researchlisted

# Research Skill (Stage 0) This skill performs archaeological rescue to reconstruct lost context from abandoned software projects. ## When to Use Use this skill when: - Project has been abandoned for 6+ months - Original developers are unavailable - Documentation is severely outdated - "Why was this built?" is unclear - Need to determine if project should be revived, pivoted, or archived ## Output Structure ``` project/ ├── .gt/ │ └── research/ │ ├── timeline.json # Project evolution timeline │ └── rescue.json # Analysis and recommendation └── [existing project files] ``` ## Phase 1: Git Archaeology ### Commit History Analysis ```bash # View first commits (original vision) git log --reverse --format="%h %ad %s" --date=short | head -20 # Identify contributors git shortlog -sn --all # Find activity patterns git log --format="%ad" --date=format:"%Y-%m" | sort | uniq -c # Locate milestones git tag -l --sort=-creatordate | head -10 ``` ### Key Questions to Answer 1. **When did work start?** - First commit date 2. **Who contributed?** - Contributor list and commit counts 3. **When did work stop?** - Last commit date 4. **What were the milestones?** - Tags, releases, major commits ## Phase 1b: Branch Archaeology Branches are the most reliable signal of abandoned work. Each unmerged branch is a frozen snapshot of intent. ```bash # List all remote branches by recency (most recently touched first) git branch -r --sort=-committerdate --format='%