---
name: deep-investigate
description: "First-principles deep investigation framework. Applies to any domain — technology, market, product, strategy. Use whenever the user asks to research, investigate, analyze, compare, evaluate, or make decisions requiring deep understanding. Also trigger proactively when discussing choices or tradeoffs that need structured analysis."
---

# Deep Investigate

Multi-agent research protocol. Fully autonomous after Phase 1.

```
FRAME → EXPLORE (loop) → ANALYZE → DELIVER
         ↑      ↓
      explorers → verifier → GAPS? → next round
                           → PASS? → exit loop
```

**Hard rules:**
1. Phase 1 is the ONLY user interaction. Phases 2-4 complete before returning to user.
2. Every round: PARALLEL explorer agents. Never one agent doing all work.
3. Every round ends with a fresh VERIFIER agent. Never self-review.
4. Verifier cannot PASS before `min_rounds`. No shortcuts.

---

## Phase 1: Frame

Orchestrator does this directly, with user.

1. Core question — one sentence
2. Key concepts — verify externally, don't trust memory
3. Dimensions — derive from the problem
4. Preliminary search — calibrate dimensions
5. `min_rounds` — minimum exploration rounds (default 10, adjust by complexity)
6. Completion criteria — derive from the question, not from a template
7. Confirm with user → go autonomous

Output: research plan document. See `references/templates.md` for format.

---

## Phase 2: Explore

Autonomous loop. Each round has 3 steps.

### Step 1: parallel(explorer agents)

Split problem space across agents. Slicing strategies — by dimension, by source, by angle. Pick what fits. Each agent:
- Covers its assigned territory as deep as possible
- Traces to primary sources, verifies empirically when possible
- Flags `[UNVERIFIED]` claims
- Lists new questions discovered
- If verifier feedback exists from last round: reads it, decides how to address

See `references/prompts.md § Explorer` for prompt template.

### Step 2: Merge

Orchestrator reads all outputs, updates working document:
- Organize by dimension, not by agent
- Cross-check conflicts between agents
- Collect `[UNVERIFIED]` and new questions

### Step 3: Verifier gate

Spawn fresh verifier agent (no prior context). It is an **auditor, not a planner**:
- Evaluates breadth (dimension coverage) and depth (surface vs root-cause)
- Detects failure patterns: lazy, shallow, blind spots, fake verification, low coverage
- Knows current round number and `min_rounds`
- Outputs problem characteristics + PASS or GAPS

**It does NOT tell explorers what to do.** It only describes what's wrong. Explorers decide how to fix it.

See `references/prompts.md § Verifier` for prompt template.

**PASS** (only after `min_rounds`) → Phase 3
**GAPS** → verifier's problem list goes to next round's explorers → Step 1

---

## Phase 3: Analyze & Structure

Orchestrator transforms raw working document into final deliverable.

**Analyze**: Draw boundaries, distinguish essential differences from surface similarities, check against ecosystem consensus, reason backward from user scenarios, interrogate your own conclusions. See `references/thinking-tools.md` for details.

**Structure**: Reorganize by topic (not by round), merge duplicates, attach verification records inline, classify gaps by priority, build roadmap, extract blind spots.

---

## Phase 4: Deliver

Write final document. See `references/templates.md § Final document` for format.

For large efforts, also write `handoff.md` — enables a new agent to continue in under 10 minutes.

---

## Conventions

- **Language**: follow user's language
- **Save location**: ask user in Phase 1, or use project convention
