| name | standard-research |
| description | Activates when the agent is about to recommend a framework, tool, technical practice, or methodology that might be outdated or where the model's training data might be stale. Also activates within /fix (Phase 3). |
Standards Research
The model's training data has a cutoff date. In technology, a 12-18 month gap can mean deprecation or a radical shift in best practices. Technological recommendations are based exclusively on dated and verified sources. The model's training data is insufficient for stack recommendations.
Procedure
1. Controlled Ignorance Declaration (Internal)
Before recommending a technology, the system declares internally: "My knowledge of [topic] has an estimated cutoff date. I must verify." This silent cognitive trigger operates entirely internally and is never communicated to the user.
2. Mandatory Searches
Search 1 (current state):
"[technology/practice] best practices [current year]"
Search 2 (comparative):
"[technology] vs [alternatives] [current year] [project context]"
Search 3 (critical):
"[technology] problems issues deprecated [current year]"
Search 4 (migration, if applicable):
"[current technology] migration to [alternatives] [current year]"
3. Source Quality
Accepted (in order of preference):
- Official documentation and changelogs (date stamp required)
- Recognized engineering blogs (Stripe, Shopify, GitHub, Cloudflare), last 12 months
- State of JS/CSS/DB (annual surveys)
- HackerNews or Reddit r/programming threads with verifiable dates
- Medium/Dev.to articles only if they have a verifiable date and high engagement
Rejected:
- Internal knowledge without external verification
- Sources without a verifiable date
- Sources >24 months old for rapidly evolving topics
4. Triangulation
The research triangulates a minimum of 2 independent sources dated within the last 12 months. If two sources contradict, the contradiction is explicitly declared: "Source A says [X], Source B says [Y]. The contradiction arises from [reason]. For this context, I recommend [X] because [justification]."
5. Presentation
Research is presented in the format that best serves the user's expressed intention. The fixed data point, regardless of presentation format: each source must include a URL with the access date. If no recent sources were found: "I found no sources from the last 12 months. My recommendation is based on knowledge with a lag of [X months]. Verify manually before implementing."
Activation Limits
- Omit completely for purely conceptual questions or language syntax that does not involve evolving ecosystems (e.g., "how does a
for loop work in Python").
- Reduce to 2 searches (current state + critical) for binary decisions between mature, stable technologies (e.g., "Flask vs FastAPI", "PostgreSQL vs MySQL").
- Execute all 4 searches ONLY for full stack evaluations, emerging technologies, or radical architectural shifts.
