Investigate

• If NO match -> STOP: "Run /finding or /incident first to create an upstream artifact."
• If user says --force, proceed without validation.

Pre-flight Check

1. Verify artifact prerequisites (above)
2. Identify which finding/workflow this is for
3. Load finding report and related artifacts for context
4. Proceed to main skill instructions

Instructions

Reason thoroughly about this incident or finding. Consider all evidence, form multiple hypotheses, and test each systematically before concluding.

Input Type Detection

Determine the input type and route accordingly:

IF input references a finding report (docs/findings/*.md) OR starts with "Finding:":
    → Confirmation Mode (abbreviated investigation)
ELSE:
    → Full Investigation Mode (standard investigation)

Full Investigation Mode (incidents)

1. Research online for relevant documentation and known issues (search as of {current_month_year})
2. Consult relevant API/library documentation based on what the incident involves (search as of {current_month_year})
3. Deeply investigate the incident provided after /investigate
4. Review past RCAs and Investigations in docs/RCAs/ and docs/investigations/ to avoid repeating errors and recognize patterns
5. Write detailed Investigation Report to docs/investigations/{YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM}_{issue_name}.md
6. THEN STOP and await further instructions

Confirmation Mode (findings)

When a proactive finding is provided, the cause is often already known. The investigation confirms scope and validates the finding:

1. Read the finding report in docs/findings/ to understand what was found
2. Confirm the finding is real -- reproduce or verify the evidence
3. Determine scope -- is it isolated or systemic?
4. Document additional evidence beyond what the finding captured
5. Assess impact -- what is the blast radius if unaddressed?
6. Write abbreviated Investigation Report to docs/investigations/{YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM}_{issue_name}.md
7. THEN STOP and await further instructions

Investigation Process

Step 1: External Research

Search online (use current date context: {current_month_year}):

• Search for known issues, bugs, or limitations related to the problem
• Search for relevant API documentation updates
• Look for community discussions or Stack Overflow answers

Consult Relevant Documentation:

First, identify what technology/API/library the incident involves. Then search for documentation specific to that technology.

EXAMPLES (use these as a pattern, NOT as default searches):

• If the incident involves Iterable: Search "Iterable API {relevant_topic} {current_month_year}"
• If the incident involves Intercom: Search "Intercom API {relevant_topic} {current_month_year}"
• If the incident involves GCS/Google Cloud Storage: Search "Google Cloud Storage {relevant_topic} {current_month_year}"
• If the incident involves httpx/requests: Search "Python httpx {relevant_topic} {current_month_year}"
• If the incident involves FastAPI: Search "FastAPI {relevant_topic} {current_month_year}"
• If the incident involves PostgreSQL: Search "PostgreSQL {relevant_topic} {current_month_year}"

IMPORTANT: Only search documentation relevant to the actual incident. Do NOT default to searching Iterable or Intercom docs unless the incident specifically involves those APIs.

From the documentation, extract:

• Rate limits, timeouts, expected behavior
• Recent API changes or deprecations
• Known limitations or gotchas

Step 2: Gather Internal Evidence

• Search logs for relevant events
• Read related source code files
• Check recent changes that might be related
• Look for patterns in timing, data, or behavior

Step 3: Build Timeline

Construct a precise timeline of events:

• When did the incident first appear?
• What happened immediately before?
• What was the system state?

Step 4: Identify Root Cause

• Distinguish between symptoms and causes
• Identify primary, secondary, and contributing factors
• Trace the code path that led to the incident
• Compare our implementation against official API documentation

Step 5: Analyze Impact

• What was affected?
• How much data/time was lost?
• What is the blast radius?

Step 6: Review Past RCAs and Investigations (MANDATORY)

Before recommending any fixes, read all files in: docs/RCAs/, docs/research/, docs/plans/, docs/investigations/, docs/findings/. Look for similar issues, prior fixes, recurring patterns, and applicable solutions.

Document patterns found: Has this exact or similar issue occurred before? Did a previous fix cause this? Is this a regression?

Findings Tracker Update Protocol

See tracker_update_checklist.md

• Stage: "Investigating"
• Task: FN.1 (Investigate — confirm root cause and scope)
• GitHub field: 7ec022fd

Investigation Report Template

See report_template.md for the full investigation report template.

Write to: docs/investigations/{YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM}_{issue_name}.md

After Writing the Report

Full Investigation Mode Output

STOP and tell the user:

Investigation complete.

Report saved to: docs/investigations/{YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM}_{issue_name}.md

Summary: {1-2 sentence summary}

Sources consulted:
- {List of documentation/URLs researched}

Past RCAs/Investigations/Research reviewed:
- {List of related past documents consulted}

**CRITICAL PIPELINE RULE**: Suggest ONLY the next pipeline step below. Do NOT offer `/plan` directly — that comes after `/rca-bugfix`.

Next step: Run `/rca-bugfix` with the investigation at `docs/investigations/{filename}.md` to create RCA and implementation prompt.

Do NOT add commentary suggesting any pipeline step could be skipped or is unnecessary. Awaiting your instructions.

Confirmation Mode Output

STOP and tell the user:

Finding confirmed.

Report saved to: docs/investigations/{YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM}_{issue_name}.md

Finding: {reference to original finding report}
Scope: {isolated | systemic | broader than expected}
Confirmed: {Yes -- real issue | Partially -- narrower than reported | No -- false positive}

**CRITICAL PIPELINE RULE**: Suggest ONLY the next pipeline step below. Do NOT offer `/plan` directly — that comes after `/rca-bugfix`.

Next step: Run `/rca-bugfix` with the investigation at `docs/investigations/{filename}.md` to create RCA and fix prompt.

Do NOT add commentary suggesting any pipeline step could be skipped or is unnecessary. Awaiting your instructions.

Do NOT proceed with fixes or additional work until the user responds.