name: silver-research description: This skill should be used for SB-orchestrated research workflow: explore → MultAI (landscape | tech-selection | competitive) → brainstorm → hand off to silver:feature or silver:devops argument-hint: "<research question or technology decision>" version: 0.1.0

/silver:research — Tech Decisions, Architecture Spikes, Comparisons

SB orchestrator for technology decisions, architecture spikes, tech comparisons, and competitive intelligence. Research always precedes implementation — findings are written to .planning/research/ and referenced by the receiving workflow.

Routing note: silver:research takes precedence over any other matched workflow — research informs the implementation workflow. If an instruction matches both research and feature/devops, run research first, then hand off.

Never does research directly — orchestrates MultAI research tools and then hands off to the appropriate implementation workflow.

Pre-flight: Load Preferences

Read the User Workflow Preferences section of silver-bullet.md to load user workflow preferences before any other step. Silently apply any stored routing, skip, tool, MultAI, or mode preferences throughout this workflow.

grep -A 50 "^## [0-9]\+\. User Workflow Preferences" silver-bullet.md | head -60

Display banner:

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 SILVER BULLET ► RESEARCH WORKFLOW
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Question: {$ARGUMENTS or "(not specified)"}

Composition Proposal

Before beginning execution, read existing artifacts to determine context and propose which PATHs to include or skip.

1. Context Scan

Research is an exploration-focused workflow — it produces artifacts, not shipped code. No FLOW 7 (EXECUTE), FLOW 11 (VERIFY), or FLOW 13 (SHIP) are included.

# Check for existing research artifacts
ls .planning/research/ 2>/dev/null | head -5

2. Build Path Chain

Construct the proposed flow chain for research/exploration work. Short chain — research produces artifacts only:

FLOW 2 (EXPLORE) → FLOW 3 (IDEATE) → FLOW 4 (SPECIFY)

No per-phase loop — research is a single-pass engagement that hands off to the appropriate implementation workflow (silver:feature or silver:devops).

3. Display Proposal

Display the composition proposal to the user:

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SILVER BULLET ► FLOW COMPOSED                                    │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Flows: EXPLORE → IDEATE → SPECIFY                                │
│ Skipped: EXECUTE/VERIFY/SHIP — research produces artifacts only  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Approve composition? [Y/n]

4. Auto-Confirm in Autonomous Mode

In autonomous mode (§10e), auto-confirm the composition proposal with a log message:

⚡ Autonomous mode: auto-confirming composition — {path count} paths, {skipped count} skipped

5. Start workflow tracking (Pass 2 — workflows.sh)

Invoke scripts/workflows.sh start to register this composition as an active workflow. The helper writes a per-instance file to .planning/workflows/<id>.md and returns the workflow id. Capture it and export it as SB_WORKFLOW_ID so all child shells (including gh release create / gh pr create) inherit it — completion-audit's strict gate uses this to verify the active workflow is fully complete before final delivery.

# Build a comma-separated flow list from the confirmed composition (use the
# user-facing FLOW / PATH names so they match what compliance-status surfaces).
SB_FLOWS="<flow1>,<flow2>,..."   # filled in from the confirmed chain
 
SB_WORKFLOW_ID=$(scripts/workflows.sh start /silver:research "the research question" "$SB_FLOWS")
export SB_WORKFLOW_ID
echo "Workflow tracker started: $SB_WORKFLOW_ID"

After each flow / path completes, mark it done:

scripts/workflows.sh complete-flow "$SB_WORKFLOW_ID" "<flow-name>"

When the entire composition finishes (after the final SHIP / RELEASE flow lands), close the workflow:

scripts/workflows.sh complete "$SB_WORKFLOW_ID"

complete archives the file under .planning/workflows/.archive/<id>.md and removes it from the active set, so the strict final-delivery gate will not match a stale id.

Legacy: the v0.22 single-file .planning/WORKFLOW.md mechanism is retired. The

per-instance .planning/workflows/<id>.md files are the only workflow tracker as of

v0.29.1.

After each path completes, the helper updates the Flow Log row in-place — Claude does not edit the file directly.

Step-Skip Protocol

When the user requests skipping any step:

1. Explain why the step exists (one sentence)
2. Offer: A. Accept skip B. Lightweight alternative C. Show me what you have
3. If user chooses A permanently: record in silver-bullet.md §10b and templates/silver-bullet.md.base §9b, then commit both files.

Step 1: Clarify Research Question

Invoke silver:explore (gsd-explore) via the Skill tool. Purpose: Socratic clarification — precisely define the research question before choosing the research mode. This prevents running the wrong MultAI path on an ambiguous question.

After silver:explore completes, the research question should be specific enough to select a path.

Step 2: Choose Research Path

Ask:

What type of research question is this?

A. Market/landscape — "What tools/solutions exist for X?", "What's the state of the art?", "What does the ecosystem look like?"

B. Tech selection — "Should we use X or Y?", "Which library/framework/approach is best for our case?", "Compare X vs Y"

C. Competitive/product intelligence — "How do competitors solve X?", "What does product Y do that we should learn from?"

Wait for selection. Note: if the answer is obvious from $ARGUMENTS or silver:explore output, skip this question and proceed directly.

Path 2a: Market/Landscape Research

Invoked when: selection is A.

2a.1 — Landscape research across 9 sections Invoke multai:landscape-researcher via the Skill tool. Purpose: generates a 9-section market landscape report covering vendors, tools, patterns, and trends.

2a.2 — Consolidate findings Invoke multai:consolidator via the Skill tool. Purpose: synthesize the landscape report into unified findings with actionable recommendations.

Output: Write consolidated findings to .planning/research/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<topic-slug>/landscape-report.md

Proceed to Step 3.

Path 2b: Tech Selection Research

Invoked when: selection is B.

2b.1 — Multi-AI perspectives Invoke multai:orchestrator via the Skill tool. Purpose: 7-AI perspectives on the technical question from different expert viewpoints.

2b.2 — Weighted comparison matrix Invoke multai:comparator via the Skill tool. Purpose: structured comparison matrix with weighted criteria for the options under consideration.

2b.3 — Unified recommendation Invoke multai:consolidator via the Skill tool. Purpose: synthesize multi-AI perspectives + comparison matrix into a unified recommendation report.

Output: Write consolidated report to .planning/research/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<topic-slug>/comparison-report.md

Proceed to Step 3.

Path 2c: Competitive/Product Intelligence

Invoked when: selection is C.

2c.1 — Competitive intelligence research Invoke multai:solution-researcher via the Skill tool. Purpose: 7-AI competitive intelligence CIR — how do others solve this problem, what can we learn, what gaps exist.

Output: Write CIR to .planning/research/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<topic-slug>/competitive-intelligence-report.md

Proceed to Step 3.

Artifact Output Protocol

After any research path completes, ensure the artifact directory exists before writing:

mkdir -p ".planning/research/$(date +%Y-%m-%d)-{topic-slug}/"

The artifact file path will be referenced in the handoff to the receiving workflow (Step 4). Research lineage is fully traceable via the .planning/research/ directory — the path is passed explicitly to the receiving workflow so provenance is never lost.

Step 3: Apply Research to Engineering Design

Invoke silver:brainstorm (superpowers:brainstorming) via the Skill tool. Purpose: apply research findings to engineering design — "what do we actually build and how?" Use the research artifact as primary input context for the brainstorm.

Step 4: Hand Off to Implementation Workflow

Ask:

Research complete. Which workflow should receive these findings?

A. silver:feature — build a new feature based on research findings

B. silver:devops — infrastructure/deployment change based on research findings

C. Done — research-only engagement, no implementation needed

If A: invoke silver:feature via the Skill tool. Pass the artifact path (.planning/research/<date>-<topic>/) as context argument so gsd-discuss-phase can reference it.

If B: invoke silver:devops via the Skill tool. Pass the artifact path as context argument.

If C: summarize research artifacts created and their paths. Done.