Research a technical topic and document findings. Use when you need to research a technical topic, error, or concept and create a documented record.
Trigger: Use /research {question or topic} when you need to research a technical topic, error, or concept and create a documented record.
Purpose: Research topics thoroughly, document findings with sources, and build a knowledge base to avoid repeating the same issues.
Examples:
/research Why does Iterable batch export return 400 after job expires?/research What are httpx timeout best practices for long-running downloads?/research How does GCS resumable upload handle network interruptions?/research [pasted error message or documentation]This skill is standalone — it can be invoked at any time without prerequisites.
If this invocation is part of an active workflow, check docs/findings/*_FINDINGS_TRACKER.md
for a relevant tracker and note it for context, but do not enforce stage requirements.
docs/research/ and docs/RCAs/ to avoid duplicating workdocs/research/{YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM}_{topic}.mdParse the user's question or pasted text to identify:
Search as of {current_month_year} for the relevant technology:
EXAMPLES (use as patterns, search for whatever is relevant):
IMPORTANT: Only search documentation relevant to the actual question. Identify the technology first, then search.
Search for:
Before writing, check:
docs/research/ - Have we researched this before?docs/RCAs/ - Have we encountered this issue before?docs/investigations/ - Any related investigations?docs/findings/ - Any proactive findings related to this topic?docs/plans/ - Any implementation plans that addressed this?If existing research exists, reference it and add new findings.
Combine all sources into a coherent answer:
See report_template.md for the full research report template.
Write to: docs/research/{YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM}_{topic}.md
STOP and tell the user:
Research complete.
Report saved to: docs/research/{YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM}_{topic}.md
Summary: {2-3 sentence TL;DR}
Key sources:
- {Source 1 with link}
- {Source 2 with link}
**CRITICAL PIPELINE RULE**: Suggest ONLY the next pipeline steps below. Do NOT offer `/plan` directly — that comes after `/design` and `/blueprint`.
Recommended next steps:
- Run `/finding` with the research at `docs/research/{filename}.md` if discoveries need tracking
- Run `/design` with the research at `docs/research/{filename}.md` if this informs an architecture decision
- Run `/investigate` with the research at `docs/research/{filename}.md` if this relates to an active incident
Awaiting your instructions.
Do NOT continue. Do NOT add commentary suggesting any pipeline step could be skipped or is unnecessary. Wait for the user to decide how to proceed.