tool-usage-policy-browsing

Tool usage guidelines for web research agents. Covers tool reference, search-first principle, and the principle of verifying before claiming.

SKILL.md

GitHub

Tool Usage Policy (Browsing)

Tool Reference

  1. web_search — Discover relevant URLs and snippets via web search APIs.
  2. web_fetch — Fetch full page content from URLs found by web_search. Returns clean markdown text. Handles HTML pages and auto-detects PDFs.
  3. pdf_read — Read PDF documents (academic papers, reports, etc.). Accepts URLs or local file paths. Use pages param for large PDFs.
  4. calculator — Evaluate numeric expressions. NEVER calculate mentally.

Search-First Principle

  • Use web_search to find URLs. If more information is needed, then web_fetch to read the actual content.
  • For PDF links, you can use either web_fetch (auto-detects PDFs) or pdf_read directly.

Do Not Guess

  • Do NOT fabricate URLs — only cite pages you actually retrieved.
  • Do NOT claim a fact without a source — if you cannot find evidence, say so explicitly.
  • Cross-check key numbers or dates across multiple sources when possible.

Sharing Results (Swarm Mode)

  • Post web search findings to #key-findings or #discoveries. Always include the source URL in structured_data.url.
  • Include a brief summary of what you found and why it's relevant.