explore

name	explore
description	Use when the user wants to bootstrap a new topic, expand an existing topic boundary, or build a reading roadmap — "开一个新的 topic"、"我想系统读一下 X 领域"、"梳理这个领域的脉络"、"这是一批种子论文帮我建立 topic"、"expand the landscape for Y". Use even if the user does not say /explore.

/explore

When To Use

• The user wants a new topic or a major topic expansion.
• The input is a deep-research list, a field overview, or a discussion about topic boundaries.

Inputs Expected

• topic name and slug
• user motivation and boundary hints
• optional: seed paper list

Preflight Checks

1. New topic vs. expansion — decide before doing anything:
   • New topic: no content/topics/<slug>/ directory exists; or the new direction's papers have minimal overlap with all existing topics
   • Expansion: the topic directory already exists with index.md/overview.md; new papers clearly belong within the existing scope — only landscape.md and overview.md need updating, skip create_topic.py
2. Confirm the canonical topic slug (use underscores, e.g., causal_representation_learning).
3. Decide whether the user wants topic ordering updated in the Quartz explorer (quartz.layout.ts).

Workflow

For a new topic

1. Run scripts/create_topic.py "Human-Readable Title" --slug <slug> --description "..." to scaffold index.md, overview.md, and landscape.md.
2. Fill in landscape.md using the structure below.
3. Fill in the Scope section of topic-index.md to articulate boundaries with neighboring topics.
4. Batch the supplied seed papers through /intake.
5. Rebuild indexes.
6. Append ops log entry (event=explore).

For a topic expansion

1. Read the existing landscape.md and overview.md first.
2. Update the relevant sections of landscape.md (add new sub-areas, update roadmap).
3. Batch new papers through /intake.
4. Rebuild indexes if needed.
5. Append ops log entry.

Landscape.md Structure

landscape.md should address all five sections. Stubs are acceptable initially, but each section must have at least one substantive paragraph before the topic is considered bootstrapped:

• Problem Space: What fundamental problem(s) this field is trying to solve; why they are hard; what past approaches failed and why
• Methodology Spectrum: Current technical approaches from the most conservative to the most aggressive, laid out as a spectrum; each major approach labeled with 1–2 representative papers
• Evolution: A rough timeline with 3–5 key turning points; each annotated with the representative paper(s) that caused or marked the shift
• Key Open Questions: 3–5 specific, concrete unsolved problems recognized by the community — not vague aspirations like "improve generalization"
• Reading Roadmap: Recommended reading order for someone new to this topic, divided into entry / core / advanced tiers

Neighboring Topic Boundaries

When a new topic overlaps with an existing one:

• Write explicit boundary statements in both topics' index.md Scope sections
• Use cross-references ([[topic-slug/index]]) to link related topics
• If overlap is very high (most papers belong in both), consider whether a merge or a cross-cutting synthesis page is more appropriate than a new topic

Files It May Write

• content/topics/<topic>/index.md
• content/topics/<topic>/overview.md
• content/topics/<topic>/landscape.md
• quartz.layout.ts (if topic ordering is updated)
• ops/log.md

Scripts

• assets/topic-index.md, assets/overview.md, assets/landscape.md — templates
• scripts/create_topic.py — scaffolds all three files
• ../intake/scripts/intake.py — for seeding the paper list
• ../maintain/scripts/rebuild_index.py
• See _shared/script-registry.md for full invocation examples

Done Criteria

• The topic folder is browsable with index.md and overview.md
• landscape.md has substantive content in all five sections
• The seed paper list has been queued via /intake
• Topic boundary is documented in index.md Scope section

Hand-Offs

• Cross-topic comparison work → /synthesize
• Idea formation during exploration → /discuss