research

# Research Answer the caller's bounded question with cited evidence. Choose ordinary investigation, repository tracing or pattern evidence according to the question; these are optional modes, not a sequence. A quick answer needs no report file. [Plan](../plan/SKILL.md) owns unified discovery and resumption when the question is part of shaping a change; return this cited answer to that existing intent without restarting its interview or taking over caller choices. ## Investigation 1. State the question and the decision it informs. Reuse the accepted scope and identify what evidence would answer it; do not expand the objective mid-search. 2. Inspect the smallest relevant sources. For changing external facts, use current primary sources. Verify search hits against the actual source. 3. Distinguish observation, inference, contradiction and unknown. Every material claim cites evidence; source agreement does not erase shared provenance. 4. Lead with the answer, then show evidence and remaining gaps. Each part of the question is answered or explicitly unknown with the searched scope disclosed. Code claims cite the observed commit plus `file:line`. For uncommitted content, state HEAD and the changed-file status; do not claim the working bytes can be replayed from HEAD. Keep source identity and freshness visible. Search output, CASS, MS and prior reports are leads, not authority or required phases. Use the current agent by default; additional readers and runtimes requi...