---
type: trekresearch-brief
created: 2026-06-30
question: "Should /trekresearch delegate its external phase to the built-in /deep-research workflow?"
confidence: 0.8
dimensions: 2
mcp_servers_used: []
local_agents_used: []
external_agents_used:
  - deep-research
---

# Deep-research engine adapter output

> Fixture: a `/deep-research` in-context report reduced into the research-brief
> schema by the `--engine deep-research` adapter (Step 4). Models the target the
> adapter must hit; not real engine output.

## Executive Summary

Delegating the external phase to the built-in `/deep-research` workflow is a
viable opt-in engine that supplies fan-out and cited claim-verification for free.
Confidence is medium-high on the mechanism but lower on availability, because the
workflow exposes no positive "is-enabled" probe. The load-bearing caveat is
provenance: structural validity does not certify that the cited URLs are real, so
a swarm fallback plus a human URL spot-check stay mandatory.

## Dimensions

### Engine mechanism -- Confidence: high

**External findings:**
- `/deep-research` is a built-in dynamic workflow reachable only by prose instruction, with no programmatic API (https://code.claude.com/docs/workflows).
- Its report lands in-context with no on-disk artifact, so the adapter must transform what is already in the turn (https://code.claude.com/docs/commands).

### Fallback ergonomics -- Confidence: high

**External findings:**
- There is no positive availability probe; only `disableWorkflows` / `CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_WORKFLOWS` off-switches and a 2.1.154 version floor are documented (https://code.claude.com/docs/skills).
- Disabled-workflow behavior under `claude -p` is undocumented, so the post-hoc presence check must be robust to every failure manifestation (https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/52272).

## Sources

| # | Source | Type | Quality | Used in |
|---|--------|------|---------|---------|
| 1 | https://code.claude.com/docs/workflows | official | high | Engine mechanism |
| 2 | https://code.claude.com/docs/commands | official | high | Engine mechanism |
| 3 | https://code.claude.com/docs/skills | official | high | Fallback ergonomics |
| 4 | https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/52272 | community | medium | Fallback ergonomics |