Which Research Tool to Use

What it is

Claude has three distinct tools for going beyond a single quick answer: web search, extended thinking, and Research. They overlap in theme but not in use. This page is the short decision guide.

Rule of thumb:

Need fresh facts? → Web search.
Need hard thinking, no fresh info? → Extended thinking.
Need a report across many sources? → Research.

Where to find it

All three live in the composer. Web search and extended thinking are toggles under the tools slider. Research is a dedicated button in the bottom-left.

How to use it

Pick web search when

The question is factual and current: weather, news, a specific company, recent sports scores.
You want 1–2 quick lookups, not a deep dive.
You want to steer the search yourself and have Claude execute it.

Pick extended thinking when

The problem is about reasoning, not retrieval: maths, code debugging, philosophy, close reading.
No web info needed.
You want Claude to explore multiple angles before committing to an answer.

Pick Research when

You need a thorough, cited report.
The question spans many sources — five-plus tool calls, often 1–3 minutes of work.
Examples: competitor analysis, updating an outdated doc, prioritising a backlog.

Combine Research + extended thinking

They’re designed to pair. Enabling Research turns on extended thinking automatically — so Claude plans its investigation, then executes across sources.

Good to know

Research needs web search on. If you enable Research, make sure web search is also on.
Usage cost scales with tool use. Research especially — one run burns through limits faster than a plain chat.
Extended thinking alone won’t fetch anything. If the answer depends on info Claude doesn’t already have, web search or Research is what you want.

What’s changed recently

2026-04-18 — Page created from official help-center article.