Deep Research
Also: Claude Deep Research, Research mode
Deep Research (called "Research" in the product) turns Claude into a systematic investigator rather than a conversational assistant. Instead of one search, it runs many — each building on what the previous one found — then synthesises everything into a structured, cited report. Extended thinking activates automatically, so Claude plans its approach before searching. Most reports complete in 5 to 15 minutes; complex ones can run up to 45. Not a feature to kick off five minutes before a meeting. Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans only — not available on Free. Two modes worth knowing: the default uses the web; if you disable web search and keep connectors on, it runs the same deep investigation against your internal tools only — useful for "what has our team actually decided about X" questions. When to use it over simpler tools: when you need citations from multiple sources, not just a quick answer.
In practice
You ask Claude: "What's the competitive landscape for AI document processing tools — main players, pricing, weaknesses?" Instead of one response, Deep Research mode runs multiple searches, reads source material, and comes back 5 minutes later with a structured report with citations. It's for questions worth doing properly.
Related concepts
Where Deep Research shows up
2 articlesDeep Research is a different tool from web search — it runs longer, uses more tokens, and is worth it for specific questions. Here is when to use it.
Deep Research works differently from a search engine. Here is what it actually does and how to use it well.