research-first · diff
git:20260330.91a8a3f to git:20260702.fa69d6a
29 added, 9 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: research-first
description: >
Apply when planning fixes, investigating tech debt, architecting solutions, or
- diagnosing unknown issues. Search online for current documentation and state-of-the-art
- approaches before tracing through code.
+ diagnosing unknown issues that may involve external frameworks, dependencies,
+ or platform behavior. Search online for current documentation and
+ state-of-the-art approaches before tracing through code.
context: fork
agent: Explore
---
## Research Before Planning Protocol
- Before planning any fix, tracing any issue, or proposing any solution:
+ This skill body runs in an isolated Explore context: it has no conversation
+ history and cannot spawn further sub-agents. Work from the task statement it
+ receives, run searches and reads directly, and return a compact findings
+ report.
- 1. Search online for current official documentation to confirm the behavior is NOT intended or already fixed
- 2. Search for state-of-the-art solutions, known community workarounds, and recent discussion on this problem type
- 3. Use parallel sub-agents to search multiple sources simultaneously
- 4. Report all findings before any code tracing begins
+ Scope guard — research the outside world only when the problem involves it:
+ - If the question involves external frameworks, dependencies, platform or
+ toolchain behavior, or a suspected upstream bug: research online first.
+ - If the question is purely repo-local (project conventions, invariants,
+ existing code structure), skip web research; the answer lives in the
+ repository (AGENTS.md, docs/, and the source itself).
+ - If WebSearch/WebFetch are unavailable in this environment, state that
+ explicitly and proceed with code tracing rather than stalling.
- Then trace each problem end-to-end through the actual source code using parallel sub-agents.
- Do not stop until ≥95% confident in the root cause for every issue being investigated.
+ When researching:
+
+ 1. Search current official documentation to confirm the behavior is NOT
+ intended and NOT already fixed in a newer release
+ 2. Search for state-of-the-art solutions, known community workarounds, and
+ recent discussion of this problem type
+ 3. Run multiple searches across distinct sources (official docs, issue
+ trackers, release notes) rather than trusting the first hit
+ 4. Report all findings — with URLs — before any code tracing begins
+
+ Then trace each problem end-to-end through the actual source code.
+ Do not stop until ≥95% confident in the root cause for every issue being
+ investigated, and mark anything below that threshold as UNVERIFIED with what
+ evidence is missing.