investigationlisted

# Investigation Investigation is the universal method every agent runs before acting: an optimal, context-anchored search that turns the task into understanding. It is not a checklist of phases — it is the discipline of searching FROM what you were given, with the tools you already have, only as far as your scope reaches, separating what you have confirmed from what you are still assuming. ## Core principle Three forces shape every good investigation: - **Context is the map.** Your injected context — Project Context, Surface Routing, and the **Agent Contract Handoff** (goal, acceptance criteria, scope) — names the resources, identifiers, and surface that matter, and is where your environment defines which tools you have. Search outward from those anchors with those tools; enumerating the whole space when the context already names what matters wastes calls and buries the signal. When the context also carries a **Memory Index / Historical Context** section, read the relevant prior episodes before searching — they may already hold findings, sparing you from re-investigating what is known. - **Scope decides what matters.** Your handoff defines the surface you own, and your injected **rules** define what you own and may change — consult them for your boundaries before investigating, and respect them when proposing. Searching beyond your surface yields findings you cannot act on or verify; narrow to scope first, and name anything beyond it as a dependenc