git:20260727.e7caac4 to git:20260819.8428185

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name: desk-research-project-check

description: "Passive stop-signal for a research project — reads the synthesis matrix and memos by eye and reports whether the corpus has stopped changing the structure (theoretical saturation), plus a recommendation. Triggers on project-lifecycle phrasing — \"is this project saturated\", \"should I keep gathering\", \"check the stop signal\" — inside an existing project folder. It NEVER advances phase and computes no counter, score, or metric; the saturation judgment is qualitative and the human decides. It MAY optionally write a verdict_status string into overview.md (the single permitted light state write) — nothing more. Prompt-only by construction."

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# /desk-research-project-check

The **passive stop-signal** of a research project. It answers one question —

*has the corpus stopped changing the picture?* (theoretical saturation) — and

makes a recommendation. It is deliberately **passive**: it reads, judges, and

reports; it never advances the lifecycle and never computes a number. The human

decides what to do with the signal.

## Output rendering

Rationale / narrative — Use short ## headings and 2–3 sentence paragraphs. Don't force narrative into a table.

Status list — Lead each row with a status glyph — ● running, ✓ done, ○ idle, ⚠ blocked — status first, one item per line, labels aligned.

## When to invoke

Inside an existing project folder, on phrasing like *"is this project

saturated?"*, *"should I keep gathering sources?"*, *"check the stop signal"*.

Run it whenever you want a read on whether more capture is worth it.

## What it reads

- `synthesis-matrix.md` — is its **structure** still changing? Are recent

sources adding new columns, or just filling existing rows?

- `memos.md` — are load-bearing claims corroborated, or still resting on one or

two sources?

## The saturation judgment — read by eye, qualitative

Report a **qualitative** judgment across three questions, read by eye:

1. **Is the corpus still changing the matrix structure?** New sources that keep

introducing new columns mean the picture is still forming. New sources that

only confirm existing columns mean the structure has stabilised.

2. **Are recent sources adding columns or just confirming?** Confirmation

without new structure is the saturation signal (grounded theory's

theoretical saturation).

3. **Are load-bearing claims corroborated?** A claim the whole verdict rests on,

still single-sourced, is a reason to keep gathering regardless of structural

saturation.

Then give a **recommendation** — *"looks saturated; move to synthesize"* or

*"not yet; the cost dimension is still single-sourced — gather more there"* —

and stop. **The human decides.**

There is **no counter, no score, no metric, no derived number** anywhere in this

skill. Saturation is a reading of the matrix and memos, not a computed

threshold. "Three sources per claim" informs the triangulation rail at synthesis

time; it is not a saturation formula this skill evaluates.

## The one permitted state write

This skill **MAY** optionally write a single string — `verdict_status` — into

`overview.md`'s frontmatter (e.g. `verdict_status: looks-saturated` or

`verdict_status: keep-gathering-on-cost`), as a convenience marker of its last

read. That is the **only** state it is permitted to write.

It **NEVER advances `phase`** — it does not move the project from `digest` to

`synthesize` or anywhere else. Phase progression is human-driven; this skill

only recommends. Writing anything other than `verdict_status` into `overview.md`

is an *Ask-first* deviation.

## What this skill is not

- Not a phase-advancer — it recommends; the human moves the project.

- Not an engine — no counter, score, metric, or saturation threshold; the

judgment is qualitative, read by eye (Charter Principle 3).

- Not a synthesis — it reads the digest and reports a stop-signal; it writes no

findings and no brief.

## Next

Act on the recommendation by hand: keep gathering (back to capture/digest), or

move to `/desk-research-project-synthesize`. This skill changes nothing but the

optional `verdict_status` marker.