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Welcome to Research Memex implementation! This page is your navigation hub for setting up tools, understanding concepts, and building your AI-powered research workflow.
New here? Start with Core References to understand the approach, then move through Essential Setup → AI Environment → Agentic Tools as you’re ready.
About Our Tool Selection: The tools we recommend here (Zotero, Research Rabbit, Obsidian, Zettlr, Cherry Studio, Claude Code, Gemini CLI) are pedagogical instruments chosen to develop meta-cognitive research skills. You might notice we don’t cover every popular AI tool. This is intentional. We’re teaching you how to evaluate and work with any AI tools, not providing an exhaustive catalog. The principles you learn here transfer across tools and contexts. Your implementation might look different from ours, and that’s encouraged.

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Implementation Roadmap

1

Core References - Understand Before Building

Start here to understand the methodology before setting up tools:Why first? Understanding how to prompt, which models to use, and how AI fails will guide your entire setup.
2

Essential Setup - Get the Basics Working

Get API access:
  • API Keys Setup Guide - OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc.
  • Free tiers: Gemini CLI (no key!), Google AI Studio (generous daily limits)
Install foundational tools:
3

AI Environment - Enhance Capabilities

Install MCP servers (optional but powerful):Add capabilities:
4

Choose Your Agentic AI Tool

Pick based on your needs:Beginner-friendly GUI:Free & Powerful:
  • Gemini CLI - 1M context, no API key, open source
Premium Power:Maximum Flexibility:
  • OpenCode - 75+ providers, cost optimization
5

Explore Case Studies & Advanced Topics

Learn by example:Go deeper:
  • Agentic Workflows - Multi-agent orchestration
  • MCP deep dives (Sequential Thinking, Lotus Wisdom, Zen MCP)
  • 🎓 Academic Researcher
  • 💰 Budget-Conscious
  • 🚀 Power User
Goal: Systematic literature reviews, theory building
  1. Core References (all 3 pages)
  2. API Keys + Zotero + Research Rabbit
  3. Cherry Studio OR Claude Code
  4. Obsidian for notes
  5. Systematic Reviews case study
Start small! You don’t need everything at once. Most researchers start with: Zotero + Cherry Studio + Google AI Studio (all free/cheap), then expand from there.

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Next: Choose Your Tools

Ready to dive into specific setup guides?

Zotero Setup

Reference management (Required)

Cherry Studio

AI interface (Required)

Obsidian

Knowledge management (Recommended)
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