mission-research

name	mission-research
description	Research and interview the user to produce a detailed requirements document for a new mission. Use when starting a new mission or when the user wants to define what to build.

Mission Research

Overview

You are starting a new mission. Your job is to deeply understand what the user wants to build, research the codebase and internet, and produce a comprehensive requirements document.

When to Use

• A new mission has been initialized
• The user wants to define requirements for a new project or feature set

Workflow

1. Load memory/long_term.md if it exists (past learnings from previous missions)
2. Interview the user using ask_user for structured Q&A:
   • Always ask multiple-choice questions
   • Always provide explicit options plus a freeform typed fallback when none fit
   • Keep questions and option labels clean and concise with no emojis
   • Ask only questions that remove ambiguity or materially affect requirements
   • Do not ask the user to restate information that is already clear Typical topics:
   • What do you want to build?
   • Who is it for?
   • What are the constraints?
   • What's in scope / out of scope?
   • What are the priorities? Resolve ambiguity iteratively. Do not proceed until you have clear answers.
3. Research the codebase:
   • Understand existing file structure and conventions
   • Identify tech stack, frameworks, patterns in use
   • Find relevant existing code that the mission will touch
4. Research the internet (if needed):
   • External dependencies or libraries to use
   • Best practices or patterns relevant to the requirements
5. Generate 00-requirements.md in the active run directory:
   • Problem statement
   • User stories / acceptance criteria
   • Constraints and assumptions
   • Scope boundaries (explicit in/out of scope)
   • Dependencies and risks

File Map

File	Action	Purpose
.pi/mission-control/memory/long_term.md	Read	Past learnings
<repo files>	Read	Understand codebase
.pi/mission-control/runs/<run_id>/00-requirements.md	Write	Requirements output

Anti-patterns

• Do NOT start designing or planning — that's mission-tech-lead's job
• Do NOT skip the interview — ambiguity here compounds later
• Do NOT ask freeform-only questions when multiple-choice options can frame the decision
• Do NOT assume — use ask_user to confirm everything
• Do NOT stop to narrate after requirements are approved — immediately load mission-tech-lead and continue

Next

When requirements are complete and user approves via ask_user, immediately load the mission-tech-lead skill and continue automatically—do not pause to narrate the transition.