investigate

name	investigate
description	Deep proactive analysis for complex technical problems requiring upfront thinking and design. Use when: investigate, deep dive, technical spike, design strategy, complex multi-constraint problem, figure out how to, how should I approach. NOT for errors (use troubleshoot) or option brainstorming (use brainstorm).
allowed-tools	WebSearch, WebFetch, AskUserQuestion, Read, Write, Glob, Grep, Task
model	opus
context	main
argument-hint	<complex problem description>
cynefin-domain	complicated
cynefin-verb	analyze

Investigate

Deep analysis for complex technical problems. Proactive (design-first), not reactive (error-first).

You are investigating: $ARGUMENTS

⚠️ AskUserQuestion Guard

CRITICAL: After EVERY AskUserQuestion call, check if answers are empty/blank. Known Claude Code bug: outside Plan Mode, AskUserQuestion silently returns empty answers without showing UI.

If answers are empty: DO NOT proceed with assumptions. Instead:

1. Output: "⚠️ Questions didn't display (known Claude Code bug outside Plan Mode)."
2. Present the options as a numbered text list and ask user to reply with their choice number.
3. WAIT for user reply before continuing.

Workflow

0.Scope → 1.Decompose → 2.Research → 3.Design → 4.Decide → 5.Persist → 6.Bridge

0. Scope

AskUserQuestion to qualify:

• Problem: What exactly are you trying to achieve?
• Constraints: Environment, stack, access limitations, time budget?
• Success criteria: How will you know it's solved?

Skip if $ARGUMENTS already covers these.

1. Decompose

Break problem into sub-problems. See protocols/decompose.md.

1. Issue Tree (MECE): Mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive breakdown
2. Constraint Map: Identify binding constraint (Theory of Constraints — optimize the bottleneck, not everything)
3. Unknowns inventory: What don't we know? What assumptions are we making?

Output: Mermaid diagram of sub-problems + dependencies.

2. Research

For each sub-problem, multi-angle investigation. See protocols/research.md.

1. WebSearch: Existing solutions, patterns, pitfalls for each sub-problem
2. Codebase analysis: Glob/Grep/Read relevant code (if applicable)
3. IS / IS NOT (Kepner-Tregoe): Bound the problem space — what is affected vs. not
4. Use Task (sub-agents) for parallel research on independent sub-problems

Output: Findings matrix — sub-problem × approach × evidence.

3. Design

Generate 2-3 alternative approaches. See protocols/design.md.

1. Morphological Analysis (Zwicky): Map solution dimensions → combine options systematically
2. Trade-off matrix: Effort × Risk × Fit × Maintainability
3. Visualize with Mermaid (architecture diagrams, sequence flows)

Output: Alternatives table with trade-offs.

4. Decide

1. Weighted Decision Matrix: Score alternatives against success criteria from Scope
2. Pre-mortem on winner: "It's 6 months later and this failed — why?"
3. Assumptions list: What must be true for this approach to work?

Output: Recommended approach + explicit risks.

5. Persist Thinking Artifact ⚠️ MANDATORY

MUST execute before finishing. DO NOT skip. DO NOT wait for user to ask.

Write investigation to $PRAXIS_DIR/thinking/investigations/{project}/{date}-{slug}-llm.md.

{project} = current project folder name (e.g., agent-skills, gtd-pcm). {slug} = lowercase hyphenated from problem statement. Create directory if missing.

Collision handling: If filename exists, append sequence: {date}-{slug}-2-llm.md, {date}-{slug}-3-llm.md. First write gets clean name.

Guard: If $PRAXIS_DIR is unset, warn user and skip artifact persistence: ⚠️ $PRAXIS_DIR not set — artifact not persisted. Set via: export PRAXIS_DIR="$HOME/dev/praxis"

Content (required sections):

• Problem statement (from Scope)
• Decomposition (sub-problems + constraints)
• Research findings (per sub-problem)
• Alternatives evaluated (trade-off matrix)
• Decision + risks
• Bridge (next action: OpenSpec/pebble/spike)

6. Bridge

Handoff to execution:

• Boulder → Generate OpenSpec proposal (/openspec-plan)
• Pebble → Direct implementation plan (task list)
• Still unclear → Identify next spike/experiment needed

✅ Completion Checklist

Before responding to user, verify:

• Artifact written to $PRAXIS_DIR/thinking (or guard triggered if unset)

Refs

• protocols/decompose.md — Issue Trees, MECE, Constraint Mapping
• protocols/research.md — Kepner-Tregoe IS/IS NOT, multi-angle probing
• protocols/design.md — Morphological Analysis, trade-off frameworks