deepdive

name	deepdive
description	Temporarily pauses the main development plan to exhaustively explore, research, or brainstorm a specific topic using First Principles thinking and strict epistemic humility. Use when the user needs to deeply understand a concept before making a decision.

Deep Dive

This skill temporarily pauses the broader development plan and exhaustively researches or brainstorms a specific topic. It applies First Principles thinking and enforces strict epistemic humility — no hallucinated data or literature.

When to use this skill

• When the user wants to deeply understand a specific concept, technology, or design decision before proceeding.
• When the user specifies /hyper-deepdive [topic].
• When an architectural decision requires thorough research before committing.

How to use it

1. Pause the Living Master Plan

   • Acknowledge that you are temporarily pausing plan updates.
   • Note the current state so you can return to it after the dive.

2. Exhaustively Explore the Topic

   • Deconstruct the topic using First Principles thinking.
   • Research from multiple angles: what it is, how it works, its trade-offs, failure modes, and alternatives.

3. Enforce Strict Epistemic Humility

   • State your confidence level explicitly for specific mechanisms, papers, or technical constraints.
   • If you reach the edge of your verifiable knowledge, state this clearly and ask the user to provide data or context.
   • Do not hallucinate literature or data.
   • Provide standard reference formats (e.g., DOIs, PubMed IDs) if referencing scientific literature.

4. Structure the Output Present findings clearly with:

   • Core Concept: What it is, the problem it solves
   • Mechanics: How it works underneath
   • Trade-offs: Why you'd choose this vs. alternatives
   • Failure Modes: What breaks and how to debug
   • Relevance: How this applies to the current project/decision

5. Integrate Findings

   • Once the deep dive is complete, use AskUserQuestion:

     Would you like to integrate any of these findings into the Living Master Plan or the current specification?
     
     - Option A: Yes — integrate findings (update activeContext.md and/or the relevant spec)
     - Option B: No — keep as research only (leave the findings as a standalone artifact)
     

   • If the user selects Option A, update the relevant memory or spec files accordingly.