Gaps and Weaknesses Analysis
Analysis of the skill-research-process compared to repository best practices.
Identified Gaps
1. Missing Verification Protocol
Issue: CLAUDE.md requires mandatory verification before documenting any behavior/capability. The research process lacks verification checkpoints.
CLAUDE.md Requirement (lines ~195-240):
Before documenting ANY behavior, capability, or characteristic... The model MUST execute ALL of these steps: Read the Actual Source, Verify the Behavior, Cite Observations, Never Fabricate, Distinguish Assumption from Fact.
Fix Required: Add verification checkpoints between research stages.
2. Weak Citation Requirements
Issue: Citations mentioned but not enforced with the rigor CLAUDE.md demands.
CLAUDE.md Requirement:
Minimum 3 independent authoritative sources for major claims. Include line numbers when referencing code files. Execute test if behavior can be observed directly.
Fix Required: Add explicit citation format requirements and verification.
3. No Freshness Tracking
Issue: research-curator skill includes freshness tracking (next review dates). skill-research-process doesn't.
Fix Required: Add freshness metadata to generated skills.
4. Missing Anti-Hallucination Verification
Issue: research-and-compare skill has explicit anti-hallucination checkpoints. This skill lacks them.
Example from research-and-compare:
**Anti-hallucination verification**:
- [ ] I am NOT relying on training data for either methodology
- [ ] Every claim I will make can be cited to a source I read THIS SESSION
- [ ] If I don't have source material for a claim, I will NOT make that claim
Fix Required: Add anti-hallucination checkpoint before integration stage.
5. No Delegation Template Alignment
Issue: CLAUDE.md says "When invoking the Task tool, follow the Delegation Template in the agent-orchestration skill." Current prompts don't follow this.
Fix Required: Update agent prompts to follow delegation template format.
6. Missing Quality Gates
Issue: No checkpoints between stages to verify output quality.
Fix Required: Add quality verification steps:
- After categorization: verify categories are distinct
- After research: verify citations exist and links work
- Before integration: verify all categories completed
7. No Error Recovery
Issue: What happens when:
- MCP tools unavailable?
- Research agent fails or times out?
- Source documentation is incomplete?
Fix Required: Add error handling and fallback strategies.
8. Missing Integration with research-curator
Issue: skill-research-process creates skills from research, but doesn't connect to the existing ./research/ directory or research-curator workflow.
Opportunity: Could reuse research already gathered by research-curator.
9. No Skill Validation Step
Issue: References package_skill.py but doesn't specify validation criteria or how to interpret results.
Fix Required: Add explicit validation steps and success criteria.
Weaknesses
1. Over-reliance on MCP Tools
The skill assumes MCP tools are available. Needs explicit fallback to:
- WebFetch + WebSearch for discovery
- GitHub CLI (
gh) for repository analysis - Local clone + Read for code analysis
2. Vague Category Guidance
"Aim for 5-10 categories" is too vague. Needs criteria for:
- When to split vs combine categories
- Maximum category size
- Handling overlapping topics
3. No Progress Tracking
Long-running research with multiple parallel agents needs:
- Status checking mechanism
- Partial result handling
- Resume capability if interrupted
4. Missing Output Validation
No verification that:
- All TODO items were researched
- All index.md files have working links
- Reference files meet quality standards
Recommended Improvements Priority
| Priority | Improvement | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| P0 | Anti-hallucination checkpoints | Prevents garbage output |
| P0 | Citation enforcement | Required by CLAUDE.md |
| P1 | Quality gates between stages | Catches errors early |
| P1 | Error recovery/fallbacks | Handles real-world failures |
| P2 | Freshness tracking | Consistency with research-curator |
| P2 | Delegation template alignment | Follows repo conventions |
| P3 | Integration with research-curator | Avoids duplicate work |