explaingit

stanford-oval/storm

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

28,162PythonAudience · researcherComplexity · 3/5LicenseSetup · moderate

TLDR

AI research assistant that automatically gathers sources and writes Wikipedia-style articles with citations on any topic.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((STORM))
    What it does
      Researches topics
      Writes cited articles
      Simulates expert conversations
    How it works
      Searches internet
      Builds outlines
      Multi-perspective questions
    Versions
      STORM automated
      Co-STORM collaborative
      Mind map visualization
    Use cases
      Research summaries
      Academic exploration
      Due diligence
    Tech stack
      Python
      Language models
      Search engines
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Code map

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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Generate comprehensive research summaries on unfamiliar topics with proper citations.

USE CASE 2

Conduct academic exploration by automatically gathering and organizing sources into structured outlines.

USE CASE 3

Perform business due diligence by quickly synthesizing information from multiple perspectives into a single report.

What is it built with?

PythonLanguage modelsSearch enginespip

How does it compare?

stanford-oval/stormfacefusion/facefusiongoogle/python-fire
Stars28,16228,15528,182
LanguagePythonPythonPython
Setup difficultymoderatemoderateeasy
Complexity3/53/52/5
Audienceresearchergeneraldeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires API keys for language models and search engines to function.

Use freely for any purpose including commercial, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

In plain English

STORM is a research project from Stanford that uses large language models to write Wikipedia-style articles with citations, starting from nothing but a topic name. You hand it a subject, it searches the internet, gathers references, drafts an outline, and then writes a full article that quotes the sources it found. The README is upfront that the result is not publication-ready and still needs editing, but a live demo at storm.genie.stanford.edu has been tried by more than 70,000 people. It works in two stages. In the pre-writing stage, STORM runs internet searches and builds an outline. The questions it asks are not naive, the system first surveys similar Wikipedia articles to discover different perspectives on the subject, and it simulates a conversation between a writer and a topic expert grounded in the search results to ask sharper follow-ups. In the writing stage, it takes the outline and references and drafts the article with citations. A second variant called Co-STORM adds a human-in-the-loop: AI experts, a moderator that asks thought-provoking questions, and the user share a dynamically updated mind map of what has been learned. You would use it when you need a structured first draft on an unfamiliar topic, a literature review, a briefing, a research starter, and want something more thorough than a single chat answer. The code is Python, installable via pip install knowledge-storm, built on the dspy framework, and supports any LLM and embedding model exposed by litellm plus retrievers including Bing, Google, Serper, Brave, Tavily, You.com, DuckDuckGo, SearXNG, Azure AI Search, and a local vector store.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Use STORM to research and write a Wikipedia-style article about [topic], then show me how to customize the language model and search engine it uses.
Prompt 2
I need to understand [complex topic] fast. How do I run STORM to generate a cited article, and how can I use Co-STORM to guide the research myself?
Prompt 3
Show me how to install knowledge-storm via pip and generate an article with a mind map visualization for [topic].
Prompt 4
How do I modify STORM's multi-perspective question generation to focus on specific angles when researching [topic]?

Frequently asked questions

What is storm?

AI research assistant that automatically gathers sources and writes Wikipedia-style articles with citations on any topic.

What language is storm written in?

Mainly Python. The stack also includes Python, Language models, Search engines.

What license does storm use?

Use freely for any purpose including commercial, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

How hard is storm to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is storm for?

Mainly researcher.

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