Evidence-first current-state research workflow for ECC. Use when the user wants fresh facts, comparisons, enrichment, or a recommendation built from current public evidence and any supplied local context.

Research Ops Use this when the user asks to research something current, compare options, enrich people or companies, or turn repeated lookups into a monitored workflow. This is the operator wrapper around the repo's research stack. It is not a replacement for deep research , exa search , or market research ; it tells you when and how to use them together. Skill Stack Pull these ECC native skills into the workflow when relevant: exa search for fast current web discovery deep research for multi source synthesis with citations market research when the end result should be a recommendation or ranked decision lead intelligence when the task is people/company targeting instead of generic research knowledge ops when the result should be stored in durable context afterward When to Use user says "research", "look up", "compare", "who should I talk to", or "what's the latest" the answer depends on current public information the user already supplied evidence and wants it factored into a fresh recommendation the task may be recurring enough that it should become a monitor instead of a one off lookup Guardrails do not answer current questions from stale memory when fresh search is cheap separate: sourced fact user provided evidence inference recommendation do not spin up a heavyweight research pass if the answer is already in local code or docs Workflow 1. Start from what the user already gave you Normalize any supplied material into: already evidenced facts needs verification open questions Do not restart the analysis from zero if the user already built part of the model. 2. Classify the ask Choose the right lane before searching: quick factual answer comparison or decision memo lead/enrichment pass recurring monitoring candidate 3. Take the lightest useful evidence path first use exa search for fast discovery escalate to deep research when synthesis or multiple sources matter use market research when the outcome should end in a recommendation hand off to lead intelligence when the real ask is target ranking or warm path discovery 4. Report with explicit evidence boundaries For important claims, say whether they are: sourced facts user supplied context inference recommendation Freshness sensitive answers should include concrete dates. 5. Decide whether the task should stay manual If the user is likely to ask the same research question repeatedly, say so explicitly and recommend a monitoring or workflow layer instead of repeating the same manual search forever. Output Format Pitfalls do not mix inference into sourced facts without labeling it do not ignore user provided evidence do not use a heavy research lane for a question local repo context can answer do not give freshness sensitive answers without dates Verification important claims are labeled by evidence type freshness sensitive outputs include dates the final recommendation matches the actual research mode used

research-ops