dependency-researchlisted

# Research Research before building. Check if a battle-tested solution exists before writing custom utility code. ## Iron Law > **RESEARCH BEFORE BUILDING** > > Never write custom utility code without first checking if a battle-tested solution > exists. The best code is code you don't write. A maintained package with thousands > of users will always beat a hand-rolled utility in reliability, edge cases, and > long-term maintenance. ## When This Skill Activates **Triggers** — creating or modifying code that: - Parses, formats, or validates data (dates, URLs, emails, UUIDs, etc.) - Implements common algorithms (sorting, diffing, hashing, encoding) - Wraps HTTP clients, retries, rate limiting, caching - Handles file system operations beyond basic read/write - Implements CLI argument parsing, logging, or configuration - Creates test utilities (mocking, fixtures, assertions) **Does NOT trigger** for: - Domain-specific business logic unique to this project - Glue code connecting existing components - Trivial operations (< 5 lines, single-use) - Code that intentionally avoids external dependencies (e.g., zero-dep libraries) --- ## Research Process ### Phase 1: Need Analysis Before searching, define what you actually need: ``` Need: {one-sentence description of the capability} Constraints: {runtime, bundle size, license, zero-dep requirement} Must-haves: {non-negotiable requirements} Nice-to-haves: {optional features} ``` ### Phase 2: Search Delegate research to an Explo