Advice built on training data is pattern-matching dressed as knowledge. This skill goes and finds what is true right now, checks it, cites it, and files it where the business can use it again. It is how every other skill earns the right to recommend anything.

  the question
       |
  [ tier ]      quick: minutes, 2-3 sources   standard: multi-angle
       |        deep (opt-in): fan-out + independent fact-check
       |
  [ sweep ]     best engines available, multiple phrasings
       |
  [ verify ]    corroborate across INDEPENDENT sources
       |
  [ file ]      full dossier -> wiki/research/    chat gets the gist + link

Before any step, read . This resolves from the installed skill directory to the plugin's shared contract, independent of the founder's working folder. Its receipts, filing, and dedupe rules govern this workflow.

Run the shared contract's Universal preflight. A Fresh, Partial, or Wrong-folder result routes to (re-sync for Partial) and stops without researching or filing. On Ready, read the charter's path map and the relevant vault context.

Done when: the founder system is Ready and the dossier destination is known.

Restate what is actually being decided, in one line, and confirm it. "Research newsletters" is not a question; "what open rate should a 2k-subscriber list expect, so we can judge ours" is. A question doing double duty gets split.

Done when: one decision-shaped question is agreed.

Apply the shared parameter gate to any business-specific premise needed to shape or interpret the research. Search the vault, then ask the founder or label the premise as an unverified working hypothesis. Search-tier mechanics are operational; the business inputs are not yours to fill.

Ask before you assert: never present a quantity, duration, sample size, date, or causal motive in prose before asking the founder for it or citing a receipt for it.

Uncertain resolves upward. State the tier and, for deep, get the yes first.

Done when: the tier is stated.

Use the best engines this environment has, in this order of preference: dedicated search and scrape tools if available (for example, Firecrawl or similar), social-pulse tools (recent posts and community threads), then the harness's native web search and page fetching. The engines vary by machine; the process never does.

Sweep rules:

Done when: each angle of the question has candidate claims with named sources.

STOP. Read before grading any claim: it holds the three traps that make false claims look corroborated, and skipping it is how slop gets certified.

Grade each claim: verified (independent sources agree), stated (one source claims it; carried as a quote, never as truth), contested (sources disagree; both sides carried). Deep tier adds the adversarial pass: each load-bearing claim gets a fresh check whose only job is to break it, using the checklist.

Research findings may be external facts without pretending to know what this business should do. A benchmark applied to this business, a "should" answer, or any other consequential recommendation uses the shared receipts contract: one internal receipt and one verified external source. One floor missing: deliver the factual findings, then write the recommendation in the canonical or shape and name recall or research as the next action. Evidence gaps never move to "Needs your call".

Done when: every claim in the synthesis carries a grade and a source.

Run the shared durable claim admission gate before filing. Reopen every cited page and confirm the passage supports the written claim. Preserve the short supporting quote beside the citation. A source that disappeared or does not contain the evidence is removed; the claim is downgraded to with its honest source or omitted. Negative findings carry the saved search scope rather than upgrading verified search absence into a universal fact.

Use the shared verified-absence record for every zero-result finding. It may establish the bounded gap and support a PARKED recommendation; it never supplies the external leg for a SURVIVES/DIES call or proves that the missing fact does not exist.

Write the full dossier to with the universal wiki frontmatter, the base five plus sources (, , from the overall confidence, , , list), then the question, the synthesis, every claim with its grade and citation, for missing receipt legs, and a "Needs your call" section only for judgment forks the evidence cannot settle. Include a Search record with the exact queries, engines, dates, and inspected-result counts. Update , link , and append to .

In chat: the answer in 3-6 lines, the strongest receipt, the link to the dossier. Never paste the dossier into chat; next month's question starts from the file, not from a re-run.

Done when: the dossier is filed, indexed, logged, and the founder has the gist with its link.