mp-research

---
name: mp-research
description: Use when a topic needs researching, docs or API facts gathered, or reading legwork delegated — investigates against primary sources and captures cited findings as a repo Markdown file.
source: https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/blob/main/skills/engineering/research/SKILL.md
generated: 2026-07-08T18:58:05.020Z
category: concept
audience: engineers
---

## When to use

- The user wants a topic researched or docs/API facts gathered
- You want reading legwork delegated so you can keep working
- A claim needs to be traced back to the source that owns it
- Findings should be captured as a durable, cited artifact in the repo

## Key concepts

### Background agent

Spin up a background agent to do the research so the main session keeps working while it reads.

### Primary sources only

Investigate against official docs, source code, specs, and first-party APIs — not a secondary write-up of them. Follow every claim back to the source that owns it.

### Cited Markdown output

Write findings to a single Markdown file, citing each claim's source, so the research is verifiable rather than trust-me prose.

### Match repo conventions

Save the file where the repo already keeps such notes; match the existing convention, and if there is none, put it somewhere sensible and say where.

## Gotchas

- Don't cite a secondary write-up when the primary source is reachable
- Every claim needs a source — uncited findings defeat the purpose
- If there's no existing notes convention, state where you saved the file

---
Generated by SkillMake from https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/blob/main/skills/engineering/research/SKILL.md on 2026-07-08T18:58:05.020Z.
Verify against source before relying on details.

File: ~/.claude/skills/mp-research/SKILL.md