Ariadne:research Synthesis

Ariadne Research Synthesis

Own the semantic disposition of compiled research. Preserve evidence, uncertainty, and an append-only record instead of rewriting history in chat.

Authorization And Reading

1. Require a current-turn named or confirmed target research boundary in a multi-scope vault.
2. Read applicable instructions from the vault root through every ancestor scope to that target.
3. State an explicit allowed_write_set. Keep inquiry, synthesis, and thread edits inside the selected boundary. Treat every downstream destination and parent or root navigation file as a separately named write target.
4. Read the boundary descriptor, local hubs, current synthesis, inquiries, and compiled notes before raw sources. Read raw evidence only when compiled notes are insufficient.
5. Follow research_boundary membership, not folder ancestry. In exact mode exclude child boundaries; in rollup mode include only descriptors explicitly named by rollup_boundaries.

Decide One Disposition

For each synthesis pass, decide and record exactly one disposition:

• changed: changes a claim, implication, relationship, or open question
• confirmed: strengthens current understanding without materially changing it
• contradicted: introduces incompatible evidence or invalidates an assumption
• superseded: replaces an older claim or conclusion
• no-update: useful compiled evidence that does not warrant synthesis churn
• needs-review: ambiguous evidence or interpretation that requires human judgment

Only this skill owns that decision. Do not treat no-update as permission to omit the durable record.

Durable Update Contract

Maintain the inquiry's append-only update history with date, source links, disposition, and concise reason. Preserve the current question or purpose, status, inclusion and exclusion criteria, supporting and contradicting evidence, current synthesis, and open questions. Update a thread hub when sequence, tension, implications, or unresolved questions change.

Use canonical derived_from links downstream to upstream. Treat generated analysis, mirrors, and derivative copies that share an origin as one evidence family; they never create circular corroboration. Label source claims, interpretation, contested claims, and uncertainty distinctly.

Promotion Handoff

When a conclusion is useful in Product/, Decisions/, Roadmap/, or another scope, produce a promotion candidate containing the conclusion, uncertainty, and canonical evidence links. Require the destination to be named or confirmed in the current turn and included in allowed_write_set. Then hand creation or update of the destination note to ariadne:knowledge-capture with research_basis or equivalent derived_from links.

Promotion does not move or duplicate evidence, relocate research, silently rewrite source notes, authorize unrelated writes, or require a source backlink. ariadne:research-stewardship never auto-promotes.

Finish by reporting the disposition, durable history entry, affected inquiry or thread, evidence basis, promotion candidate if any, and deferred out-of-set work.