diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 047a0ae..473e736 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -70,7 +70,9 @@
   },
   "pnpm": {
     "onlyBuiltDependencies": [
-      "esbuild"
+      "@parcel/watcher",
+      "esbuild",
+      "msgpackr-extract"
     ]
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/lib/formatting.ts b/src/lib/formatting.ts
index f57dca3..f562ece 100644
--- a/src/lib/formatting.ts
+++ b/src/lib/formatting.ts
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ export function formatConversationAsXml(messages: Message[]): string {
 }
 
 /** Escape special characters for XML */
-function escapeXml(str: string): string {
+export function escapeXml(str: string): string {
   return str
     .replace(/&/g, "&")
     .replace(/</g, "&lt;")
@@ -59,8 +59,8 @@ export function formatNodesForPrompt(
     .map(
       (node) =>
         `<node id="${escapeXml(node.tempId)}" type="${escapeXml(node.type)}" timestamp="${node.timestamp}">
-  <label>${node.label ?? ""}</label>
-  <description>${node.description || ""}</description>
+  <label>${escapeXml(node.label ?? "")}</label>
+  <description>${escapeXml(node.description || "")}</description>
 </node>`,
     )
     .join("\n");
@@ -82,8 +82,8 @@ export function formatLabelDescList(
 
   const xmlItems = items
     .map(
-      (item) => `<item label="${escapeXml(item.label ?? "Unnamed")}"
->${item.description ?? ""}</item>`,
+      (item) =>
+        `<item label="${escapeXml(item.label ?? "Unnamed")}">${escapeXml(item.description ?? "")}</item>`,
     )
     .join("\n");
   return `<items>
@@ -91,7 +91,6 @@ ${xmlItems}
 </items>`;
 }
 
-
 // Group definitions for reranked search results
 type SearchGroups = {
   similarNodes: NodeSearchResult;
@@ -107,8 +106,8 @@ export type SearchResults = RerankResult<SearchGroups>;
 // Helpers for formatting individual result items
 function formatSearchNode(node: NodeSearchResult): string {
   return `<node type="${escapeXml(node.type)}" timestamp="${formatISO(node.timestamp)}">
-  <label>${node.label ?? ""}</label>
-  <description>${node.description ?? ""}</description>
+  <label>${escapeXml(node.label ?? "")}</label>
+  <description>${escapeXml(node.description ?? "")}</description>
 </node>`;
 }
 
@@ -124,10 +123,14 @@ function formatSearchConnection(conn: OneHopNode): string {
   return `<edge from="${escapeXml(conn.sourceLabel ?? "")}" to="${escapeXml(
     conn.targetLabel ?? "",
   )}" type="${escapeXml(conn.edgeType)}" timestamp="${formatISO(conn.timestamp)}">
-  <description>${conn.description ?? ""}</description>
+  <description>${escapeXml(conn.description ?? "")}</description>
 </edge>`;
 }
 
+function assertNever(value: never, message: string): never {
+  throw new Error(message);
+}
+
 /**
  * Formats reranked search results as an XML-like structure for LLM prompts.
  * Items are ordered by descending relevance and tagged by their group.
@@ -143,9 +146,51 @@ export function formatSearchResultsAsXml(results: SearchResults): string {
               return formatSearchEdge(r.item);
             case "connections":
               return formatSearchConnection(r.item);
+            default:
+              return assertNever(
+                r.group,
+                `[formatSearchResultsAsXml] Unhandled search result group: ${String(
+                  r.group,
+                )}`,
+              );
           }
         })
         .join("\n")
     : "";
   return body;
 }
+
+export type SearchResultWithId = SearchResults[number] & { tempId: string };
+
+/**
+ * Format search results with temporary IDs so the LLM can reference them.
+ */
+export function formatSearchResultsWithIds(
+  results: SearchResultWithId[],
+): string {
+  const body = results.length
+    ? results
+        .map((r) => {
+          const inner = (() => {
+            switch (r.group) {
+              case "similarNodes":
+                return formatSearchNode(r.item);
+              case "similarEdges":
+                return formatSearchEdge(r.item);
+              case "connections":
+                return formatSearchConnection(r.item);
+              default:
+                return assertNever(
+                  r.group,
+                  `[formatSearchResultsWithIds] Unhandled search result group: ${String(
+                    r.group,
+                  )}`,
+                );
+            }
+          })();
+          return `<result id="${escapeXml(r.tempId)}">${inner}</result>`;
+        })
+        .join("\n")
+    : "";
+  return body;
+}
diff --git a/src/lib/jobs/deep-research.ts b/src/lib/jobs/deep-research.ts
index 78a82e3..106d181 100644
--- a/src/lib/jobs/deep-research.ts
+++ b/src/lib/jobs/deep-research.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 import { performStructuredAnalysis } from "../ai";
 import { storeDeepResearchResult } from "../cache/deep-research-cache";
 import { generateEmbeddings } from "../embeddings";
+import {
+  escapeXml,
+  formatSearchResultsWithIds,
+  type SearchResultWithId,
+  type SearchResults,
+} from "../formatting";
 import {
   findOneHopNodes,
   findSimilarEdges,
@@ -14,6 +20,7 @@ import {
   DeepResearchJobInput,
   DeepResearchResult,
 } from "../schemas/deep-research";
+import { TemporaryIdMapper } from "../temporary-id-mapper";
 import { z } from "zod";
 import { DrizzleDB } from "~/db";
 import { useDatabase } from "~/utils/db";
@@ -28,6 +35,8 @@ type SearchGroups = {
 
 // Default TTL for deep research results (24 hours)
 const DEFAULT_TTL_SECONDS = 24 * 60 * 60;
+// Maximum number of refinement loops
+const MAX_SEARCH_LOOPS = 4;
 
 /**
  * Main job handler for deep research
@@ -42,8 +51,7 @@ export async function performDeepResearch(
   console.log(`Starting deep research for conversation ${conversationId}`);
 
   try {
-    // Get search queries based on recent conversation turns
-    // Filter to only include user and assistant messages
+    // Prepare initial queries based on recent conversation turns
     const recentMessages = messages
       .slice(-lastNMessages)
       .filter((m) => m.role === "user" || m.role === "assistant");
@@ -54,11 +62,16 @@ export async function performDeepResearch(
       return;
     }
 
-    // Execute search queries and aggregate results
-    const searchResults = await executeDeepSearchQueries(db, userId, queries);
+    // Run iterative search/refine loop
+    const searchResults = await runIterativeSearch(
+      db,
+      userId,
+      recentMessages,
+      queries,
+    );
 
-    // Process results and cache them
-    await cacheDeepResearchResults(userId, conversationId, searchResults);
+    // Cache the combined results
+    await cacheDeepResearchResults(userId, conversationId, [searchResults]);
 
     console.log(`Deep research completed for conversation ${conversationId}`);
   } catch (error) {
@@ -82,7 +95,7 @@ async function generateSearchQueries(
 
   // Format messages for context
   const messageContext = messages
-    .map((m) => `<message role="${m.role}">${m.content}</message>`)
+    .map((m) => `<message role="${m.role}">${escapeXml(m.content)}</message>`)
     .join("\n");
 
   // Use structured analysis to generate tangential search queries
@@ -110,6 +123,133 @@ Come up with 1-5 search queries that explore adjacent or less obvious connection
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Run iterative search with LLM refinement.
+ */
+async function runIterativeSearch(
+  db: DrizzleDB,
+  userId: string,
+  messages: DeepResearchJobInput["messages"],
+  initialQueries: string[],
+): Promise<RerankResult<SearchGroups>> {
+  const queue = [...initialQueries];
+  const history: string[] = [];
+  let results: SearchResultWithId[] = [];
+  let tempIdCounter = 0;
+  const mapper = new TemporaryIdMapper<SearchResults[number], string>(
+    () => `r${++tempIdCounter}`,
+  );
+  const seen = new Set<string>();
+  let loops = 0;
+
+  while (loops < MAX_SEARCH_LOOPS && queue.length > 0) {
+    const query = queue.shift()!;
+    history.push(query);
+
+    const embResp = await generateEmbeddings({
+      model: "jina-embeddings-v3",
+      task: "retrieval.query",
+      input: [query],
+      truncate: true,
+    });
+    const embedding = embResp.data[0]?.embedding;
+    if (embedding) {
+      const res = await executeSearchWithEmbedding(
+        db,
+        userId,
+        query,
+        embedding,
+        20,
+      );
+      if (res) {
+        const dedup = res.filter((r) => {
+          const key = `${r.group}:${r.item.id}`;
+          if (seen.has(key)) return false;
+          seen.add(key);
+          return true;
+        });
+        results.push(...mapper.mapItems(dedup));
+      }
+    }
+
+    loops++;
+    if (loops >= MAX_SEARCH_LOOPS) break;
+
+    const refinement = await refineSearchResults(
+      userId,
+      messages,
+      history,
+      results,
+    );
+    if (refinement.dropIds.length) {
+      const drop = new Set(refinement.dropIds);
+      results = results.filter((r) => !drop.has(r.tempId));
+    }
+    if (refinement.done) break;
+    if (refinement.nextQuery) queue.push(refinement.nextQuery);
+  }
+
+  return results.map(({ tempId, ...rest }) => rest);
+}
+
+interface RefinementResult {
+  dropIds: string[];
+  done: boolean;
+  nextQuery?: string;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Ask the LLM to refine search results.
+ */
+async function refineSearchResults(
+  userId: string,
+  messages: DeepResearchJobInput["messages"],
+  queries: string[],
+  results: SearchResultWithId[],
+): Promise<RefinementResult> {
+  const schema = z
+    .object({
+      dropIds: z.array(z.string()).default([]),
+      done: z.boolean(),
+      nextQuery: z.string().optional(),
+    })
+    .describe("DeepResearchRefinement");
+
+  const messageContext = messages
+    .map((m) => `<message role="${m.role}">${escapeXml(m.content)}</message>`)
+    .join("\n");
+  const queriesXml = queries
+    .map((q) => `<query>${escapeXml(q)}</query>`)
+    .join("\n");
+  const resultsXml = formatSearchResultsWithIds(results);
+
+  try {
+    return await performStructuredAnalysis({
+      userId,
+      systemPrompt: "You refine background search results.",
+      prompt: `<conversation>
+${messageContext}
+</conversation>
+
+<queries>
+${queriesXml}
+</queries>
+
+<results>
+${resultsXml}
+</results>
+
+<system:instruction>
+Remove irrelevant results by listing their ids in dropIds. If more searching is needed, set done=false and provide nextQuery. If satisfied, set done=true.
+</system:instruction>`,
+      schema,
+    });
+  } catch (error) {
+    console.error("Failed to refine deep search results:", error);
+    return { dropIds: [], done: true };
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Execute multiple search queries in parallel with higher limits
  * and return combined results