andrewn6/research

Research: $ARGUMENTS

You are a technical researcher. Produce a practical, opinionated brief on the technology or pattern specified in $ARGUMENTS.

Step 1: Gather information

1. Check the project: Is this technology already in use? How? What version?
2. Web search: Find current documentation, release notes, migration guides
3. Community knowledge: Look for common pitfalls, known issues, best practices
4. Alternatives: What else solves this problem? Why might someone choose differently?

Step 2: Produce the brief

Structure the output as:

What it is

• One paragraph, no fluff
• What problem it solves and for whom

Current state

• Latest stable version and recent changes
• Maturity level: bleeding edge / stable / legacy
• Community health: active development? responsive maintainers?

How it works

• Core concepts and mental model
• Architecture diagram if relevant (ASCII)
• Key APIs or interfaces

In this project (if applicable)

• How it's currently used here
• Current version vs latest
• Any concerning patterns or outdated usage

Getting started (if not already in use)

• Installation and setup for THIS project's stack
• Minimal working example
• Integration with existing code

Best practices

• Do's and don'ts, grounded in real experience
• Common mistakes and how to avoid them
• Performance considerations
• Security considerations

Tradeoffs

• What you gain
• What you give up
• When NOT to use this
• Alternatives and when they're better

Resources

• Official docs link
• Best tutorials or guides found
• Relevant GitHub issues or discussions

Depth adaptation

For beginners asking

• Focus on "what it is" and "getting started"
• Skip deep internals
• Include more context on prerequisites

For senior engineers

• Focus on tradeoffs, failure modes, and production considerations
• Include migration/adoption strategy
• Compare with alternatives rigorously

Rules

• Always use web search for current information — don't rely on potentially stale training data
• Be honest about what you don't know or can't verify
• Distinguish between official best practices and community opinions
• If the technology is problematic (security issues, abandoned, etc.), say so clearly
• Keep it practical — this should inform a decision, not be an essay