When to Use
- Scoping research questions and identifying sources
- Extracting atomic claims from academic papers
- Verifying citations and claims against sources
- Synthesizing findings across multiple papers
- Literature review with traceable provenance
- Research gap analysis (theoretical, methodological, empirical, practical)
- Quality audit of research outputs
Pipeline
discourse (elicit) → extract (extract) → verify (scrutiny) → synthesize (synthesis) → audit (audit)
Elicit draws out the inquiry. Agents execute the methodology. Human reviews and decides.
Agents
| Agent | Role | Phase |
|---|---|---|
| elicit | Draw out research questions, boundaries, sources | Discourse |
| extract | Extract atomic claims from sources (Claimify pipeline) | Extraction |
| scrutiny | CoVE verification — independently verify claims | Verification |
| synthesis | Cross-source integration, convergence/divergence/gaps | Synthesis |
| audit | Quality gate — trace provenance chain, ship/return | Audit |
Skills
| Skill | Type | Content |
|---|---|---|
| research | Hub | Pipeline, workspace, orchestration, routing |
| eliciting | Spoke | Research discourse, question sharpening, source identification |
| extracting | Spoke | Claimify pipeline, source tiers, extraction protocol |
| verifying | Spoke | CoVE protocol, verification verdicts, independence |
| synthesizing | Spoke | Evidence weighting, convergence/divergence, gap analysis |
| auditing | Spoke | Provenance chain, chain integrity, ship/return |
Workspace
.research/
├── scope.md # Co-created (elicit + human): questions, boundaries
├── PLAN.md # Orchestrator tracking
├── sources/inventory.md # Co-created (elicit + human): source list with metadata
├── extraction/ # Per-source claim files
├── verification/ # Per-source verified claims
├── synthesis/ # Per-question findings
└── audit/report.md # Evaluation report
The Provenance Chain
Source quote (verbatim) → Extracted claim → Verified claim → Finding → Audit trace
Confidence can only decrease through the pipeline — never increase without new evidence.
Key Principles
- Discourse first — draw out the inquiry before any pipeline work
- Evidentiary provenance — every claim traceable to a source quote
- Independence — verification re-reads sources independently (CoVE)
- Structural confidence — evidence patterns determine confidence, not assertions
- Named gaps — what's missing is as important as what's found
- Human scoping — no agent substitutes for defining what questions matter
License
MIT