Skill Formal Research

Stage 1: Input Validation

Validate required inputs:

• task_number - Must be provided and exist in state.json
• focus_prompt - Optional focus for research direction

Stage 2: Preflight Status Update

Update task status to "researching" BEFORE invoking subagent.

Stage 3: Create Postflight Marker

Create the marker file to prevent premature termination.

Stage 4: Prepare Delegation Context

Prepare delegation context for the subagent:

{
  "session_id": "sess_{timestamp}_{random}",
  "delegation_depth": 1,
  "delegation_path": ["orchestrator", "research", "skill-formal-research"],
  "timeout": 3600,
  "task_context": {
    "task_number": N,
    "task_name": "{project_name}",
    "description": "{description}",
    "language": "formal"
  },
  "focus_prompt": "{optional focus}",
  "metadata_file_path": "specs/OC_{NNN}_{SLUG}/.return-meta.json"
}

Stage 5: Invoke Subagent

CRITICAL: You MUST use the Task tool to spawn the subagent.

Required Tool Invocation:

Tool: Task (NOT Skill)
Parameters:
  - subagent_type: "formal-research-agent"
  - prompt: [Include task_context, delegation_context, focus_prompt, metadata_file_path]
  - description: "Execute formal research for task {N}"

DO NOT use Skill(formal-research-agent) - this will FAIL.

The subagent will:

• Analyze task for domain routing (logic, math, physics)
• Load appropriate domain context files
• Coordinate cross-domain research when needed
• Use Mathlib lookup tools
• Execute web research
• Create research report in specs/{NNN}_{SLUG}/reports/
• Write metadata to specs/{NNN}_{SLUG}/.return-meta.json
• Return a brief text summary (NOT JSON)

Stage 6-11: Standard Postflight

Parse metadata file, update task status, link artifacts, git commit, cleanup, return brief summary.

Error Handling

Standard error handling patterns: validate inputs, handle missing metadata, non-blocking git failures.

Return Format

This skill returns a brief text summary (NOT JSON). The JSON metadata is written to the file and processed internally.