Using Specula
How to ask for research, read reports and keep your work.
Ask a question
Research is where Specula researches players, teams and transfers (switch to Vision at the top of the page for images and video, and open Xavi from the sidebar for the sports notebook — drawing, notes, explanations, analysis and simulations). Type your request in the message box and press Enter (or the send button). Shift + Enter adds a new line. Some good starting points:
- Write a full scouting report on a player
- Compare two players for a specific role or system
- Analyse the playing style and squad of a team
- Estimate the fair transfer value of a player
- Find emerging prospects for a position or league
- Analyse the form of a player, or the tactical profile and best role for one
The suggestions under the message box start the most common of these for you — just add the name.
In the message box you can also:
- Type / for commands such as
/scout,/compare,/form,/prospects,/roleand/contract - Type @ to point Specula at a source — Transfermarkt, FBref, Sofascore, official club sites, leagues and federations, or football media — or to attach a file
- Keep typing while Specula works: a new message steers the research in progress, and the stop button ends it
- See which AI model answers: the button beside send names it — Claude Haiku 5.5 — Anthropic. Specula sets the model for all Research, so there is nothing to switch; if a backup model is turned on, the same menu names it and when it answers
For bigger research — a scouting report, a talent search, transfer research or match analysis — Specula first asks how you'd like the answer: a faster answer in chat, or a detailed report with the full research, analysis and sources.
If a name matches more than one real player, Specula will ask which one you mean — pick an option, type your own answer, or skip — and then carries straight on with the research.
Follow the research
While Specula works you can see each step: what it searched for, which pages it read and what it found. Open the research steps at any time to check its sources.
Research keeps running if you reload the page or close the tab. Reload, or reopen the conversation from History, and you'll rejoin the same research where it is — or see the finished result if it completed while you were away.
Sources in answers
Answers cite their sources right after each claim — small badges like Transfermarkt or FBref. Click one to open the exact page that was checked.
Read the report
When research is complete, the scouting report opens beside the conversation (or full screen on a phone). Numbered markers next to a figure link to the source it came from. From the report you can:
- Export it as a Markdown document
- Print it or save it as a PDF
- Expand it to full width
Under Key insights, page through charts of the player's sourced output and percentiles, and tap a follow-up question to ask it.
Ask about any passage
Select text in an answer or report to explain it, verify it against sources, go deeper, compare or simplify it — or write your own question about the selection.
Refine it
Keep talking to refine the report — for example focus on the last 10 matches, remove the transfer section, add a comparison with another player. Specula revises the report rather than starting over.
A finished report completes that task, not the conversation. The message box stays open, so you can keep going in the same chat — what are his weaknesses?, compare him with Yamal, show me the sources, or ask for another report.
Rate an answer
When you're signed in, every finished answer has Helpful, Not helpful and Report incorrect information beside Copy and Retry, and every report card has Rate this report. A click is saved straight away; you can add reasons (for example opponent strength ignored or late developer judged on size), a note, your verdict on a player it recommended, and whether to share that question and answer with Specula's reviewers so they can check it. After Retry, Compare with the earlier answer lets you say which of the two was better and why. Feedback is never required, you can remove it at any time, and it doesn't change the answer you already have.
Attach files
Signed-in users can attach images, PDFs, CSV or text files (up to 4 MB each) — for example your own notes, a data export or a match report — and ask Specula to use them.
Using Specula without an account
You can try Specula without signing in: guests get 3 research messages, which reset within 10 hours. When you use the last one, Specula invites you to sign up — sign in with Google and your conversation comes with you.
Your history
When you're signed in, every conversation is saved to History in the sidebar. Search it, reopen any conversation and keep asking where you left off (even days later or on another device), or delete conversations you no longer need. Your reports are also collected under Reports, and every player you've researched under Players.
Keyboard shortcuts
Every shortcut is listed in Settings → Keyboard shortcuts, shown the way your computer writes them (⌘ and ⇧ on a Mac, Ctrl and Shift on Windows and Linux). The most useful: New research ⌘/Ctrl + Shift + O, Search history ⌘/Ctrl + K, Show or hide the sidebar ⌘/Ctrl + Shift + S, Open Xavi ⌘/Ctrl + Shift + X, / to jump to the message box and Esc to stop an answer.
Your history
Every conversation is saved to your account in full, with your messages and the answers, so it opens from History after a reload, after signing out and in again, and on any other device.