The Research Tool
Research is a helper the Game Master can send off to look things up for it. Instead of reading whole character sheets, lore entries, and chat transcripts into the middle of a reply, the Game Master hands a few focused questions to a fast research helper. The helper searches your project’s files and your game’s message history, then hands back a short, cited answer — just the facts the Game Master actually needs.
What it’s used for
-
“Tell me about X” — who a character is, what an item does, the key facts about a faction or place.
-
Rules and stats — a character’s AC, how a spell works, what your custom rules say about a situation.
-
Places and distances — where something is, and how locations relate to each other.
-
“Did this happen already?” — the helper can search the full game transcript, so the agent can check past events, plans, and decisions that have long scrolled out of view.
Why it exists
Every fact an agent reads stays in its context for the rest of the reply — and big, cluttered context makes AI slower, more expensive, and more forgetful (see Context Rot). Research keeps the main agent’s context lean: it gets a two-line answer instead of a two-thousand word file. That means:
-
Lower cost overall. A research run generally costs around 0.5–1 credit, but it usually saves more than it costs. Without it, the agent reads entire files into its context, and pays to re-read them on every following message in the conversation.
-
Better memory. With less clutter in its context, the agent keeps a clearer grip on your story — and the transcript search gives it a way to recall things that happened many sessions ago.
-
Faster answers. The helper runs on a fast model and works in a couple of quick passes, while the main agent keeps its place.
The helper only reads. It can’t edit, move, or delete anything in your project.
Turning it on or off
Research is on by default. To change it, open Game Master settings and flip the Research switch.
With research off, the Game Master falls back to reading files directly with its own tools — everything still works, it just spends more energy on long lookups and keeps more raw material in its context.