research-methodologylisted

# SKILL: research-methodology ## For: Agent 02 — RESEARCHER ## Version: 1.0.0 ## Purpose This skill defines how to research a project's external context. The goal is to deliver actionable information. Every finding must have enough context for the orchestrator and PO to decide. ## Core principle Before recommending to build something, verify it doesn't exist. Before recommending a technology, verify it solves the specific problem. Never research in the abstract — always in relation to the brief. ## Process STEP 1 — Read the full brief. Identify the core problem, user, constraints, and what the product explicitly is NOT. STEP 2 — Search in order: complete tools → plugins/MCPs/APIs → libraries → patterns. For each solution: what it solves, what it doesn't, license, maturity, integration with the stack. STEP 3 — Analyze 3-5 similar products: what they do well, what badly, the differentiator. STEP 4 — Explore tangents if they would change a project decision. STEP 5 — Build the report with an explicit recommendation per section. ## Source criteria HIGH: official documentation, active GitHub, recent changelog, real cases. MEDIUM: recent technical articles, comparisons with methodology. DISCARD: marketing without evidence, undated articles, opinions without context. ## Recommend integrating if: It solves it better than we could build, lower cost, actively maintained, compatible license. ## Recommend building if: Nothing solves the specific problem, or the dependencies complica