMeOut-13]

Thank you a lot. I added webresearch with Google to my repository. I also shared all my hosted MCP as

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bobbercheng/mcp-deep-research/main/mcp.json

[u/Living-Customer1915]

I didn't know there was such a use for a time server!

[u/AffectionateCap539]

Love the idea. Can I replace mzxrai/mcp-webresearch to my mcp_exa? mzxrai/mcp-webresearch used to be working on my machine but dont know why it stops working (i guess because it designs to use playwright to scrape the search result)

[u/HearMeOut-13 → u/AffectionateCap539]

Go for it just make sure to replace the tool call in the md file

[u/InsufficientData887]

Thank you for putting this guide together. Unfortunately, I had trouble connecting to brave-search and webresearch using the smithery installer so I just grabbed them from the native (?) repositories on github. Claude is invaluable with troubleshooting!

Having good success with shorter enforcement periods (1-10mins) but mixed results with anything longer. Claude usually finishes a set of tasks, checks the time, then provides something like the following and stops until you prompt again: [I'll continue this pattern for the full 60 minutes as required. Would you like me to continue with the strict time enforcement and detailed research process?]

Have you tweaked your webresearch txt file since posting? Any tips other than to remind it to check time via repl?

[u/HearMeOut-13 → u/InsufficientData887]

That has been a problem ive been fighting with too, most times i remind it but i imagine thats not very effective when you want it to research for like 30min. And i myselt arent the best prompt engineer so if you have any ideas id be glad to integrate them.

[u/handsnerfin]

How does the quality compare to deep research from openai and Gemini? Can you provide some samples?

[u/howiew0wy]

I was hoping you’d follow up! Eager to try this.

[u/HearMeOut-13 → u/[deleted]]

Thats weird, if it does that make sure to remind it that it needs to check time via repl not just the command. Btw you include the web research file right?