The moment it happens

Get a sourced research brief on any topic

Send a topic and a short report with links to its sources arrives in your inbox.

Runs: The moment it happens
Apps: SerpApi
AI: Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access: API key

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: give me a link. When I send a topic to it, search Google and Google Scholar, write a one-page brief with the sources linked, and email it to me.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

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First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

Anyone who needs to learn about a topic quickly knows the problem: you run a search, open a dozen pages, copy facts into a document, and lose track of which claim came from which source. A manager asking for a briefing on a competitor, a student preparing a literature overview, or a founder entering a new market can lose an afternoon, and the result has no reliable references, so nobody trusts the details when someone asks where a figure came from.

Send a topic and the automation runs several searches through SerpApi from different angles, collects the top results and their snippets, and uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI to write a research brief with citations to the sources it used. The report is emailed to you. It runs when you send the topic. Analysts, consultants, students and busy executives use it to get a sourced starting point quickly.

What you get out of it

A sourced starting point in minutes
The brief gives you the main points on a topic with links to where each came from. You start from structure instead of a blank page, and the first hour of research is done.
Every claim has a link
Citations let you verify any statement before relying on it. That keeps the report honest and protects you when a colleague asks where a number or claim originated. Someone checking a competitor's funding claim can click the cited link instead of searching for the figure again.
Multiple angles, not one search
Running several searches with different wording brings in viewpoints and facts that a single query would miss. The brief is broader than the first page of one search. A topic like battery recycling gets regulation, market and technology angles from separate searches rather than one narrow query.
Consistent format for repeat requests
Each brief follows the same layout, so a team asking for ten of them can compare them easily. Readers learn where to look for the summary, the key facts and the sources.
Frees experts for analysis
Gathering and summarizing facts is time spent before real thinking begins. When the gathering is automated, a person can spend that time questioning the findings and reaching a conclusion. The analyst's afternoon goes to questioning the findings and drawing conclusions instead of collecting and pasting snippets.

How it works

What happens, step by step

When you send a topic to your personal ClickRuntime link, the automation starts straight away.
ClickRuntime searches Google, Google Scholar and Google News for the topic and collects the top results.
AI writes a one-page research brief from those results, with numbered references and a source list with links.
The brief is emailed to you.

Before it runs live

Connect SerpApi
Paste your automation's link into the other app's webhook settings

What you get

RunsThe moment it happens

Get a sourced research brief on any topicjust nowSucceeded

Email · Research brief: heat pumps in cold climatesModern cold-climate heat pumps keep rated output down to -15°C [2][5], and field trials show 30–50% lower running costs than oil [1]…

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.

Your own rules
Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.
Any number of apps
One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.
AI where it helps
Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.
On a schedule or on each event
Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
Combine it with other SerpApi steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.

web_research_report_on_demand.pyexample

from clickruntime import on_event, credentials, http, ai, notify

@on_event
def handle(event):
    topic = (event.json or {}).get("topic", "").strip()
    if not topic:
        return {"error": "send {\"topic\": \"...\"}"}
    key = credentials.secret("SERPAPI_KEY")
    sources = []
    for engine, field in [("google", "organic_results"), ("google_scholar", "organic_results"),
                          ("google_news", "news_results")]:
        data = http.get("https://serpapi.com/search.json",
                        params={"engine": engine, "q": topic, "api_key": key}).json()
        for r in data.get(field, [])[:5]:
            sources.append(f"[{len(sources) + 1}] {r.get('title')} - {r.get('link')}\n{r.get('snippet', '')}")
    brief = ai.generate(
        f"Topic: {topic}\n\nSources:\n" + "\n\n".join(sources),
        system="Write a one-page research brief. Cite sources as [n] and list them with links at the end.",
        max_output_tokens=1500,
    ).text
    notify.email_me(f"Research brief: {topic}", brief)
    return {"sources": len(sources)}

FAQ

Common questions

Can I trust the facts in the brief?

The brief summarizes what the sources say and cites them, so you can check anything important. It can contain errors if a source is wrong or if a snippet is taken out of context, so read the cited page for critical claims.

How many sources does a report use?

Typically 10 to 20 results across several searches, depending on the topic. The AI is told to cite only sources it was given. If you need greater depth, you can ask for more searches per topic.

Does it read full pages or only search snippets?

It works from the titles and snippets Google returns, which carry the key sentences. It does not read entire pages, so very detailed or paywalled content will be summarized only as far as the snippet shows.

What permissions does it need?

API key. Nothing else in your accounts is used.

Does it need AI?

Yes. It uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI, so you don't need an OpenAI or Anthropic key. Every plan includes a monthly AI allowance.

How many runs does it use?

One run for each event the app sends.

Can I change how it works?

Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

The moment it happensAI