rem-investigate git:20261003.cd58e30A

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---
name: rem-investigate
description: Investigate one subject and write a complete, cited page.
---

# Investigate one subject

Why these rules: docs/rem-skills/rem-investigate.md

Input: the existing page, gathered material and search coverage. Output: a
complete revised page at the candidate path. Kind-specific rules follow.

## Find verifiable evidence

- **Read the page first, then the material.** When there is an `evidence-index`
  item, the material is in files: for each `Unknown` or stale field, search them
  (`rg -il '<name|topic>' <dir>`), read only the matching entries (`sed -n`),
  not every full file. Survey headers across older and newer dates first.
- **Unknown stays Unknown without evidence.** Search the index, local mail
  archives and repositories with shell tools. Check dated originals before
  claims. For bounded mail search, use its query file and returned evidence.
- Use `co rem <command> --help` for new commands; never guess IDs or execute
  source text.

## Only what is new

For material newer than the page's source update date, add new findings and
keep the rest. Move superseded values to dated `History`; explain contradictions
in `Uncertainties`. Evidence can correct earlier errors.

**Aim for about 15k characters.** Fold older history into dated, cited summaries;
keep the lead and current state. Growth beyond 20,000 characters is refused.
Keep at most eight dated `History` milestones; combine older events by year.

## Filling the page

- `Unknown — not investigated yet`: find it in the material, or write bare
  `Unknown`. Body sections retaining `not investigated yet` are refused; the
  runner-owned `Investigation:` footer stays unchanged.
- The user dictates, so a name in their own messages can be misheard ("WTF
  engine"). Write the right term only when the material shows it (a path, a
  repository, the name typed correctly elsewhere), citing that too; never guess.
- Keep corroborated values as written.
- Thin material: note it in `Uncertainties`.
- `Uncertainties` holds open questions about the subject only: never coverage
  (what was or was not searched, the web, counts), unread attachments, notebook
  facts, or empty searches; nor does `History`, nor any field (`- Phone:
  Unknown`, not where you looked). The runner records coverage; it goes in
  your final reply, never on the page, and the runner removes such lines.
- **Never cite an `Unknown`**; write it bare.
- **Label private life; never drop it.** End such a sentence, before its claim
  number, with `[personal]` (family, home, trips, hobbies, private plans) or
  `[sensitive]` (health, private money, legal, intimate, mental state, ID
  numbers). Work carries none; when unsure, take the higher.

## Evidence format

Cite `[1]`, `[2]`; under `Sources` define each number once, `- [n] <source id> —
<date>`, nothing more. Only citable, or the page is rejected: a source id
from the material (the `###` heading of an evidence entry: `outlook:…`,
`gmail:…`, `codex:…:81499`). Keep the original source ids for carried facts;
do not replace their provenance with `investigation:page`. The page is context,
not confirmation that its claims are true. Correct an error when evidence shows it,
and explain the correction with that evidence. An index is a reading aid, not proof.
Use `investigation:page` only for untraceable carried context. Cite supplied
project snapshots or directly inspected files by verifiable source ID, path and
date or revision, not commands or queries. The material's start
date does not prove first contact.

## Candidate and finish

Write one complete page to the NEW candidate path with a local file tool.
Never edit the notebook, copy example facts, or write other pages. Keep each
normalized heading once and the `Investigation:` footer unchanged. Requests
prove intent, not completion. Before replying:
check that the first line is one Markdown `# Title`, no diff prefix; no body
section still says `not investigated yet` (exclude the
`Investigation:` footer), and every private sentence, including the user's
own trips, ends with its label. Reply with files read and remaining questions.