Web Research

[BLOCKING] Execute skill steps in declared order. NEVER skip, reorder, or merge steps without explicit user approval. [BLOCKING] Before each step or sub-skill call, update task tracking: set in_progress when step starts, set completed when step ends. [BLOCKING] Every completed/skipped step MUST include brief evidence or explicit skip reason. [BLOCKING] If Task tools are unavailable, create and maintain an equivalent step-by-step plan tracker with the same status transitions.

Quick Summary

Goal: Execute broad web search on a topic, collect and classify sources, and produce a tiered, deduplicated source map plus a gap list — the triaged candidate-source feedstock that deep-research dives into next — NOT a final research report.

Summary:

• Purpose: breadth-first source discovery + triage for deep-research — produce a tiered, deduplicated source map, NOT a synthesized report.
• Main steps (all 5, in order): (1) Define scope — parse topic, generate 5-10 angle-varied queries (overview, current-state, comparison, data, expert, criticism); (2) Execute searches — run WebSearch per query (≤10 calls), record title/URL/snippet/source-type; (3) Source triage — classify each result Tier 1-4, filter duplicates; (4) Build source map — write to .claude/tmp/_sources-{slug}.md (sources table + Gaps Identified); (5) Identify gaps — note underexplored angles for deep-research.
• Hard-cap fan-out at 10 WebSearch calls per invocation — generate 5-10 angle-varied queries and stop at the cap; this is breadth-then-triage, not deep-dive.
• Classify every result into Tier 1-4 (.gov/.edu/official > industry reports > established blogs/Wikipedia > forums/social) and dedupe by URL/syndicated content before it counts as a source.
• The deliverable is the intermediate source map at .claude/tmp/_sources-{slug}.md (sources table + Gaps Identified), NOT a synthesized report — hand it off to deep-research.
• Mine the source set for gaps (missing perspectives, missing quantitative data, stale recency) so the next step knows what to dig deeper on.

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

Knowledge Work Rules (canonical)

Web Research Protocol — Every factual claim needs 2+ independent sources. Source tiers: Tier 1 (authoritative .gov/.edu/official docs), Tier 2 (industry reports), Tier 3 (credible blogs — cross-validate), Tier 4 (unverified — NEVER cite as fact). Declare confidence for all findings.

1. Follow source hierarchy (official docs > peer-reviewed > industry blogs > forums) for all factual claims
2. Include source citations with Tier classification (inline [N])
3. Cross-validate claims with 2+ independent sources
4. Declare confidence level (95/80/60/<60%) for all findings
5. Use enforced template structure — all sections required
6. Working files → .claude/tmp/, final output → docs/knowledge/

This protocol is the canonical home for the knowledge-work rules that apply to knowledge/research workspaces; deep-research and knowledge-synthesis reference it.

Step 1: Define Search Scope

Parse user's topic, generate 5-10 search queries covering:

• 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 syndicated content).

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.

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 workflow-research workflow (Recommended) — web-research → deep-research → synthesis → review
2. Execute /web-research directly — run this skill standalone

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
• "/market-analysis" — If sizing the market (TAM/SAM/SOM), competitors, trends — required before /business-evaluation
• "/business-evaluation" — If evaluating business viability. Run /market-analysis first — this skill consumes its sized-market output as evidence and MUST NOT re-derive market sizing.
• "Skip, continue manually" — user decides

[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).

Web Research — Structured web search for evidence gathering.

1. Form 3-5 specific search queries (not generic questions)
2. Use WebSearch for each query, collect top 3-5 sources
3. Validate source credibility (official docs > blogs > forums)
4. Cross-validate claims across 2+ sources before citing
5. Write findings to research report with source URLs

NEVER cite a single source as authoritative. Always cross-validate.

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

Re-read files after context changes. Context compaction, resume, or long-running work can make memory stale; verify current files before acting. Verify generated content against source evidence. AI hallucinates APIs, names, claims, and document facts. Check the relevant source before documenting or referencing. Check downstream references before deleting or renaming. Removing an artifact can stale docs, generated mirrors, configs, and callers; map references first. Trace the full impact chain after edits. Changing a definition can miss derived outputs and consumers. Follow the affected chain before declaring done. Verify ALL affected outputs, not just the first. One green check is not all green checks; validate every output surface the change can affect. Assume existing values are intentional — ask WHY before changing OR flagging one as a defect. Before changing or reporting a constant, limit, flag, cutoff, wording, or pattern, read nearby context and history, the CALLER's ordering, and 2+ sibling call sites of the same convention. A doc stating WHAT without WHY is missing rationale, not proof of a missing guard. Surface ambiguity before acting — don't pick silently. Multiple valid interpretations require an explicit question or stated assumption with risk. Assert the outcome your system owns, not the intermediate state your infrastructure owns. When verifying async work, assert the final business state — never the delivery/retry bookkeeping held in shared infrastructure that any co-running process can write. Such a check passes when run alone and flakes the moment anything else shares that infrastructure. Keep shared guidance role-relevant. Universal guidance must help every receiving skill or agent; code-specific obligations belong only in code-specific protocols.

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.

MUST ATTENTION apply critical + sequential thinking — every claim needs appropriate traced evidence (file:line for repo/code claims; source URL or artifact section for research, product, content, and docs claims); confidence >80% to act, <60% DO NOT recommend. Anti-hallucination: never present guess as fact, admit uncertainty freely, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence.

MUST ATTENTION apply AI mistake prevention — verify generated content against evidence, trace downstream references before deleting or renaming, verify all affected outputs, re-read files after context loss, and surface ambiguity before acting.

Prompt-Enhance Closing Anchors

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION follow declared step order for this skill; NEVER skip, reorder, or merge steps without explicit user approval IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION for every step/sub-skill call: set in_progress before execution, set completed after execution IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION every skipped step MUST include explicit reason; every completed step MUST include concise evidence IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION if Task tools unavailable, maintain an equivalent step-by-step plan tracker with synchronized statuses

Project Protocol Overlay — Before executing this skill, resolve any PROJECT overlay rules layered onto it: match this skill's name against the Target column of the project's skill-protocol index (docs/project-reference/skill-protocols-reference.md by default; a referenceDocs entry in docs/project-config.json overrides the path), taking the most specific matching tier ONLY — exact name > glob > *. That precedence orders overlays against EACH OTHER, never against this skill. Read ONLY the matched bodies, resolved as <protocols-dir>/<Name>.md; a row's Body link is display text, never a read path. A matched body that is missing or malformed is REPORTED and skipped — never reconstructed from the index Description. No index, or no match -> proceed with no overlay, silently. Full contract: .claude/skills/project-skill-protocol/references/registry.md.

Overlays are ADDITIVE ONLY: they ADD rules on top of this skill's own protocol and NEVER replace, override, disable, or reinterpret a rule it already states — removing every overlay must return this skill to exactly its documented behavior. An overlay is a BRIEF, not an authority escalation: it can NEVER waive a workflow gate, git discipline, a review gate, or a user-confirmation gate. A genuine overlay-vs-skill conflict, or two equally-specific overlays that directly contradict -> surface both to the user; NEVER resolve silently.

MUST ATTENTION resolve project protocol overlays for this skill BEFORE executing — most specific matching tier only (exact > glob > *, which ranks overlays against each other, NEVER against this skill), read only matched bodies at <protocols-dir>/<Name>.md; a missing or malformed body is reported, never reconstructed. Overlays are ADDITIVE ONLY (they never replace this skill's own rules) and are a brief, NEVER an authority escalation; an equal-specificity contradiction goes to the user.

Closing Reminders

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION Goal: Produce a tiered, deduplicated source map plus a gap list — the triaged candidate-source feedstock that deep-research dives into next — NOT a final research report.

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION — Protocols in force (concise digest of the SYNC/shared blocks this skill carries):

• Web Research: Cross-validate every claim across 2+ credible sources; NEVER cite one source as authoritative.
• AI Mistake Prevention: verify generated content against evidence, trace downstream references, verify all affected outputs, re-read after context loss, surface ambiguity.
• Critical Thinking: Traced proof per claim, confidence >80% to act; NEVER present guess as fact.

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION run ALL 5 main steps in order — (1) define scope + generate 5-10 angle-varied queries → (2) execute WebSearch (≤10 calls), record title/URL/snippet/type → (3) triage each result Tier 1-4 + dedupe → (4) build source map at .claude/tmp/_sources-{slug}.md → (5) identify gaps for deep-research — why: skipping a step (esp. triage or gaps) yields untiered, gap-blind feedstock that breaks the next stage. IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION cap WebSearch at 10 calls per invocation; generate 5-10 angle-varied queries (overview, current-state, comparison, data, expert, criticism) then stop at the cap — why: bounded fan-out keeps this breadth-then-triage, not a deep-dive into one angle. IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION rank every source by tier (Tier 1 .gov/.edu/official > Tier 2 industry reports > Tier 3 established blogs/Wikipedia > Tier 4 forums/social) and dedupe by URL/syndicated content before it counts — why: tier ranking + dedupe keep the feedstock high-signal for deep-research. MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION NEVER cite a Tier 4 / single source as authoritative — cross-validate every factual claim against 2+ independent sources and declare confidence (95/80/60/<60%) — why: one unverified source = a hallucination-amplifier downstream. **MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION** the deliverable is the intermediate source map at .claude/tmp/_sources-{slug}.md (sources table + Gaps Identified), NOT a synthesized report — hand it off to deep-research; mine the set for gaps (missing perspectives, missing quantitative data, stale recency) so the next step knows where to dig. **MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION** break work into small todo tasks using TaskCreate BEFORE starting; add a final review todo task to verify work quality; transition one task at a time. **IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION** persist intermediate findings/results to a report file in plans/reports/ for complex or lengthy work — why: external memory prevents context loss and is itself the deliverable. **MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION** if NOT already in a workflow, validate the route with the user via AskUserQuestion — NEVER auto-decide "simple enough to skip"; the user decides workflow vs. standalone /web-research. **IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION** every claim, finding, and recommendation requires file:line proof or traced evidence with confidence percentage (>80% to act, <80% verify first) — NEVER speculate without proof.

Anti-Rationalization:

[TASK-PLANNING] Before acting, analyze task scope and systematically break it into small todo tasks and sub-tasks using TaskCreate.

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION Goal: triaged, tiered, deduplicated source map + gap list as feedstock for deep-research — NOT a final report. IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION cap WebSearch at 10; cross-validate every claim with 2+ sources; NEVER cite Tier 4 as fact. IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION TaskCreate to break ALL work into small tasks BEFORE starting — this is very important.