skill-researcher-hard

name	skill-researcher-hard
description	Conduct hard-mode research with adversarial verification, reference grounding, and anti-analysis contracts. Invoke for --hard research tasks.
allowed-tools	Agent, AskUserQuestion, Bash, Edit, Read, Write

Researcher Hard Skill

Hard-mode wrapper that delegates research to general-research-hard-agent subagent. Extends skill-researcher with hard-mode behavioral contracts (H2, H3, H4) and postflight logging of adversarial verification status.

Relationship to base skill: This skill is structurally identical to skill-researcher except it dispatches to general-research-hard-agent and logs adversarial_verification_triggered. Maintenance note: changes to skill-researcher postflight should be mirrored here.

Context References

Reference (do not load eagerly):

• Path: .claude/context/formats/return-metadata-file.md - Metadata file schema
• Path: .claude/context/contracts/anti-analysis.md - H2 contract (loaded by agent)
• Path: .claude/context/contracts/reference-grounding.md - H3 contract (loaded by agent)
• Path: .claude/context/patterns/postflight-control.md - Marker file protocol
• Path: .claude/context/patterns/jq-escaping-workarounds.md - jq escaping patterns

Trigger Conditions

This skill activates when:

• /research N --hard is invoked and no extension hard variant exists
• Routed here by command-route-skill.sh with effort_flag="hard"

---

Execution Flow

Stage 1: Input Validation

Validate required inputs:

• task_number - Must be provided and exist in state.json

task_data=$(jq -r --argjson num "$task_number" \
  '.active_projects[] | select(.project_number == $num)' \
  specs/state.json)

if [ -z "$task_data" ]; then
  return error "Task $task_number not found"
fi

task_type=$(echo "$task_data" | jq -r '.task_type // "general"')
status=$(echo "$task_data" | jq -r '.status')
project_name=$(echo "$task_data" | jq -r '.project_name')
description=$(echo "$task_data" | jq -r '.description // ""')

---

Stage 1.5: Hard-Mode Cost Note

Emit one-time cost note (via session flag) on first hard-mode invocation:

session_flag_file="/tmp/.hard-mode-notified-${SESSION_ID:-$$}"
if [ ! -f "$session_flag_file" ]; then
  echo "[hard-mode] Hard mode active. Cost: ~3-5x standard. Use --hard for deflection-prone or formally complex tasks." >&2
  touch "$session_flag_file"
fi

---

Stage 2: Preflight Status Update

Update task status to "researching" BEFORE invoking subagent.

.claude/scripts/update-task-status.sh preflight "$task_number" research "$session_id"

---

Stage 3: Create Postflight Marker

Create marker file:

padded_num=$(printf "%03d" "$task_number")
mkdir -p "specs/${padded_num}_${project_name}"

cat > "specs/${padded_num}_${project_name}/.postflight-pending" << EOF
{
  "session_id": "${session_id}",
  "skill": "skill-researcher-hard",
  "task_number": ${task_number},
  "operation": "research",
  "reason": "Hard-mode research in progress: adversarial verification, status update, git commit pending"
}
EOF

---

Stage 3a: Read Artifact Number

artifact_number=$(jq -r --argjson num "$task_number" \
  '.active_projects[] | select(.project_number == $num) | .next_artifact_number // 1' \
  specs/state.json)

if [ "$artifact_number" = "null" ] || [ -z "$artifact_number" ]; then
  padded_num=$(printf "%03d" "$task_number")
  count=$(ls "specs/${padded_num}_${project_name}/reports/"*[0-9][0-9]*.md 2>/dev/null | wc -l)
  artifact_number=$((count + 1))
fi

artifact_padded=$(printf "%02d" "$artifact_number")

---

Stage 4a: Memory Retrieval (Auto)

if [ "$clean_flag" != "true" ]; then
  memory_context=$(bash .claude/scripts/memory-retrieve.sh "$description" "$task_type" "$focus_prompt" 2>/dev/null) || memory_context=""
fi

# Literature sub-index detection (interactive setup when sub-index is missing)
lit_context=""
if [ "$lit_flag" = "true" ] && [ ! -f "specs/literature-index.json" ]; then
  LIT_DIR="${LITERATURE_DIR:-$HOME/Projects/Literature}"
  GLOBAL_INDEX="$LIT_DIR/index.json"
  if [ ! -f "$GLOBAL_INDEX" ]; then
    # Global index missing -- inform user and continue without literature context
    echo "Note: --lit flag used but no global Literature index found at $GLOBAL_INDEX. Continuing without literature context." >&2
    # lit_context remains ""
  else
    # Global index exists but sub-index is missing -- present interactive setup options
    # (AskUserQuestion must be called inline here; cannot be delegated to a shell script)
    #
    # Present AskUserQuestion with 3 options:
    # 1. Skip: Continue without literature context
    # 2. Create setup task: Create task and continue without literature context now
    # 3. Create task and run now: Create task, populate sub-index inline, then use it
    #
    # Pseudocode (executed by Claude as the skill runs):
    #   user_choice = AskUserQuestion(
    #     "The --lit flag was used but specs/literature-index.json does not exist for this repo.\n\n" +
    #     "A global Literature index was found at $GLOBAL_INDEX.\n\n" +
    #     "How would you like to proceed?",
    #     options=[
    #       "Skip: Continue without literature context (--lit is ignored this time)",
    #       "Create setup task: Create a task to populate the sub-index, then continue without literature context",
    #       "Create task and run now: Create the task AND populate specs/literature-index.json inline before proceeding"
    #     ]
    #   )
    #
    # After user_choice:
    #   if "Skip":
    #     lit_context=""  (already set, no action needed)
    #
    #   if "Create setup task":
    #     new_task_num=$(bash .claude/scripts/literature-create-setup-task.sh)
    #     echo "Created task $new_task_num to populate specs/literature-index.json. Run /orchestrate $new_task_num to populate before using --lit."
    #     lit_context=""  (continue without literature context)
    #
    #   if "Create task and run now":
    #     new_task_num=$(bash .claude/scripts/literature-create-setup-task.sh)
    #     echo "Created task $new_task_num. Populating specs/literature-index.json inline via fork agent..."
    #     # Fork dispatch: inline population of sub-index (see Stage 4a-fork below)
    #     # After fork completes and sub-index exists:
    #     lit_context=$(bash .claude/scripts/literature-briefing.sh 2>/dev/null) || lit_context=""
    :
  fi
fi

Stage 4a-fork: Inline population (option "Create task and run now")

When the user selects "Create task and run now", after calling literature-create-setup-task.sh:

1. Invoke the Agent tool with subagent_type: "fork" and a prompt instructing the fork to:

   • Read ~/Projects/Literature/index.json (or $LITERATURE_DIR/index.json)
   • Read specs/state.json to understand this repo's task descriptions and domain
   • Analyze keyword/topic overlap between global index keywords, project_tags, and summary fields and the repo's task descriptions
   • Write matched entries to specs/literature-index.json with this schema:

     {
       "entries": [
         {"doc_id": "<id>", "relevance": "<one-sentence note>", "source": "discover"}
       ]
     }
     

   • Update the newly created task (number from step above) to completed status in specs/state.json
   • Call bash .claude/scripts/generate-todo.sh after updating state.json

2. After the fork returns, check if specs/literature-index.json was created:

   • If yes: run lit_context=$(bash .claude/scripts/literature-briefing.sh 2>/dev/null) || lit_context=""
   • If no (fork failed or timed out): log a warning, report the task number, suggest /orchestrate N, set lit_context=""

# Literature briefing injection (runs if sub-index already exists OR was just created by fork)
if [ "$lit_flag" = "true" ] && [ -f "specs/literature-index.json" ]; then
  lit_context=$(bash .claude/scripts/literature-briefing.sh 2>/dev/null) || lit_context=""
fi

# lit_context will be empty string if:
# - lit_flag is not "true" (skipped)
# - specs/literature-index.json is empty or missing (after all detection/setup above)
# - script exited with error

Note: lit_flag is independent of clean_flag. Using --clean --lit suppresses memory retrieval but still injects literature briefing. Literature briefing is gated solely on lit_flag == "true".

---

Stage 4: Prepare Delegation Context

{
  "session_id": "{session_id}",
  "delegation_depth": 1,
  "delegation_path": ["orchestrator", "research", "skill-researcher-hard"],
  "timeout": 3600,
  "task_context": {
    "task_number": N,
    "task_name": "{project_name}",
    "description": "{description}",
    "task_type": "{task_type}"
  },
  "artifact_number": "{artifact_number}",
  "focus_prompt": "{optional focus}",
  "effort_flag": "hard",
  "model_flag": "{model_flag from command, null if not set}",
  "roadmap_path": "specs/ROADMAP.md",
  "metadata_file_path": "specs/{NNN}_{SLUG}/.return-meta.json"
}

---

Stage 4b: Read Format Specification

format_content=$(cat .claude/context/formats/report-format.md)

---

Stage 5: Invoke Subagent

Tool: Agent
Parameters:
  - subagent_type: "general-research-hard-agent"
  - prompt: [task_context, delegation_context, format specification, memory_context, lit_context, focus]
  - description: "Execute hard-mode research for task {N}"

Include format specification, memory context, and literature briefing in prompt as per skill-researcher pattern. If lit_context is non-empty, inject it as a <literature-briefing> block after the memory context and before the task-specific instructions.

---

Stage 5b: Self-Execution Fallback

If Agent tool was not used (inline execution path), write .return-meta.json with status "researched" before proceeding to postflight.

---

Postflight (ALWAYS EXECUTE)

Stage 6: Parse Subagent Return

Read metadata file and extract: status, artifact_path, artifact_type, artifact_summary, memory_candidates, and additionally adversarial_verification_triggered.

metadata_file="specs/${padded_num}_${project_name}/.return-meta.json"

if [ -f "$metadata_file" ] && jq empty "$metadata_file" 2>/dev/null; then
    status=$(jq -r '.status' "$metadata_file")
    artifact_path=$(jq -r '.artifacts[0].path // ""' "$metadata_file")
    artifact_type=$(jq -r '.artifacts[0].type // ""' "$metadata_file")
    artifact_summary=$(jq -r '.artifacts[0].summary // ""' "$metadata_file")
    memory_candidates=$(jq -c '.memory_candidates // []' "$metadata_file")
    adversarial_triggered=$(jq -r '.adversarial_verification_triggered // false' "$metadata_file")
else
    status="failed"
    adversarial_triggered="false"
fi

# Log adversarial verification status
echo "[hard-mode] Adversarial verification triggered: $adversarial_triggered" >&2

---

Stage 6a: Validate Artifact Content (non-blocking)

if [ "$status" = "researched" ] && [ -n "$artifact_path" ] && [ -f "$artifact_path" ]; then
    bash .claude/scripts/validate-artifact.sh "$artifact_path" report --fix || true
fi

---

Stage 7: Update Task Status (Postflight)

if [ "$status" = "researched" ]; then
  .claude/scripts/update-task-status.sh postflight "$task_number" research "$session_id"

  jq '(.active_projects[] | select(.project_number == '$task_number')).next_artifact_number =
      (((.active_projects[] | select(.project_number == '$task_number')).next_artifact_number // 1) + 1)' \
    specs/state.json > specs/tmp/state.json && mv specs/tmp/state.json specs/state.json
fi

---

Stage 7a: Propagate Memory Candidates

Same as skill-researcher Stage 7a.

---

Stage 8: Link Artifacts

Same as skill-researcher Stage 8 (two-step jq pattern for Issue #1132 safety).

---

Stage 8a: Lifecycle TTS Notification

lifecycle_script=".claude/scripts/lifecycle-notify.sh"
if [ -f "$lifecycle_script" ]; then bash "$lifecycle_script" "$STATE_STATUS" & fi

---

Stage 9: Cleanup

rm -f "specs/${padded_num}_${project_name}/.postflight-pending"
rm -f "specs/${padded_num}_${project_name}/.postflight-loop-guard"
rm -f "specs/${padded_num}_${project_name}/.return-meta.json"