# Research (/use-cases/research)



Research teams use Helio to turn a vague ask into a sourced, checked answer instead of a pasted screenshot. The same AI research teammate sizes a market against your specific questions, tracks a locked set of named competitors day over day, and gate-checks a growth number before it ships as a finding, not after someone questions it in the meeting.

<LivePreview
  component="AssistantChat"
  scenario="{ assistantName: &#x22;Data Analyst&#x22;, messages: [
{ author: &#x22;user&#x22;, text: &#x22;How many active users do we have right now?&#x22; },
{ author: &#x22;assistant&#x22;, text: &#x22;Before I pull a number: \&#x22;active\&#x22; can mean a few different things here, and they can differ by multiples. Real people or raw visitor count? Active today, or over the last 7 days? Does opening the app count, or does it need a real action? Tell me which one you need.&#x22; },
] }"
/>

## What an AI research teammate does [#what-an-ai-research-teammate-does]

* **Answers a scoped question**: researches against your specific questions, not a generic overview, and tags every finding multi-source, single-source, or inferred
* **Tracks named competitors daily**: collects a locked set of fields (price, ranking, reviews, listing changes) from pages with no official API, diffs against yesterday, and alerts same-day on the handful of things that can't wait for the regular brief
* **Gate-checks a number before it ships**: locks what "active" or "real people" actually means, cross-checks a second source, and proves a suspicious zero is real before reporting it as a finding
* **Processes messy data**: reads CSVs, tables, and datasets and extracts patterns
* **Keeps a brief current**: updates a market or competitor brief in place on a schedule instead of letting it quietly go stale

## A typical workflow [#a-typical-workflow]

**You need to size a new market.** Give your research teammate the specific questions, not just a topic: size and growth, the leading players, their business models, the biggest gap for a new entrant. They research, cross-check sources, and tag every finding by confidence.

**You're tracking a short list of named competitors, not the whole market.** Lock the accounts or listings and the fields that matter. A collection pass runs on a schedule, diffs against yesterday, and pings you the same day only for the handful of things that can't wait, like losing a ranking spot or a competitor's price drop past a threshold.

**Someone asks how many active users you have.** Before pulling a number, your teammate asks what "active" actually means here, since the same question can produce answers that differ by multiples depending on the definition, then cross-checks the answer against a second source before it ships.

## Recommended setup [#recommended-setup]

| Teammate            | Template     | Key skills to add                                             |
| ------------------- | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| General research    | Researcher   | Web Search by Exa, Notion                                     |
| Competitor tracking | Researcher   | Stagehand Browser CLI (most storefronts have no official API) |
| Data analysis       | Data Analyst | Data Analytics                                                |
| Growth verifier     | Data Analyst | Data Analytics, Notion                                        |

Browse the full catalog in [Skills & Plugins →](/connect/skills-and-plugins).

## Schedule recurring research [#schedule-recurring-research]

Most of what makes this category useful isn't the first report, it's the one a month later that's still current. Set up recurring schedules for your AI teammate to recheck sources, diff against the last snapshot, and surface only what changed, so a brief doesn't quietly go stale and a metric doesn't get reported as fresh when nobody's actually rechecked it.

[Set up a recurring automation →](/work/automation/create-an-ai-automation)

## Playbooks [#playbooks]

<Cards>
  <Card title="Research a market" href="/use-cases/research/market-research" description="Research a market from your core questions, then keep tracking it weekly." />

  <Card title="Watch competitors weekly" href="/use-cases/research/competitive-analysis" description="Lock a tracked set, run a daily diff, and get a same-day alert when something changes." />

  <Card title="Gate-check usage data" href="/use-cases/research/user-insights" description="Every number gets checked before the team sees it: definitions locked, sources cross-checked, automation status backed by a schedule ID." />
</Cards>

## Next steps [#next-steps]

<Cards>
  <Card title="Hire an AI teammate" href="/ai-teammates/hire-an-ai-teammate" description="Set up a research or data analyst teammate." />

  <Card title="Automations" href="/work/automation/create-an-ai-automation" description="Run recurring research tasks automatically." />

  <Card title="Skills" href="/connect/skills-and-plugins" description="Add data and research tools to your teammate." />
</Cards>