Skip to content

Wide research

Wide research: many agents, one cited table

When a job means researching many things the same way, Rixx splits it across parallel agents and merges what they find into one table or report, with sources for every entry.

Jobs to try

  • Profile 30 companies: Profile the 30 largest listed European renewable-energy companies: country, main technologies, latest annual revenue, installed capacity and CEO. Excel table with a source per company.
  • Compare 15 tools: Compare 15 AI meeting note-takers on price per seat, free plan, languages, integrations, security certifications and standout features. Cite each tool's own pages.
  • Scan 20 markets: For 20 Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern countries, summarise e-commerce market size, top 3 marketplaces, main payment methods and cross-border rules. One table, cited.
  • Review 12 policies: Summarise the remote-work policies of 12 large US tech companies as of 2026: office days required, exceptions and when the policy changed. Cite each company's announcement.
  • Map a competitor set: Find 20 direct competitors to Notion, then profile each: positioning, pricing tiers, target customer, funding and notable recent launches. Deliver a table and a 1-page summary.

What you get back

  • One merged table: Every item in one consistent table, with the same fields filled for each and a source for every entry.
  • Excel workbook: The table as an editable Excel file, ready to sort, filter and extend, with a sources column kept in.
  • Summary report: A written read-out of the patterns across all items: leaders, outliers, gaps and what to look at next.

Researched and cited by default

No search toggle and no research mode to switch on. Rixx researches the live web before it answers a factual question, reads the files you give it, and cites every fact it uses.

What is wide research?

Wide research is research that runs across many items at once. Instead of one agent working through a long list in sequence, the work is split across several agents running in parallel, each researching part of the list, and the results are merged into one table or report. The term was popularised by Manus, which launched a Wide Research feature in July 2025, and Perplexity now offers a wide-research preset in its Agent API.

In Rixx, wide research is part of how a job runs. When Rixx sees a task with several independent pieces, it launches parallel agents for them at the same time and brings their findings back together. You don't switch anything on; you describe the list and the fields you want.

Why split the work

A single long research pass tends to thin out as it goes: the first items get careful attention and the last ones get less. Splitting the list keeps each piece of research focused. It also means a 30-item job finishes in far less time than 30 items done one after another.

Merging is the other half. Rixx brings every agent's results into one structure, uses the same fields for each item, keeps the sources for each entry, and writes the summary across the whole set.

Good jobs for wide research

  • Company profiling. 30 startups in a sector: product, customers, funding, investors, headcount signals.
  • Tool and vendor comparisons. 15 products on price, plans, features, integrations and security.
  • Market scans. 20 countries on market size, regulation, channels and leading players.
  • Policy and document surveys. The same questions asked of 12 companies' public policies, or a set of government guidelines.
  • Competitor sets. Find the competitors first, then profile each one in the same format.
  • Academic and industry landscapes. The leading labs, standards bodies or research groups in a field, each summarised the same way.

Each of these is the same question asked many times. That is the signal that a job should go wide.

Wide research vs deep research

Wide research Deep research
Shape of the job The same questions across many items One hard question, explored in depth
How Rixx runs it Parallel agents, results merged One plan, many sources, follow-ups on gaps
Typical output A table or workbook plus a summary A cited report
Example "Compare 15 AI note-takers" "Should we build an AI note-taker?"

They work well together. Run a wide scan to build and fill the list, then ask for deep research on the three items that matter most.

Example: profiling 30 companies

Prompt: "Profile 30 Series A fintech startups in Southeast Asia. For each: country, product, target customer, founding year, total funding, lead investor of the last round, and a one-line take. Deliver an Excel file with a source column and a 1-page summary."

Rixx plans the fields, splits the list across parallel agents, and has each one research its companies from company sites, funding announcements and news coverage. The results are merged into one workbook with the same columns for every company and a source for each entry. Then Rixx writes the summary: which countries dominate, typical round sizes, and the gaps worth a closer look. You get the Excel file, the summary, and a cited version of the table in chat.

Tips for wide research prompts

  1. Define the fields up front. "Country, product, total funding, lead investor" gives you a clean table.
  2. Say how to pick the items if you don't list them: "the 20 largest by revenue", "Series A only", "founded after 2019".
  3. Name the sources you trust. Company filings, official registries, the company's own pricing page.
  4. Ask for a summary across the set, not just the rows.
  5. Choose the format. Excel for a table you will keep working on, Word or PDF for a report, or both in one job.

Related: AI competitor analysis, AI spreadsheet generator and AI market research generator.

What it costs

Wide research is on every plan, Free included. Free gives you 50 credits a day plus 500 a month; Plus is $8 a month (Starter is ₹399 in India), Pro is $20 and Max is $100. A quick cited answer uses a few credits; a deep report or a job that builds files uses more. You only pay for what a job uses. See pricing.

Frequently asked questions

What does wide research mean?

Wide research is running the same research across many items in parallel, then merging the results. It suits lists: companies, tools, markets, policies. The term was popularised by Manus in 2025.

How does Rixx run wide research?

When a job has several independent pieces, Rixx launches parallel agents for them at the same time and merges their findings into one table or report, keeping the sources for each entry.

Do I need to turn on a special mode?

No. Describe the list and the fields you want. Auto hands the work to a job, and Rixx decides how to split it. You can also choose Job yourself.

Can Rixx find the list for me?

Yes. Ask for "the 20 largest", "every Series A company in this sector" or "the main competitors to X", and Rixx builds the list before it profiles each item.

What do I get back?

A merged table in chat with citations, plus the files you ask for: an Excel workbook, a Word report, a PDF, or a short PowerPoint summary. A job can deliver up to 20 files.

How is wide research different from deep research?

Wide research covers many items with the same questions. Deep research goes into one question in depth. Rixx does both, and you can use them in sequence.