Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about AI Research Agent: what it is, how the parallel browser research works, what it costs, and how to deploy your own copy.
What is AI Research Agent?
AI Research Agent is a web application that researches any topic for you in real time. It launches up to 5 parallel cloud browser sessions that search Google, Wikipedia, YouTube, Hacker News, and Google News simultaneously, extracts relevant findings with AI, and synthesizes everything into a structured, source-linked report you can download.
How does AI Research Agent work?
It works in four steps. 1) It creates up to 5 parallel browser sessions on Browserbase cloud infrastructure, driven by the Stagehand automation framework. 2) Each session navigates a different source: Google Search, Wikipedia, YouTube, Hacker News, or Google News. 3) Claude (Anthropic's AI model) extracts relevant information from each page using structured schemas. 4) All findings are streamed to your screen live via Server-Sent Events, then combined into a final AI-written summary with a permanent link.
Which sources does it search?
It searches five sources in parallel: Google Search, Wikipedia, YouTube, Hacker News, and Google News. Each source runs in its own live browser session that you can watch in real time.
What does it cost?
You pay per research run, with no subscription. Packs are $2.90 for 3 runs, $4.90 for 6 runs, $9.90 for 15 runs, in US dollars. Credits never expire. There is also a free allowance of one run per visitor per day, capped by a site-wide daily limit, so you can see the output quality before paying anything. Every run reads five sources and produces a downloadable report.
Which payment methods are accepted?
Checkout offers two channels. Card payments go through Creem acting as Merchant of Record, which accepts credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, issues your receipt, and handles any sales tax or VAT that applies where you are. PayPal payments are collected directly by the site operator, who is the seller for those orders and issues the receipt. Either way, card details go to the payment provider and are never seen or stored by this site.
Do I need to create an account?
No. After paying you receive an access key, which is both your identity and your credit balance. Paste it into the site once and your browser remembers it. There is no password to manage and no profile to fill in. Give an email address at checkout and a copy of the key is emailed to you, so it can be recovered if you lose it.
Can I get a refund?
Yes. Within 14 days of purchase, unused credits are refunded in full with no questions asked, and partially used packs are refunded pro rata for the unused portion. If a run fails for a technical reason on our side, the credit is returned to your balance automatically without you asking. Email wangqiyuan@gmail.com and we reply within 3 business days.
What technology stack does it use?
The frontend uses Next.js 16 with React 19, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS 4. Browser automation is handled by Stagehand running on Browserbase cloud browsers. Page extraction uses Claude Haiku 4.5 and the final synthesis uses Claude Sonnet 4.5, both via the Vercel AI SDK. Credit balances and reports are stored in Upstash Redis. Results stream over Server-Sent Events, and the app deploys to Vercel.
How long does a research run take?
Most research runs finish in well under a few minutes because the five sources are searched in parallel. Each run has a hard cap of 300 seconds (5 minutes) enforced by the API route.
Why do the browsers sometimes run one at a time instead of in parallel?
The app detects the cloud browser concurrency available to it. When only one concurrent browser is available, it falls back to sequential mode and reads the sources one after another. The report is identical; it just takes longer, and you are not charged extra for the wait.
Does it store my research queries or results?
Yes, and only for as long as needed. Your query and the resulting report are stored for 90 days so that the permanent report link works and opening it never re-runs the research; after 90 days they are deleted automatically. Your access key and credit balance are stored so billing works. IP addresses are stored only as a salted hash, used for rate limiting, and expire within 24 hours. Card details are never stored. See the privacy policy for the full list.
Can anyone else read my report?
Only someone who has the link. Report links contain a random, unguessable identifier and are excluded from search engines, but they are not password-protected, so treat the link as the secret. Do not submit confidential or sensitive information in your queries.
How accurate are the results?
The report is generated by AI from pages it read at that moment, and it can contain errors, omissions, or outdated information. Every finding links to the source it came from precisely so you can check it. Treat the output as a fast first pass, not as a verified answer, and never as legal, medical, or financial advice.
Can I deploy my own copy?
Yes. The code is MIT-licensed. Clone the GitHub repository, set the Browserbase and Anthropic credentials, and deploy to Vercel or run it locally with npm run dev. The payment, credit, and rate-limiting layers are optional: without a payment provider and Upstash configured the app still runs, it simply has no billing.
Who built AI Research Agent?
It is built on the open-source Stagehand Research Agent template published by Browserbase, which showcases Stagehand browser automation, Browserbase cloud browsers, and Claude working together in a Next.js app. This hosted service is operated as an independent deployment by an individual, Wang Qiyuan.