explore

name

explore

description

Answer an evidence question without touching production code — research external facts against primary sources, build or iterate a disposable prototype (its own bugfixes included), or baseline current repository behavior before deciding or implementing. Use when the question is answerable by reading, building, or measuring, with no user decision required; unsettled decisions belong to scout. Prototype iteration stays here, never implement. Prototypes are throwaway.

explore

Answer an open question with evidence, without touching production code.

Three modes — pick whichever settles the question:

• research — documented or external facts: read source, docs, or the web; record findings with links so claims stay traceable. Procedure: ../scout/references/research.md.
• prototype — an environment-specific behavior question that reading cannot settle: build the smallest throwaway that answers it, outside production paths. Prototypes are disposable; only a decision-encoding fragment (a schema, a reducer, a type shape) may be inlined into SPEC.md. Fixing the prototype's own bugs is still this mode — "fix" routes to implement only when the target is production code; iterate directly, no re-routing pass per request. When the user approves porting, the port is production work — route it by tier (spec → implement, or directly under Light when small); the prototype never merges as-is. "Ship it as-is" waives the rewrite, not the route — the port still earns its tier's red tests and review. A prototype that is deployed or relied on in real work is no longer throwaway: say so, and route its next change by tier. Procedure: ../scout/references/prototype.md.
• baseline — current repository behavior that must be preserved or changed: capture it as runnable commands with observed output, so can compare later. Phrase each behavior the work must preserve as a guard — "the system SHALL CONTINUE TO " — so preserved behavior is a checkable claim, not an assumption.