research-first

name	research-first
model	sonnet
description	Look-before-build — search registries, repo, existing skills, and web for prior art before implementing. Appends Prior Art to the spec. Use after survey-context and before elaborate-spec, when adding dependencies, or when the task may already be solved.

story: e03s01

story: e21s02

Research First

HARD GATE — Do NOT implement until prior art is searched. Minimum outcome: adopt, extend, compose, or build — with evidence.

Process

1. Read specs/product/SCOPE_LATEST.yaml, specs/release-plan.yaml + epic shards, and the current task statement.
2. Search in order: this repo → bigpowers skills (search-skills) → package registries → web docs.
3. Check opensrc cache — if the task integrates an external library, run bash scripts/bp-opensrc-check.sh (or npx opensrc search <pkg>) to find locally-cached source. Read the src/ directory for API shapes before writing any integration code.
4. For each candidate: note name, URL/path, fit (adopt | extend | compose | build).
5. Append ## Prior Art to requirements/SCOPE_LATEST.yaml notes or the active epic story.

opensrc Integration

opensrc is a local cache of 200+ open-source repos and npm/PyPI packages. Query it before building any external integration to avoid re-inventing documented API shapes.

# Check if a package is cached
npx opensrc search <package-name>

# Or use the bundled helper (checks all deps from package.json or requirements.txt)
bash scripts/bp-opensrc-check.sh [package.json|requirements.txt]

If opensrc finds a match, read its src/ or source directory and append findings to the Prior Art section:

opensrc: found <pkg> v<version> — exports <key classes/functions>

If opensrc is not installed or the package is not cached, fall through to web docs normally.

Outcome matrix

Verdict	Action
adopt	Use as-is; link in plan; no new code
extend	Wrap or configure existing solution
compose	Chain existing skills/modules
build	New implementation — justify why others failed

Verify

→ verify: grep -c "Prior Art" specs/product/SCOPE_LATEST.yaml specs/release-plan.yaml + epic shards 2>/dev/null | awk '{s+=$1} END {if(s>0) print "OK"; else print "MISSING"}'

See REFERENCE.md for search commands and registry checklist.

---

Research First — Reference

Search commands

# Repo prior art
rg -l "<keyword>" --glob '!node_modules' .
find . -maxdepth 3 -name "SKILL.md" | xargs grep -l "<intent>"

# Installed packages (if package.json exists)
cat package.json | jq '.dependencies,.devDependencies' 2>/dev/null

Registry checklist

• npm / PyPI / crates.io (if applicable)
• Existing bigpowers skill (bash scripts/build-skill-index.sh && rg "<intent>" specs/SKILL-SEARCH-INDEX_LATEST.md)
• Project docs/ and specs/adr/
• Official library documentation (quote one API detail)

Prior Art template

## Prior Art

| Candidate | Source | Verdict | Notes |
|-----------|--------|---------|-------|
| ... | ... | adopt/extend/compose/build | ... |