research-cache

name	research-cache
description	Manage and search the research cache for previously analyzed repositories
user-invocable	true

Research Cache

Manage the global repository analysis cache used by the /research command.

Overview

The research cache stores analysis results from external repositories discovered during web research. This prevents re-analyzing the same repositories and speeds up research workflows.

Cache Location: ~/.claude/research-cache/

Cache Structure:

~/.claude/research-cache/
  <owner>-<repo>-<commit-short>/
    analysis.md          # Focused analysis document
    metadata.json        # Cache metadata (timestamps, query hash)

Cache Behavior

Automatic Caching

When the /research command discovers external repositories:

1. Detection: URLs extracted from web research results (Step 3.5)
2. Cache Check: Before analysis, check if commit already analyzed
3. Analysis: If not cached, spawn focused-repository-analyzer agent
4. Save: Analysis saved to cache with metadata
5. Reuse: Future research queries use cached results

Cache TTL

• Default TTL: 7 days
• Max Age: 30 days (before purge)
• Query Matching: Cache reused if query hash matches

Commands

View Cache Statistics

bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh stats

Output:

Cache Statistics

Directory: ~/.claude/research-cache

Entries:
  Total:   15
  Valid:   12
  Expired: 3
  Invalid: 0

Storage:
  Total Size: 45678KB

Configuration:
  TTL:          604800s (7 days)
  Max Age:      2592000s (30 days)

List Cache Entries

# List valid entries only
bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh list

# Include expired entries
bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh list --expired

Output:

Cache Directory: ~/.claude/research-cache

CACHE KEY                      STATUS          CREATED              QUERY HASH
----------                     ------          -------              ----------
facebook-react-a1b2c3d         VALID           2026-01-01T12:00:00  f3a8c91e
vercel-next.js-e4f5g6h         VALID           2026-01-02T14:30:00  7b2d4a9c
golang-go-i7j8k9l              EXPIRED         2025-12-20T09:15:00  3c1e5f2a

Purge Expired Entries

# Purge only expired entries (older than max age)
bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh purge

# Force purge all entries
bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh purge --force

Output:

Purging: golang-go-i7j8k9l (age: 2678400s)
Purging invalid: broken-repo-abc123

Purge Summary:
  Purged: 2
  Kept:   13

Get Cached Analysis

# Get path to cached analysis
CACHE_KEY="facebook-react-a1b2c3d"
ANALYSIS_PATH=$(bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh get "$CACHE_KEY")

if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "Found cached analysis: $ANALYSIS_PATH"
    cat "$ANALYSIS_PATH"
else
    echo "No cached analysis found"
fi

Check Cache Existence

# Check if cache entry exists
CACHE_KEY="facebook-react-a1b2c3d"
if bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh exists "$CACHE_KEY"; then
    echo "Cache hit: $CACHE_KEY"
else
    echo "Cache miss: $CACHE_KEY"
fi

# Check with query hash matching
QUERY_HASH="f3a8c91e"
if bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh exists "$CACHE_KEY" "$QUERY_HASH"; then
    echo "Cache hit with matching query"
else
    echo "Cache miss or query mismatch"
fi

Generate Cache Key

# Generate cache key from repo URL and commit
REPO_URL="https://github.com/facebook/react"
COMMIT_HASH="a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0k1l2m3n4o5p6q7r8s9t0"

CACHE_KEY=$(bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh key "$REPO_URL" "$COMMIT_HASH")
echo "Cache key: $CACHE_KEY"
# Output: facebook-react-a1b2c3d

Cache Metadata

Each cache entry includes metadata.json:

{
  "cache_key": "facebook-react-a1b2c3d",
  "repo_url": "https://github.com/facebook/react",
  "commit_hash": "a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0k1l2m3n4o5p6q7r8s9t0",
  "query": "How to implement React hooks?",
  "query_hash": "f3a8c91e",
  "context": "Discovered during web research for: React hooks implementation",
  "created_at": 1735747200,
  "created_date": "2026-01-01T12:00:00Z",
  "ttl_seconds": 604800,
  "expires_at": 1736352000,
  "expires_date": "2026-01-08T12:00:00Z"
}

Best Practices

When to Purge Cache

1. Regular Maintenance: Run purge monthly to remove old entries
2. Disk Space: Purge when cache size exceeds reasonable limits
3. Forced Purge: Use --force when resetting research state

Cache Invalidation

Cache entries are automatically invalidated when:

• Age > TTL: Entry older than 7 days
• Query Mismatch: Different query hash (query-specific caching)
• Invalid Metadata: Missing or corrupted metadata.json

Manual Cache Management

# View what's cached
bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh list

# Check stats before purging
bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh stats

# Purge expired only
bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh purge

# Force clean slate
bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh purge --force

Configuration

Environment Variables

# Override cache directory
export CLAUDE_RESEARCH_CACHE="/custom/cache/path"

# Default: ~/.claude/research-cache

Cache Settings

Edit toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh:

# Cache TTL in seconds (7 days)
CACHE_TTL=$((7 * 24 * 60 * 60))

# Max age before purge (30 days)
MAX_CACHE_AGE=$((30 * 24 * 60 * 60))

Troubleshooting

Cache Not Being Used

Symptom: Research always re-analyzes repositories

Check:

# Verify cache exists
bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh stats

# Check if entry is valid
bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh exists <cache-key>

Fix:

• Entry may be expired (age > TTL)
• Query hash mismatch (different research query)
• Invalid metadata.json

Cache Growing Too Large

Symptom: Cache directory consuming excessive disk space

Check:

# View cache size
bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh stats

Fix:

# Purge expired entries
bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh purge

# Or force purge all
bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh purge --force

Corrupted Cache Entry

Symptom: Cache entry exists but cannot be read

Fix:

# Manually remove corrupted entry
rm -rf ~/.claude/research-cache/<cache-key>

# Reinitialize cache
bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh init

Integration with /research Command

The research cache is automatically used by the /research command:

1. Step 3.5: External repositories detected from web research
2. Step 3.6: Cache checked before cloning/analyzing
3. Cache Hit: Cached analysis included in research document
4. Cache Miss: Repository cloned, analyzed, and saved to cache

No manual intervention required for normal research workflows.

Performance Impact

Without Cache:

• Clone time: 30-60s per repository
• Analysis time: 25-35 minutes per repository
• Total: ~30 minutes for single repo

With Cache:

• Cache lookup: <1s
• Analysis reuse: instant
• Total: <1s for cached repo

Typical Savings: 99%+ time reduction for repeated research queries

Advanced Usage

Batch Cache Operations

# Get all valid cache keys
for cache_dir in ~/.claude/research-cache/*; do
    if [ -f "$cache_dir/metadata.json" ]; then
        CACHE_KEY=$(basename "$cache_dir")
        AGE=$(jq -r '.created_at' "$cache_dir/metadata.json")
        echo "$CACHE_KEY: created $(date -r $AGE)"
    fi
done

Export Cache Statistics

# Export to JSON
bash toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh stats > cache-stats.txt

# Parse for monitoring
grep "Total:" cache-stats.txt

Custom Cache Queries

# Find all React-related analyses
grep -r "React" ~/.claude/research-cache/*/analysis.md

# Find analyses newer than N days
find ~/.claude/research-cache -name "metadata.json" -mtime -7 -exec jq -r '.repo_url' {} \;

See Also

• /research - Main research command that uses cache
• focused-repository-analyzer - Agent that generates cached analyses
• toolkit/claude-code-4.5/utils/repo-analysis-cache.sh - Cache utility script