finalize-research-task

name	finalize-research-task
description	Finalize a research-backed backlog task after implementation. For developer agents completing tasks that originated from research. Covers adding toolCoverage to research pages, writing CHANGELOG entries with research references, and marking tasks complete.

Finalize Research Task

This skill is for developer agents completing backlog tasks that originated from research findings.

Context

For research documentation structure and conventions, see research/_meta/README.md.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• You are a developer agent who has implemented a feature from a research-backed backlog task
• The acceptance criteria includes "Research page updated with toolCoverage entry"
• You are ready to finalize the task and update documentation

Checklist

After implementing the feature:

• Add toolCoverage entry to research page frontmatter
• Add inline callout if editorially appropriate (new features: yes; fixes: usually no)
• Add CHANGELOG entry with research reference
• Update backlog task status to Done

Step 1: Update Research Page Frontmatter

Find the research page(s) linked in the task's references field and add a toolCoverage entry.

Frontmatter Format

---
title: "Sitemaps"
lastVerified: 2026-02-04
lastUpdated: 2026-02-04
toolCoverage:
  - finding: "XML sitemap validation"
    command: sitemap
    since: v0.1.0
  - finding: "Sitemap index file support"
    command: sitemap
    since: v0.1.0
---

toolCoverage Fields

Field	Description	Example
finding	Brief description of what was implemented	"XML sitemap validation"
command	The command that implements this	sitemap, ai, validate:a11y
since	Tool version when this was added	v0.1.0

Adding to Existing toolCoverage

If the page already has toolCoverage, append to the array:

toolCoverage:
  - finding: "Existing feature"
    command: existing-command
    since: v0.0.15
  # Add new entry
  - finding: "New feature you implemented"
    command: your-command
    since: v0.1.0

Step 2: Add Inline Callout (When Appropriate)

Add a callout near the relevant content in the research page body.

When to Add Callouts

Situation	Add Callout?
New command or major feature	Yes
Significant new capability	Yes
Incremental improvement	Usually no
Bug fix	No
Internal refactor	No

Callout Format

> **Tool support:** The `sitemap` command validates XML sitemaps since v0.1.0.

Place the callout:

• Near the finding that drove the implementation
• After the relevant paragraph or section
• Not at the very top (let the content come first)

Example in Context

## Validation

XML sitemaps must be well-formed and follow the protocol specification [^sitemaps-protocol].
Common validation errors include relative URLs, missing namespaces, and encoding issues.

> **Tool support:** The `sitemap` command validates these requirements since v0.1.0.

Step 3: Add CHANGELOG Entry

Add an entry to the tool's CHANGELOG.md with a research reference.

Format

## v0.1.0 (YYYY-MM-DD)

### Added

- `sitemap` command for XML sitemap validation and inspection
  - Research: [[sitemaps]], research-v0.5.0

Research Reference Format

Research: [[page-name]], research-vX.Y.Z

• Use wikilink style [[page-name]] for the research page
• Include the research version that documented the finding

Multiple Research Sources

- Enhanced `ai` command with link extraction
  - Research: [[ai-crawler-behavior]], [[jina-reader]], research-v0.2.0

Step 4: Mark Task Complete

Use the Backlog.md MCP to update the task:

task_edit({
  id: "TASK-XXX",
  status: "Done",
  // Optionally add implementation notes
  notesAppend: ["Implemented in v0.1.0. Updated [[sitemaps]] with toolCoverage."]
})

Definition of Done

Verify all acceptance criteria are met, especially:

• Feature works as specified
• Tests pass (if applicable)
• Research page has toolCoverage entry
• CHANGELOG entry references research

Complete Example

Before (research page frontmatter)

---
title: "Sitemaps"
lastVerified: 2026-02-04
lastUpdated: 2026-02-04
---

After (research page frontmatter)

---
title: "Sitemaps"
lastVerified: 2026-02-04
lastUpdated: 2026-02-04
toolCoverage:
  - finding: "XML sitemap validation and inspection"
    command: sitemap
    since: v0.1.0
---

Research page body addition

## Validation

Sitemaps must be UTF-8 encoded and properly escape special characters [^sitemaps-protocol].

> **Tool support:** The `sitemap` command validates encoding and escaping since v0.1.0.

CHANGELOG entry

## v0.1.0 (2026-02-16)

### Added

- `sitemap` command for XML sitemap validation and inspection
  - Validates XML structure, encoding, and namespace declarations
  - Reports URL count, file size, and extension usage
  - Warns when approaching protocol limits (50,000 URLs, 50MB)
  - Research: [[sitemaps]], research-v0.5.0

Traceability

This workflow ensures bidirectional traceability:

Research Page ←──────────────────→ Tool CHANGELOG
     │                                    │
     │ toolCoverage.since: v0.1.0        │ Research: [[page]], research-vX.Y.Z
     │                                    │
     └──────────── Backlog Task ──────────┘
                  (references both)

Users can:

• Read research → see which tool version implements findings
• Read CHANGELOG → find the research behind changes
• Read backlog → understand full context of both

Related Skills

• research-workflow: For performing research tasks
• research-backlog-task: For creating backlog tasks from research findings