[IMPORTANT] Use

TaskCreate

to break ALL work into small tasks BEFORE starting.

External Memory: For complex or lengthy work (research, analysis, scan, review), write intermediate findings and final results to a report file in

plans/reports/

— prevents context loss and serves as deliverable.

Evidence Gate: MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION — every claim, finding, and recommendation requires

file:line

proof or traced evidence with confidence percentage (>80% to act, <80% must verify first).

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Critical Thinking Mindset — Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act. Anti-hallucination: Never present guess as fact — cite sources for every claim, admit uncertainty freely, self-check output for errors, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence — certainty without evidence root of all hallucination.

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AI Mistake Prevention — Failure modes to avoid on every task:

• Check downstream references before deleting. Deleting components causes documentation and code staleness cascades. Map all referencing files before removal.
• Verify AI-generated content against actual code. AI hallucinates APIs, class names, and method signatures. Always grep to confirm existence before documenting or referencing.
• Trace full dependency chain after edits. Changing a definition misses downstream variables and consumers derived from it. Always trace the full chain.
• Trace ALL code paths when verifying correctness. Confirming code exists is not confirming it executes. Always trace early exits, error branches, and conditional skips — not just happy path.
• When debugging, ask "whose responsibility?" before fixing. Trace whether bug is in caller (wrong data) or callee (wrong handling). Fix at responsible layer — never patch symptom site.
• Assume existing values are intentional — ask WHY before changing. Before changing any constant, limit, flag, or pattern: read comments, check git blame, examine surrounding code.
• Verify ALL affected outputs, not just the first. Changes touching multiple stacks require verifying EVERY output. One green check is not all green checks.
• Holistic-first debugging — resist nearest-attention trap. When investigating any failure, list EVERY precondition first (config, env vars, DB names, endpoints, DI registrations, data preconditions), then verify each against evidence before forming any code-layer hypothesis.
• Surgical changes — apply the diff test. Bug fix: every changed line must trace directly to the bug. Don't restyle or improve adjacent code. Enhancement task: implement improvements AND announce them explicitly.
• Surface ambiguity before coding — don't pick silently. If request has multiple interpretations, present each with effort estimate and ask. Never assume all-records, file-based, or more complex path.

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Quick Summary

Goal: Execute broad web search on a topic, collect and classify sources, build a structured source map.

Workflow:

1. Define scope — Parse topic, generate 5-10 search queries from varied angles
2. Execute searches — Run WebSearch for each query, collect results
3. Source triage — Classify each source by Tier (1-4), filter duplicates
4. Build source map — Write structured source list to working file
5. Identify gaps — Note underexplored angles for deep-research

Key Rules:

• Maximum 10 WebSearch calls per invocation
• Follow source hierarchy: Official docs (Tier 1) > Peer-reviewed (Tier 2) > Industry blogs (Tier 3) > Forums (Tier 4)
• Output intermediate source map, not final report

Be skeptical. Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence percentages (Idea should be more than 80%).

Web Research

Step 1: Define Search Scope

Parse the user's topic and generate 5-10 search queries that cover:

• Definition/overview — "what is {topic}"
• Current state — "{topic} 2026" or "{topic} latest"
• Comparison — "{topic} vs alternatives"
• Data/statistics — "{topic} market size" or "{topic} statistics"
• Expert opinion — "{topic} expert analysis" or "{topic} review"
• Criticism/risks — "{topic} challenges" or "{topic} risks"

Step 2: Execute Searches

For each query:

1. Run

   WebSearch

   with the query
2. Record: title, URL, snippet, apparent source type
3. Stop at 10 WebSearch calls maximum

Step 3: Source Triage

For each result, classify by Tier:

• Tier 1: .gov, .edu, official docs, peer-reviewed
• Tier 2: Industry reports, major publications
• Tier 3: Established blogs, verified experts, Wikipedia
• Tier 4: Forums, personal blogs, social media

Filter out duplicates (same URL or same content from syndication).

Step 4: Build Source Map

Write to

.claude/tmp/_sources-{slug}.md

:

# Source Map: {Topic}

**Date:** {date}
**Queries executed:** {count}
**Sources found:** {count} (Tier 1: N, Tier 2: N, Tier 3: N, Tier 4: N)

## Sources

| #   | Title | URL | Tier | Relevance | Notes         |
| --- | ----- | --- | ---- | --------- | ------------- |
| 1   | ...   | ... | 1    | High      | Official docs |

## Gaps Identified

- {angle not covered}
- {topic needing deeper research}

Step 5: Identify Gaps

Review source map for:

• Missing perspectives (only positive sources? need criticism)
• Missing data types (no quantitative data? need statistics)
• Recency issues (all sources old? need current data)

Note gaps for the

deep-research

step.

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Workflow Recommendation

MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION — NO EXCEPTIONS: If you are NOT already in a workflow, you MUST ATTENTION use

AskUserQuestion

to ask the user. Do NOT judge task complexity or decide this is "simple enough to skip" — the user decides whether to use a workflow, not you:

1. Activate

   research

   workflow (Recommended) — web-research → deep-research → synthesis → review
2. Execute

   /web-research

   directly — run this skill standalone

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Next Steps

MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION — NO EXCEPTIONS after completing this skill, you MUST ATTENTION use

AskUserQuestion

to present these options. Do NOT skip because the task seems "simple" or "obvious" — the user decides:

• "/deep-research (Recommended)" — Deep-dive into top sources
• "/business-evaluation" — If evaluating business viability
• "Skip, continue manually" — user decides

Closing Reminders

MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION break work into small todo tasks using

TaskCreate

BEFORE starting. MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION validate decisions with user via

AskUserQuestion

— never auto-decide. MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION add a final review todo task to verify work quality.

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• MUST ATTENTION apply critical thinking — every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act. Anti-hallucination: never present guess as fact. <!-- /SYNC:critical-thinking-mindset:reminder --> <!-- SYNC:ai-mistake-prevention:reminder -->
• MUST ATTENTION apply AI mistake prevention — holistic-first debugging, fix at responsible layer, surface ambiguity before coding, re-read files after compaction. <!-- /SYNC:ai-mistake-prevention:reminder -->