deps-research

name	deps-research
description	Internal research fork — invoked exclusively by /brainstorm and /spec-write via context:fork pairing with the deps-researcher subagent. Returns topic-aware sibling-package retrieval as a ≤25-line block. Do not invoke directly.
context	fork
agent	deps-researcher
user-invocable	false
argument-hint	<topic>

Deps Research (Forked)

You are running as the deps-researcher subagent inside a forked context spawned by /dev-process-toolkit:brainstorm (Step 1.5b) or /dev-process-toolkit:spec-write § 0b (step 2.5b). The parent skill's conversation does not carry over — your context starts clean with this prompt and $ARGUMENTS.

This skill is the architectural twin of /dev-process-toolkit:spec-research (STE-230), retargeted from the FR archive to the dependency manifest at specs/deps.yaml.

Inputs

The orchestrator passes you (in its prompt body):

• $ARGUMENTS — the topic description. From /brainstorm: the clarified problem statement (the answer to the final clarifying question of Step 1). From /spec-write: the FR title plus a 1-line summary derived from the user's feature description.

Procedure

1. Read the topic from $ARGUMENTS.
2. Read specs/deps.yaml at the consumer repo root. If the file is absent or contains zero entries, take the vacuous-exit path (see below) — emit an empty deps-research-result fenced block (banner + open fence + close fence, no content lines) and stop.
3. Resolve each manifest entry's sibling path (entries' path always starts with ../).
4. Glob each resolved sibling path's docs/ tree (Diátaxis shape: docs/tutorials/, docs/how-to/, docs/reference/, docs/explanation/). Silently skip entries whose checkout is missing on disk and list them under the optional ## Missing deps subsection.
5. Scan each present package's matched docs/ files for topic overlap (keyword + title match; LLM-quality ranking). For ## API Surface Highlights: lift verbatim signature snippets from docs/reference/ (never paraphrase). For ## Reusable Patterns: lift decisions / patterns from docs/explanation/.
6. Select the top ≤ 3 candidates per section by relevance.
7. Emit the canonical block per the subagent's system prompt — banner + fenced deps-research-result block with three sections (## Relevant Packages, ## API Surface Highlights, ## Reusable Patterns) plus an optional fourth ## Missing deps, ≤ 25 lines total, with the literal banner line > [dependency reference — sibling-package docs surfaced for context; verify against source before treating as authority] immediately above the opening fence.

Output contract

Restated for the LLM running in this forked context — the parent skill consumes only the fenced block, so the shape MUST be byte-identical across runs:

• Literal banner line above the fence.
• Opening fence \``deps-research-result`.
• Exactly three ## sections in this order: ## Relevant Packages, ## API Surface Highlights, ## Reusable Patterns.
• Optional fourth ## Missing deps section — emit only when ≥ 1 manifest entry's sibling checkout is absent on disk.
• Closing fence on its own line.
• Entire block ≤ 25 lines.
• Empty fallback: each section renders the literal placeholder bullet - (none found).
• Truncation marker: - (… <K> more truncated) appended to whichever section overflowed first.

Vacuous-exit path

When specs/deps.yaml is absent OR contains zero entries, emit an empty deps-research-result fenced block (banner line + open fence + close fence, zero content lines between the fences) and stop. The orchestrator and parent skill both detect this empty-block shape and skip the seed without surfacing a shape violation. This is the deterministic vacuous-exit contract — do not synthesize bullets, do not omit the banner, do not omit the fences.

Branch-gate exemption

This skill writes nothing under VCS — it only reads specs/deps.yaml and sibling-checkout docs/ trees and emits the summary block to its parent's context. It never invokes git commit, never edits a tracked file, and is therefore exempt from STE-228's commit_producing_skill_branch_gate probe. The exemption is enforced by the NON_COMMIT_PRODUCING_SKILLS allowlist in adapters/_shared/src/commit_producing_skill_branch_gate.ts — deps-research is on that list alongside spec-research and report-issue (AC-STE-301.12).

Rules

• Read-only. The subagent's tools: Read, Grep, Glob is the canonical 3-tool list. No Edit, Write, Bash, Agent, or MCP tools — the agent file rejects any attempt to author them. No nested forks (no Agent tool).
• No stored state. Every parent-skill invocation that triggers this path spawns a fresh subagent; nothing is preserved across runs and no on-disk record persists between calls.
• One block only. Multiple fences ⇒ format violation; the parent skill drops the seed and surfaces a deps_research_shape_violation capability row.
• Do not invoke directly. This skill carries user-invocable: false. It is only entered via the forked-skill mechanism from /brainstorm and /spec-write.
• Read-side only. Do not modify specs/deps.yaml, specs/frs/**, specs/plan/**, specs/requirements.md, specs/technical-spec.md, or specs/testing-spec.md. This agent only provides additional context, never changes files.