Feynman — Research Agent Cheat Sheet

What Feynman is

Feynman is an open-source, terminal-first AI research agent (MIT licensed, companion-inc/feynman). Point it at a question and it searches papers (via alphaXiv), crawls the web, runs optional compute in Docker, and returns source-grounded briefs with citations — not unsupported essay prose.

Built on the Pi agent runtime. Docs: feynman.is/docs.

MyGearHut uses Feynman for competitive intel, technical due diligence, and literature sweeps where "chatGPT said so" is not enough.

Four subagents (automatic dispatch)

Agent	Job
Researcher	Gather evidence from papers, web, repos, docs
Reviewer	Critique gaps, severity-grade weaknesses
Writer	Structure drafts from notes
Verifier	Check citations, URLs, dead links

You do not manually route them — workflows invoke the right mix.

Install (macOS / Linux / Windows)

curl -fsSL https://feynman.is/install | bash

Then configure a model provider:

feynman setup

Supports Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, and others per docs. Pick the model your budget and quality bar agree on.

First run — interactive REPL

feynman

Inside the REPL, slash commands trigger workflows:

/deepresearch transformer architectures for protein folding
/literature [topic]
/audit [claim you want verified]

Type /help for the full workflow list on your installed version.

One-shot from shell

feynman deepresearch "Compare RAG chunking strategies for legal PDFs — pros, cons, citations"

Outputs land under project outputs/ (path may vary — check docs). Every research claim should carry a retrievable source URL.

Local workbench (optional GUI)

For chat + artifacts + notebooks in one UI:

feynman serve

Opens the standalone science workbench — useful when you want provenance trails and file browsing, not just terminal scrollback.

Core workflows (operator view)

Deep research

Best for: strategic questions, market/tech surveys, lit reviews.

/deepresearch [precise question with scope and date preference]

Ask for scope: "peer-reviewed only", "post-2023", "implementation-focused".

Literature review

Best for: annotated bibliographies before you write.

/literature [topic keywords]

Expect structured summaries with paper links — still verify critical claims yourself.

Replication / experiments

Feynman can plan and run experiments in Docker or cloud GPU environments when configured. Treat this as Yellow zone — human must review methods and safety.

Requires Docker installed locally for container paths; cloud paths need provider tokens per docs.

Audit / verify

Feed a draft or claim set; Verifier stresses citations and flags unsourced statements.

Environment variables (common)

Variable	Purpose
Provider API keys	Set during feynman setup
HF_TOKEN / HUGGINGFACE_HUB_TOKEN	Hugging Face Hub inspection tools
Docker socket	Local experiment execution

Never commit keys; use shell profile or secret manager.

Prompt discipline for research agents

Feynman reduces hallucination but does not eliminate it. Front-load:

Scope: [narrow question]
Sources: peer-reviewed preferred; include grey literature if <5 papers
Output: executive summary + table of sources + open questions
Exclude: marketing pages unless noting bias
Date floor: [year]

Quality checklist before you ship a brief

• Every material claim has a URL or DOI
• You spot-checked top three sources manually
• Conflicting studies noted, not averaged away
• Methodology limits stated (sample size, benchmark choice)
• No confidential client data in prompts

Feynman vs generic chat

	ChatGPT / Claude chat	Feynman
Citations	Inconsistent	Designed source-grounded
Paper search	Generic browse	alphaXiv integration
Workflow	Ad hoc	Slash research pipelines
Compute	Limited	Docker / GPU paths

Use chat for drafts; use Feynman when citations and method matter.

MyGearHut research loop

1. Frame question in one paragraph (ICP for intel)
2. Run /deepresearch with date + source constraints
3. Human pass — read top sources, not just summary
4. Extract actions for your Notion/CRM — Feynman does not replace judgment
5. Archive output path in project wiki

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Install once, cite everything. Browse more free guides at MyGearHut library.