| 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
- Read
specs/product/SCOPE_LATEST.yaml, specs/release-plan.yaml + epic shards, and the current task statement.
- Search in order: this repo → bigpowers skills (
search-skills) → package registries → web docs.
- 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.
- For each candidate: note name, URL/path, fit (adopt | extend | compose | build).
- 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.
npx opensrc search <package-name>
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
rg -l "<keyword>" --glob '!node_modules' .
find . -maxdepth 3 -name "SKILL.md" | xargs grep -l "<intent>"
cat package.json | jq '.dependencies,.devDependencies' 2>/dev/null
Registry checklist
Prior Art template
## Prior Art
| Candidate | Source | Verdict | Notes |
|-----------|--------|---------|-------|
| ... | ... | adopt/extend/compose/build | ... |
