ed-sources

name	ed-sources
description	Curate and improve source/signal patterns. Use when reviewing search quality, source usefulness, query patterns, source affordances, or edge-sources/edge-signals feedback.
user-invocable	true

Sources — Source/Signal Curation

Use this skill to improve how the system finds external evidence and operational signals.

ed-sources is not the search runner. The CLI already does that:

edge-cap invoke sources.aggregate -- "topic" --intent <intent>
edge-cap invoke sources.aggregate -- "topic" --intent <intent> --feedback-json
edge-signals --help
edge-context --mode sources "topic" --intent <intent>

The skill owns the feedback loop around those tools: what worked, what failed, and which query patterns are worth keeping.

Responsibility

Sources owns source/signal pattern curation.

It is responsible for:

• mining source/search/signal history for useful feedback;
• testing new source and query patterns;
• grading source/channel affordances;
• consolidating repeated source/signal behavior into topics or pre-skill context;
• archiving stale, duplicated, or low-use source patterns;
• keeping source guidance compact enough to stay useful.

Boundary

Do not manage lifecycle, publication, postflight, or generic artifact rites inside this skill.

Do not duplicate the source registry in this skill. edge-sources, edge-signals, edge-context, capability manifests, and primitive read models are the executable source of truth.

Inputs

Use these in order:

• state/source-affordance-digest.json;
• recent source and signal events from state/events.jsonl;
• edge-cap status --json --skill sources;
• edge-primitives status --json;
• existing source/signal topics and notes from corpus search;
• recent reports or skill outputs that cite sources;
• failed or degraded edge-sources, edge-signals, or edge-context calls;
• operator feedback about source quality.

Use raw logs only to answer a specific curation question. Prefer digests and read models first.

Feedback Model

Useful feedback is structured. For each search/signal episode, capture:

Field	Meaning
Task intent	research, discovery, heartbeat, planner, report, etc.
Query pattern	exact query shape or source route tested
Source/channel	e.g. source.hn, source.x, source.exa, signal.friction, search.corpus
Affordance	novelty, confirmation, continuity, operational_signal, implementation_pattern, primary_source, counterexample
Usefulness	score 1-5
Evidence	ODI/result URL, artifact, event id, or output snippet
Reason	why it helped, failed, or misled
Follow-up	keep, merge, archive, retest, or promote to topic/pre-skill context

Record affordance judgments with:

edge-affordance evaluate <source_id> \
  --affordance <affordance> \
  --score <1-5> \
  --context "<task intent / situation>" \
  --query "<query or route>" \
  --reason "<short reason>"

If there is an ODI id from edge-sources, pass --odi <id>.

Method

1. Read The Current Learning State

Inspect the affordance digest and recent source/signal events.

Answer:

• Which sources are reliably useful for which affordances?
• Which sources produce noise?
• Which intents have weak coverage?
• Which query patterns repeatedly work?
• Which source/signal calls fail or degrade?

2. Find Existing Source Patterns

Search for current source/signal patterns:

edge-cap invoke search.corpus -- "sources signals edge-sources edge-signals" --require-type topic --require-type memory -k 20

Classify each pattern:

• keep: still useful and distinct;
• merge: overlaps with another topic or note;
• archive: stale, unused, too broad, or contradicted by current tools;
• retest: promising but unproven;
• replace: superseded by a better route.

Keep the active source/signal pattern set short and specific.

3. Test Patterns

Test patterns against real questions, not toy prompts.

Use the CLI as the experimental harness:

edge-cap invoke sources.aggregate -- "<query>" --intent <intent> --feedback-json \
  --episode-id "sources-test:<slug>" \
  --pattern-id "<pattern-name>" \
  --pattern-note "<what is being tested>"
edge-context --mode sources "<query>" --intent <intent>
edge-signals --json

Test variants such as:

• specific source overrides vs routed default;
• narrow technical query vs broad problem query;
• primary-source-first vs community-discussion-first;
• corpus-first vs external-first;
• signal check before source search;
• second query derived from what failed in the first.

For each test, record what changed in the answer quality.

Use --feedback-json when curating. It returns the run id, episode id, selected route, source summaries, ODI ids, and a feedback contract for edge-affordance. For corpus routing, it also includes source_playbook.corpus with citation-weighted query guidance, high-value entries, and decay notes from the observability rollup.

4. Grade Source/Signal Affordances

Use edge-affordance evaluate for every meaningful success or failure.

Score guidance:

• 5: source/channel directly changed the answer or decision;
• 4: useful and specific, with minor cleanup;
• 3: acceptable context, not decisive;
• 2: mostly noisy or indirect;
• 1: failed, misleading, stale, or unavailable.

Grade atomic sources/channels, not wrappers. Prefer source.hn, source.exa, source.github, signal.friction, search.corpus over edge-sources.

When a corpus result directly informs an artifact, make sure the publishing skill records it under corpus_references so future search ranking can learn from actual use.

5. Curate The Pattern Set

Promote a pattern only when it is repeatable.

Before adding durable guidance:

• check active count;
• merge duplicates;
• archive stale guidance;
• ensure the new topic or pre-skill context has a clear trigger, failure mode, and evidence from tests.

Hard cap: keep only guidance that will affect future source routing.

6. Close With A Curation Report

Return:

Sources Curation
Scope: <history window / patterns tested>

Affordance Updates:
- <source/channel> -> <affordance> -> <score> -> <reason>

Patterns Tested:
- <pattern> -> <result> -> <keep/archive/retest>

Pattern Curation:
- kept:
- merged:
- archived:
- promoted:

Failures / Blockers:
- <source/signal route> -> <exact error or degradation>

Next:
- <next test or pattern cleanup>

Invariants

• The CLI runs searches; the skill curates learning from searches.
• Feedback must be structured enough to improve future routing.
• Grade atomic sources/channels, not only wrapper commands.
• Do not keep stale or duplicated source patterns.
• Do not promote a pattern without testing it.
• Archive old source guidance when it no longer produces useful work.