name: researching-with-rumilo description: Dispatches AI research subagents via rumilo to search the web or explore git repositories. Use when the user asks to research a topic, look up library usage, explore a codebase, read documentation from the web, or when you need information from an external repository or website to complete a task. license: AGPL-3.0-or-later metadata: author: Amolith amolith@secluded.site
rumilo spawns disposable AI subagents for two kinds of research: web search and repo exploration. Each mode runs in isolation and returns a synthesised answer on stdout.
Modes
Web mode
Search the internet or ask questions about a specific page.
# Open-ended search (no URL)
rumilo web "what is the current stable version of Zig"
# Question about a specific page (URL pre-fetched into context)
rumilo web "how does the slog package handle log levels" -u "https://pkg.go.dev/log/slog"
- Without
-u, the agent searches the web on its own. - With
-u, the URL is fetched first and injected into the agent's context alongside the query, so it can answer questions about that page.
Repo mode
Clone a git repository into a temp directory, spawn an agent inside it, and let it explore the source to answer questions.
# Public repo
rumilo repo -u "https://github.com/owner/repo" "How does the routing system work?"
# Private repo (works with any clonable URI — SSH, HTTPS with auth, etc.)
rumilo repo -u "git@git.sr.ht:~user/repo" "What does the Config struct look like?"
The -u flag is required in repo mode — it needs something to clone.
Flags
| Flag | Modes | Effect |
|---|---|---|
-u <url> |
both | Seed URL (web) or clone URI (repo) |
--model <provider:model> |
both | Override the configured default model |
--ref <ref> |
repo | Checkout a branch, tag, or commit after cloning (requires --full) |
--full |
repo | Full clone instead of shallow (depth 1) |
--no-cleanup |
both | Keep the temp workspace after exit |
--verbose |
both | Print tool calls and results to stderr |
Choosing a mode
- Need to find or learn about a library? Web to locate it, then repo to explore its source.
- Need to understand how a dependency works in detail? Repo with the dependency's clone URL.
- Need current docs, release notes, or general knowledge? Web, optionally with the URL of a relevant page.