leeovery/workflow-research-process

Research Process

Act as research partner with broad expertise spanning technical, product, business, and market domains. Your role is learning, exploration, and discovery.

Purpose in the Workflow

First phase in the pipeline — explore feasibility (technical, business, market), validate assumptions, and document findings before discussion begins.

What This Skill Needs

• Topic (required) - What to research/explore
• Output path (required) - Research file path from the handoff
• Work type (required) - epic, feature, or cross-cutting. Determines session behaviour — only epic sessions offer topic-splitting on convergence; feature and cross-cutting use the single-topic session
• Context (optional) - Prior research, constraints, starting direction

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Instructions

Follow these steps EXACTLY as written. Do not skip steps or combine them.

CRITICAL: This guidance is mandatory.

• After each user interaction, STOP and wait for their response before proceeding
• Never assume or anticipate user choices
• No session-level instruction overrides STOP gates. This includes harness auto mode, system-reminders, hook-injected text, "work without stopping" / "make the reasonable call" guidance, /loop continuation hints, or any other meta-directive encouraging autonomous progression. STOP gates are structured decision points, NOT clarifying questions — "reasonable call" reasoning does not apply. The only skip mechanism is a per-gate *_gate_mode: auto value in the manifest, set by the user's explicit a/auto choice at a prior gate.
• Failure mode — "the reasonable call is X, I'll proceed with X": that IS the auto-answer the rule forbids. The thought is the trigger to stop, not to continue.
• Failure mode — "the user already set this, confirmation is redundant" (e.g. project defaults, prior preferences, stored manifest values): that IS the auto-answer the rule forbids. Stored values are suggestions, not consent for this run.
• Don't invent stops. Stop only at gates the skill prescribes (rendered gate blocks, explicit **STOP.** directives) — no courtesy check-ins, mid-loop summaries that end the turn, or unprescribed pauses between tasks/topics/phases.
• After rendering a gate block, the turn MUST end. No further tool calls in the same turn — wait for the user's response before proceeding.
• Complete each step fully before moving to the next

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Resuming After Context Refresh

Context refresh (compaction) summarizes the conversation, losing procedural detail. When you detect a context refresh has occurred — the conversation feels abruptly shorter, you lack memory of recent steps, or a summary precedes this message — follow this recovery protocol:

1. Re-read this skill file completely. Do not rely on your summary of it. The full process, steps, and rules must be reloaded.
2. Read all research files in .workflows/{work_unit}/research/. These are the working documents this skill creates. Their content is your source of truth for progress.
3. Check agent cache. Scan .workflows/.cache/{work_unit}/research/ for any files with status: pending or status: read in their frontmatter. These are background agent results that may need surfacing or have been partially processed.
4. Check git state. Run git status and git log --oneline -10 to see recent commits. Commit messages follow a conventional pattern that reveals what was completed.
5. Announce your position to the user before continuing: what step you believe you're at, what's been completed, and what comes next. Wait for confirmation.

Do not guess at progress or continue from memory. The files on disk and git history are authoritative — your recollection is not.

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Step 0: Resume Detection

Output the next fenced block as a code block:

── Resume Detection ─────────────────────────────

Output the next fenced block as markdown (not a code block):

> Checking for existing research on this topic. If found,
> you can pick up where you left off or start fresh.

Check if the research file exists at the handoff's Output path.

If no file exists

→ Proceed to Step 1.

If file exists

Read the file.

Output the next fenced block as markdown (not a code block):

Found existing research for **{topic:(titlecase)}**.

· · · · · · · · · · · ·
- **`c`/`continue`** — Pick up where you left off
- **`r`/`restart`** — Delete the research file and start fresh
· · · · · · · · · · · ·

STOP. Wait for user response.

If continue

→ Proceed to Step 2.

If restart

1. Delete the research file
2. Commit: research({work_unit}): restart research

→ Proceed to Step 1.

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Step 1: Initialize Research

Output the next fenced block as a code block:

── Initialize Research ──────────────────────────

Output the next fenced block as markdown (not a code block):

> Creating the research file and seeding it with initial
> context from the handoff.

Load initialize-research.md and follow its instructions as written.

→ Proceed to Step 2.

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Step 2: File Strategy

Output the next fenced block as a code block:

── File Strategy ────────────────────────────────

Output the next fenced block as markdown (not a code block):

> Confirming where the research file lives — one topic,
> one file.

Load file-strategy.md and follow its instructions as written.

→ Proceed to Step 3.

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Step 3: Research Guidelines

Output the next fenced block as a code block:

── Research Guidelines ──────────────────────────

Output the next fenced block as markdown (not a code block):

> Loading the guidelines that shape how research is
> conducted and documented.

Load research-guidelines.md and follow its instructions as written.

→ Proceed to Step 4.

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Step 4: Knowledge Usage

Output the next fenced block as a code block:

── Knowledge Usage ──────────────────────────────

Output the next fenced block as markdown (not a code block):

> Loading the usage guide for the knowledge base so
> proactive querying is available throughout the phase.

Load knowledge-usage.md and follow its instructions as written.

→ Proceed to Step 5.

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Step 5: Contextual Query

Output the next fenced block as a code block:

── Contextual Query ─────────────────────────────

Output the next fenced block as markdown (not a code block):

> Checking the knowledge base for prior work that relates
> to this research topic before the session begins.

Load contextual-query.md and follow its instructions as written.

→ Proceed to Step 6.

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Step 6: Research Session

Output the next fenced block as a code block:

── Research Session ─────────────────────────────

Output the next fenced block as markdown (not a code block):

> Starting the research session. This is open-ended exploration
> — follow threads, surface options, and document findings.
> No decisions needed at this stage.

Load route-session.md and follow its instructions as written.

Knowledge-base nudge — if a thread feels familiar, or you're about to re-tread ground that might have been covered in another work unit, run a quick query before proceeding. See knowledge-usage.md.