Research:cancel

Research Cancel Skill

Cancel a research plan that is no longer being pursued.

Process

1. Identify the research to cancel:

   • If the user specifies a number/name, use that
   • Otherwise, list active research plans and ask user to choose
   • Never auto-cancel — always require explicit identification

2. Ask for cancellation reason (optional but recommended):

   • "Why is this research being cancelled?"
   • Common reasons: superseded by other research, no longer relevant, answered by other means
   • If superseded, ask what supersedes it

3. Update research files:

   Update research-plan.md status header:

   ## Status: CANCELLED
   
   **Cancelled:** YYYY-MM-DD
   **Reason:** [User's reason, if provided]
   **Superseded by:** [Reference, if applicable]
   

   Update .research-state.json:

   {
     "status": "cancelled",
     "cancelled_at": "2026-01-28T10:30:00Z",
     "updated_at": "2026-01-28T10:30:00Z",
     "cancellation_reason": "No longer needed",
     "superseded_by": null,
     ...existing fields...
   }
   

4. Move to archive:

   mv research/NNNN-topic-name research/archive/
   

5. Confirm to user:

   **Cancelled:** `research/archive/NNNN-topic-name/`
   **Status:** CANCELLED
   **Reason:** [reason]
   **Questions answered:** X/Y at time of cancellation
   

Notes

• If research agents are still running in the background, note this to the user. The agents will complete but their findings won't be synthesized.
• Partial findings files are preserved in the archive for potential future reference.