Wiki Research Research

Wiki Research: Research

Process #research items from the queue — papers, academic concepts, authors, ideas worth deep-diving. Uses the 5-step loop with stricter source-finding than engineering.

Vault location

/app/data/vault/

When to skip the loop

If the topic is a single paper you only need to summarise, do one web_search (engine brave) for the paper, run intelli_extract on the abstract page, write a one-paragraph page with citation, stop. The full loop is for concepts, debates, bodies of work.

The 5-step loop

Each step has a gate. Do not advance until the gate is met.

1 — Define

Before searching, write three sentences:

• Assumption: what you currently believe is true about this concept / paper / author
• Unknown: the specific thing you don't know yet, as a question with a verifiable answer
• Answer shape: what a good answer looks like (a summary, a comparison with prior work, a critique, a position in a debate)

Gate: a reader could tell whether your output answered it.

2 — Triage

Identify the 2–4 source types most likely to answer. For research topics, priority order:

1. The paper itself (arXiv, publisher page, author PDF) — use web_search to find it, then intelli_extract on the abstract / introduction / results
2. Author's own page, lab page, talks, blog
3. Peer papers — critiques, extensions, follow-on work (search <paper title> + "follow-up" / "critique" / "reply")
4. Surveys / textbooks that cite it (search <concept> + "survey" or "lecture notes")
5. Adjacent vault pages (wiki/index.md)

Run 3–4 Brave queries. For each promising URL, use intelli_extract with a focusPrompt naming the specific Unknown.

Gate: you can name 3+ source URLs you will cite before writing the page.

3 — Query

Pull the answer from the triaged sources. For research topics specifically:

• For a paper: capture abstract, key contributions, methodology, results, reception (citations, awards), criticisms
• For an author: capture background, key work, current focus, collaborators, intellectual lineage
• For a concept: capture definition, origin, formal statement, what it solves, what it doesn't solve, related concepts

Gate: every claim has at least one source URL attached.

4 — Verify

For every claim, assign one tier:

• FACT — directly stated in a source, with citation
• LIKELY — consistent with sources but inferred or synthesised
• SPECULATIVE — your reasoning beyond what sources support
• UNKNOWN — neither you nor the sources say

For any claim about the paper's reception or impact, run a second web_search to corroborate. Citation counts, awards, and critiques are easy to get wrong.

Gate: every claim has a tier.

5 — Report

Write the wiki page. Append a Limitations section and an Open Questions section.

Wiki page format

---
tags: [#research]
last_researched: YYYY-MM-DD
---

# <Title>

> One-sentence summary.

## Define
- **Assumption:** ...
- **Unknown:** ...
- **Answer shape:** ...

## Findings

### Background
- **FACT:** <claim> [^1]

### Key contributions
- **FACT:** <claim> [^1]
- **FACT:** <claim> [^2]

### Reception / critiques
- **LIKELY:** <claim> [^2, 3]

### Current status
- **LIKELY:** <claim>

## Open Questions
- Things the research surfaced but did not resolve
- Productive follow-up directions

## Limitations
- What the sources did not cover
- Which claims were not independently verified
- What would change the answer

## Sources
[^1]: <url> — accessed YYYY-MM-DD
[^2]: <url> — accessed YYYY-MM-DD

Per-run workflow

1. Read RESEARCH_QUEUE.md in the vault root.
2. Find all unchecked items (- [ ]) under ## #research. If none (or only placeholder), stop.
3. For each real unchecked item, run the 5-step loop.
4. Check wiki/index.md for an existing page. Update if found; otherwise create wiki/research/<slug>.md.
5. Update wiki/index.md.
6. Mark done in RESEARCH_QUEUE.md: - [x] + — researched YYYY-MM-DD.
7. Move [x] items to ## Archive.
8. Append entry to wiki/log.md:

   ## [YYYY-MM-DD] ingest | research-queue #research | <topics> → <pages>
   

Rules

• Never edit raw/, Openclaw articles/, or personal stuff/.
• Only write to wiki/ and RESEARCH_QUEUE.md.
• Include an Open Questions section — what the research surfaced but didn't resolve.
• If a topic is too vague, mark [x] with — skipped: too vague, clarify topic.
• Today's date comes from system context.