| name | dotnet:research |
| description | Research .NET topics externally — docs.microsoft.com, NuGet registry, GitHub issues. Routes to web-researcher or nuget-researcher based on query type. |
| argument-hint | <topic> | --library <name> |
| effort | medium |
research
Fetch external context without polluting main conversation. Two
modes.
Modes
General topic research
/dotnet:research "Blazor United authentication flow"
Routes to web-researcher (haiku + WebSearch + WebFetch). Prefers:
learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/ (primary)
learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/
github.com/dotnet/* issues + design notes
devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/
- Andrew Lock, Nick Chapsas, Scott Hanselman blogs
Output: .claude/research/{slug}.md with bullets + authoritative
links.
Library evaluation
/dotnet:research --library Polly
Routes to nuget-researcher. Returns:
- Current version + last published date
- Maintenance signal (commits / issues / stars / release cadence)
- Known CVEs (
dotnet list package --vulnerable cross-check)
- Compatibility matrix (target frameworks supported)
- Recommended alternatives if maintenance is stale
- 1–2 representative usage snippets
Output: .claude/research/libraries/{name}.md.
Iron Laws
- Cite sources — never fabricate API names or NuGet versions
- Verify NuGet package identity (
nuget.org/packages/<id>) before
recommending
- Flag EOL runtimes when research result assumes them (e.g., snippet
using
netcoreapp2.1)
- If CVE found, route to security skill with 🔴 severity
Flow
- Classify query — general vs library
- Spawn the appropriate researcher agent
- Researcher fetches primary-source URLs, summarizes
- Output structured Markdown file
- Return summary inline (don't dump the full file)
Example Outputs
General
# Blazor United Authentication (research — 2026-04-18)
## Key concepts
- `@rendermode` affects auth cookie visibility [microsoft-1]
- InteractiveServer: full auth state available
- InteractiveWebAssembly: state persistence via PersistentComponentState
- ...
## Sources
[microsoft-1]: https://learn.microsoft.com/.../blazor/security
[microsoft-2]: ...
Library
# Polly v8.4.0 (research — 2026-04-18)
## Summary
- Resilience library: retry, circuit breaker, timeout, bulkhead
- Maintained by App vNext (community)
- Last release: 2026-03-20 (active)
- Stars: 13k, issues: 28 open
## Compatibility
- net6.0, net8.0, net9.0
## CVEs
None (checked GitHub Advisory + dotnet list package --vulnerable)
## Recommendation
✅ Safe to adopt. Prefer Microsoft.Extensions.Http.Resilience (which
wraps Polly v8) for HTTP clients.
References
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/trusted-sources.md — ranked list
of .NET documentation sources
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/nuget-evaluation.md — signals to
check for library health
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/search-patterns.md — effective
queries for docs vs GitHub issues
Anti-patterns
- Asking main Claude for .NET research when
/dotnet:research would
isolate the context
- Recommending an unmaintained library — always check last release
date
- Pulling random blog content without a primary-source citation
- Not saving research output — loses the work for the next session