Run a deep research agent in your terminal

Built Mole, a deep research agent you run from the terminal.

Free tier1 hourIntermediateSource linked

Source

lajosdeme on Hacker News · 2026-08-14 · Project link

Written in our own words. Credit to the original author. Link checked 2026-10-15.

What they did

Built Mole, a deep research agent you run from the terminal.

Result (as claimed)

Open-sourced terminal research agent.

Tools they used

Claude Code OpenAI Codex ChatGPT

Cost: Claude Code: free plan, paid from $17/mo; OpenAI Codex: free plan, paid from $8/mo. Checked 2026-10-14.

Set it up

Gather your sources
Collect the papers, notes, links or files you want to work from in one place.
Load them into the tool
Open Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, ChatGPT and add your sources. Keep the original files so you can check claims later.
Ask focused questions
Ask for summaries, comparisons or connections with citations to the source passages.
Verify and save
Spot check claims against the sources, then save the output as notes you can reuse.

Copy the full setup prompt

Paste into your agent and it will walk you through the setup, asking before anything that sends, posts or spends.

You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Claude Code.

Goal: Run a deep research agent in your terminal
What the original author did: Built Mole, a deep research agent you run from the terminal.
Reported result (as claimed by the author): Open-sourced terminal research agent.
Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49303046
Tools they used: Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, ChatGPT
Category: Research & learning

Please:
1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like).
2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure.
3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data.
4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.

You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Codex.

Goal: Run a deep research agent in your terminal
What the original author did: Built Mole, a deep research agent you run from the terminal.
Reported result (as claimed by the author): Open-sourced terminal research agent.
Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49303046
Tools they used: Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, ChatGPT
Category: Research & learning

Please:
1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like).
2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure.
3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data.
4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.

You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Grok Bot.

Goal: Run a deep research agent in your terminal
What the original author did: Built Mole, a deep research agent you run from the terminal.
Reported result (as claimed by the author): Open-sourced terminal research agent.
Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49303046
Tools they used: Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, ChatGPT
Category: Research & learning

Please:
1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like).
2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure.
3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data.
4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.

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