Research before writing code for any new feature, integration, library selection, or utility — search npm / PyPI / MCP / GitHub / existing skills for solutions instead of building from scratch. Use whenever the user says 'add X functionality', 'implement Y', 'set up Z', 'integrate W', asks 'what library should I use for...', 'is there a package/client/MCP for...', proposes a specific tool while open to alternatives, or invokes the planning.md Phase 0 External Research step. Especially use when the task adds a dependency, picks between tools, or builds a utility (parser, checker, converter, linter, CI step, E2E framework, payment / auth / API client) that likely already exists. DO NOT use for: bug fixes in existing code, refactoring, config value edits, file summarization, or throwaway one-shot scripts where the approach is already fully specified by the user.
2026-05-20