search-first

# /search-first — Research Before You Code Before writing a new feature, utility, integration, or picking a library, search for an existing solution first. The best code is code you don't have to write. This skill is **discipline, not mechanism.** The *how* of searching — parallel subagents, live documentation lookup, registry queries — belongs to your agent harness and keeps changing. What this skill pins down is the part that survives those changes: **articulate before you search, search by source priority, and end with a recorded verdict.** Lead with the discipline; delegate the mechanism. ## Step 0 — Articulate the requirement (mandatory, user-visible text) Before any tool call or subagent, write 2–3 sentences of **plain assistant text** (not buried inside tool arguments) stating: - **What** functionality is needed — concretely, not "X support" - **Language / framework** the implementation will use - **Constraints** — existing deps, performance limits, license requirements Why: this externalizes the search query so the user can redirect *before* you spend effort, and it leaves an auditable record. A subagent call whose `args` carry the requirement does **not** satisfy this step — the user reads chat text, not tool arguments. Emit the articulation as text first, then call tools whose arguments may mirror it. ## Step 1 — Search by source priority Check these in order; stop early when you find a strong match: 0. **This repo** — `rg` / grep through the relevant modul...