research_skill

Overview

This skill helps research, analyze, and plan technical solutions that are scalable, secure, and maintainable. It follows pragmatic engineering principles (YAGNI, KISS, DRY) and delivers concise, actionable reports and implementation recommendations. Use it when you need structured, evidence-backed technical decision support.

How this skill works

I first define a clear research scope: key terms, recency requirements, evaluation criteria, and boundaries. Then I run a systematic multi-source search (up to five research calls), analyze official docs, repos, and videos, cross-check findings, and synthesize best practices, security implications, and performance trade-offs. The output is a practical research report with recommendations, quick-start steps, code examples, and next actions.

When to use it

• Choosing between competing technologies or architectures
• Evaluating security, performance, or scalability implications for a design
• Preparing an implementation plan or migration strategy
• Creating a concise technical brief for stakeholders
• Validating third-party libraries, APIs, or services before adoption

Best practices

• Define scope and success criteria up front (terms, dates, depth) to focus effort
• Limit external research calls to five maximum and prioritize authoritative sources
• Cross-reference at least three independent sources for key claims
• Highlight security advisories and CVEs for any component under consideration
• Produce short, actionable recommendations and a one-step quick start

Example use cases

• Compare managed database offerings for latency, cost, and operational burden
• Assess adoption, maturity, and migration path for a new framework
• Create an actionable security review for a microservice architecture
• Plan a performance-optimized deployment topology for a web service
• Draft a technology selection brief for executive decision-making