# Applied Research Craft > Use when authoring or revising any canonical, cursor rule, skill, or decision-register row in this AKOS workspace and the framing introduces a novel position. Codifies the internal-evidence-sweep + external-research-sweep + citation-integration + wave-closure-research-enrichment rhythm per akos-applied-research-discipline.mdc RULES 1-3. Triggers on research grounding, applied research, external citation, novel framing, internal precedent, evidence sweep + research sweep, RESEARCH_HEAD_DISCIPLINE, wave-close research enrichment, citation integration. Pairs with .cursor/rules/akos-applied-research-discipline.mdc (the WHEN); this skill is the HOW. - Skill: `tomevault-io/applied-research-craft` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/applied-research-craft` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tomevault-io/applied-research-craft/raw - Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS) - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Research & Search - Author: tomevault-io (https://skillmd.com/u/tomevault-io) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tomevault-io/applied-research-craft --- # Applied-Research Craft > Codified at I86 Wave R close (drain7) from the operator's framing at the I86 Wave H Combo C+D Lane D ratify gate (2026-05-19): *"applied research is a hot topic today and a competitive advantage if properly industrialized"*. The craft turns research grounding from afterthought ornament into compounding doctrine. Ratified by D-IH-86-CT alongside the parent rule. ## When to use this skill Read this skill before: - Authoring a new canonical CSV (RULE 1 — internal + external research backing mandatory). - Authoring a doctrine canonical, cursor rule, skill, or decision-register row that introduces a novel framing (RULE 2 — external citation mandatory). - Closing a wave inside a cluster-coordinator initiative (RULE 3 — "Research enrichment" subsection in wave-closure report). - Triaging a research need surfaced by an inline-ratify gate Principle 1.5 trigger. This skill assumes you have already read [`akos-applied-research-discipline.mdc`](../../../.cursor/rules/akos-applied-research-discipline.mdc) (the *when*) + [`RESEARCH_HEAD_DISCIPLINE.md`](../../../docs/references/hlk/v3.0/Admin/O5-1/People/canonicals/RESEARCH_HEAD_DISCIPLINE.md) (the parent doctrine). ## Core principles ### Principle 1 — Distinguish evidence-sweep from research-sweep These are two different sweeps with different tools: | Sweep | Tools | What it searches | When it fires | |:---|:---|:---|:---| | Evidence-sweep | `Grep`, `Read`, `Glob`, `SemanticSearch` | Repo state (canonicals, decision rows, code, prior planning) | EVERY canonical/rule/skill mint (per `akos-inline-ratification.mdc` Principle 1) | | Research-sweep | `WebSearch`, `WebFetch`, optional reads of cited corpus | Industry precedent (academic papers, vendor docs, industry analysts, named books) | Conditional on novelty (per RULE 2 of parent rule) | They are NOT substitutes. Novel framings require BOTH. Evidence-sweep alone surfaces "the repo is silent on this" — that's the signal to invoke research-sweep, not the conclusion that grounding isn't needed. ### Principle 2 — Cite inline, not in a separate dossier External citations belong in the canonical body or its Evidence-base section, NOT in a separate research-dossier file. Inline citation is half of the load-bearing claim — the doctrine says "X because Y (per Source Z)" and the reader can verify in seconds. A separate dossier breaks the citation-to-claim adjacency and creates inventory rot. Citation format: prefer named author + year + title + (chapter/section) for books and reports; URL for vendor docs; DOI or stable URL for academic papers. The drain7 proposal §4 is a worked example of a 5-citation block. ### Principle 3 — The novelty test for external citation Ask: *"Would a future reader, reading this canonical/rule/skill cold, encounter a position they could not derive from prior Holistika doctrine + first-principles thinking?"* - **Yes** → novel framing → external citation MANDATORY (3-5 cites for the framing). - **No** → refinement of prior Holistika ratification → external citation OPTIONAL (the prior decision-register row IS the precedent). Refinements include: v2 extensions of v1 doctrine, tightenings of existing rules, new specialty mints that follow the established quartet pattern. Novel framings include: new pillars (e.g., Quality Fabric architecture), new mechanical contracts (e.g., the rule × skill pairing contract), new posture defaults (e.g., Option-5 conflict surfacing). ### Principle 4 — Wave-closure research enrichment is structural, not ornamental Every wave-close UAT (per `akos-planning-traceability.mdc` §"UAT quality bar" §10 + parent rule RULE 3) carries a `## Research enrichment` subsection naming: - Which canonicals were enriched with new research material during the wave. - Which canonicals were identified as needing enrichment but deferred to a future wave. - Which external sources were newly surfaced during the wave that should inform future authoring. The subsection is brief (5-15 lines) and makes the operator's lived research practice **trackable across waves**. ## Per-canonical-class craft ### Canonical CSV mint (RULE 1) Authoring sequence: 1. **Internal evidence-sweep**: Grep + Read every existing canonical CSV + every decision row + every process_list row + every baseline_organisation row that bears on the new register. Document the inventory in the ratifying decision row's `rationale` cell or in a planning-notes file. 2. **Novelty test**: is the new register a clone-of-existing-pattern (e.g., new sibling adapter registry following Normalised Adapter Pattern) or a novel framing? Clone → optional external cite. Novel → mandatory 3+ external cites. 3. **External research-sweep**: if novel, `WebSearch` 5-10 queries on the new register's domain. Capture authoritative sources. Cite at least 3 in the canonical's Evidence-base section. 4. **Inline citations in `linked_canonicals:` frontmatter** for internal precedents. 5. **Evidence-base section** in the canonical body for external citations + the novelty rationale. ### Doctrine canonical / cursor rule / skill mint (RULE 2) Same as CSV mint above, but the novelty test is the gating mechanism. Refinements need 0 external cites (Holistika precedent suffices); novel framings need 3-5 external cites. The drain7 proposal itself is a worked example: rule × skill pairing as a workspace-binding contract is novel enough to warrant 5 citations (ACT-R + Pattern Language + SRE Book + SECI + Anthropic Skills); the per-skill mints inside drain7 are refinements (each skill is a refinement of inline-ratify-craft's shape) so no per-skill external cites. ### Wave-closure research enrichment subsection authoring Template: ```markdown ## Research enrichment (Wave ) ### Canonicals enriched this wave - `` — added §"Evidence base" rows for [topic]; cites [Source A] + [Source B] (per RULE 1 backfill protocol). ### Canonicals identified as needing enrichment (deferred) - `` — forward-charter to Wave via OPS-NN-MM (next-review-trigger: ). ### External sources newly surfaced this wave - [Source A: full citation + URL] — relevant for [domain X canonicals]; consider citing in future mints. - [Source B: full citation + URL] — relevant for [domain Y canonicals]. ``` Keep this subsection ≤ 15 lines per wave-close. ## Pre-flight checklist (before any canonical/rule/skill mint) 1. Internal evidence-sweep completed (`Grep` + `Read` + `Glob` over relevant repo state). 2. Novelty test answered (yes → external cites mandatory; no → optional). 3. If novel: external research-sweep completed (5-10 queries; sources captured). 4. Inline citations integrated into canonical body (not separate dossier). 5. `linked_canonicals:` frontmatter populated for internal precedents. 6. Evidence-base section (or equivalent) carries external citations. 7. Wave-closure UAT will include `## Research enrichment` subsection. 8. Operator-discretion exemption checked (commit message carries `rule-exempt-research-discipline: ` only when time-pressed AND backfill-deferred-and-tracked). ## Anti-patterns (forbidden by parent canonical §7) - **AP1 — Research-as-ornament**: citing 1 paper to look rigorous, without integrating the source's actual position into the doctrine. The cite is decorative; the doctrine ignores the source. - **AP2 — Research-after-the-fact-to-justify**: drafting doctrine first, then googling cites that match. Inverts the discipline; the doctrine is unfalsifiable. - **AP3 — Research-as-procrastination**: spending 5 hours on WebSearch instead of authoring; the research becomes the deliverable, the doctrine never lands. - **AP4 — Copy-paste-citations**: citing a source's abstract without reading the source. The cite is unverifiable; future readers can't validate. ## Recovery patterns - **R1 — Time-pressed mint**: invoke operator-discretion exemption via `rule-exempt-research-discipline: ` in commit message; backfill in next wave's research enrichment subsection. - **R2 — Research-sweep returns nothing useful**: collapse to "the field is silent on this" + cite the search query + cite at least 1 first-principles reasoning chain. Acceptable when the doctrine is genuinely first-of-its-kind. - **R3 — Found contradicting sources**: surface as inline-ratify gate (per `akos-inline-ratification.mdc`) — let operator choose framing rather than silently pick one. ## Cross-references - Parent rule: [`akos-applied-research-discipline.mdc`](../../../.cursor/rules/akos-applied-research-discipline.mdc). - Parent canonical: [`RESEARCH_HEAD_DISCIPLINE.md`](../../../docs/references/hlk/v3.0/Admin/O5-1/People/canonicals/RESEARCH_HEAD_DISCIPLINE.md). - Sister skills: [`inline-ratify-craft`](../inline-ratify-craft/SKILL.md) Principle 1.5 (research-sweep at inline-ratify gates), [`index-integrity-craft`](../index-integrity-craft/SKILL.md), [`external-render-craft`](../external-render-craft/SKILL.md). - Worked examples: drain7 proposal §4 (5-citation block) + I86 Wave H Lane D dispatch (Combo C+D ratification) + I84 P3 substrate doctrine evidence-base (named author + year per-row). - Ratifying decisions: D-IH-86-CT (this skill mint), D-IH-86-T (cluster burndown plan that included Combo C+D Research Head discipline). --- > Source: [FraysaXII/openclaw-akos](https://github.com/FraysaXII/openclaw-akos) — distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io).