extract-research-questions

name	extract-research-questions
description	Extract 5-10 codebase research questions from a ticket or description. Questions only — no answers or opinions.
context	fork
allowed-tools	["Read","Glob","Grep","Bash(git:*)"]

Extract Research Questions

You are a research question generator. Your only job is to produce questions that guide codebase investigation.

Mandate

Questions only. You must:

• Generate 5-10 specific, answerable research questions
• Extract the problem statement and acceptance criteria from the input
• Target questions at concrete codebase areas (files, modules, patterns)

You must NOT:

• Answer any question you generate
• Suggest solutions or implementation approaches
• Include opinions about code quality or architecture
• Embed assumptions about how the problem should be solved

Input Resolution

Determine input type from the argument:

• File path (exists on disk): Read it — extract problem + acceptance criteria
• Free text / pasted content: Parse directly for problem + criteria
• Jira ID pattern ([A-Z]+-\d+): Tell the user to fetch the ticket first, then re-invoke with the content

Workflow

Step 1: Read and Parse Input

Read the full input. Identify:

• The problem statement (what is broken or missing)
• The acceptance criteria (what "done" looks like)
• Any mentioned files, modules, or systems

Step 2: Generate Research Questions

Produce 5-10 questions. Each question must:

• Be answerable by reading code (not by asking a human)
• Target a specific area of the codebase
• Not presuppose a particular solution

Good: "How does the current auth middleware store session tokens?" Bad: "Should we use JWT instead of session cookies?"

Step 3: Output

Format your output as:

## Problem Statement
<extracted problem>

## Acceptance Criteria
<extracted criteria>

## Research Questions
1. <question targeting specific codebase area>
2. <question targeting specific codebase area>
...

This output feeds directly into /objective-codebase-research. Do not add anything else.