/bmad-research

name: bmad-research
description: |
  Conducts market, competitive, domain, and technical research using live web sources,
  producing a cited research-report.md to inform BMAD planning decisions.

  Use when the user says:
  - "research [topic/market/technology]"
  - "competitive analysis" or "who are the competitors"
  - "market size" or "market landscape"
  - "technical research" or "evaluate [technology/framework]"
  - "domain research" or "industry analysis"
  - "what does the market look like"
  - "find out about [technology/space]"
  - "I need research before we plan"
  - "gather information on [topic]"

  Supports three modes: Create (new research), Update (refresh existing report with new
  sources), Validate (cross-check claims in an existing report against live sources).
  Output lands in bmad-output/ as a cited research-report.md ready for downstream
  planning skills (business-analyst, product-manager, system-architect).
allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Glob, Grep, WebSearch, WebFetch, TodoWrite

BMAD Research

Conducts structured, cited research across three modes to feed BMAD planning workflows. Output is a research-report.md in bmad-output/, ready for handoff to planning skills.

---

Step 0 — Clarify Intent

Before searching, confirm:

1. **Mode** — Create / Update / Validate (default: Create) 2. **Research type** — Market | Competitive | Technical | Domain (may combine) 3. **Topic** — What is being researched? 4. **Output destination** — Default: `bmad-output/research-report.md`

If project-context.md exists, read it first (`bmad-output/project-context.md`) for scope constraints.

---

Step 1 — Plan the Research

Use the source-type strategy guide to pick sources by research type:

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/bmad-research/scripts/research-sources.sh

Run it (Bash) to print the guide, then sketch a query plan:

• 3–5 targeted WebSearch queries per research type
• Specific URLs to WebFetch (industry reports, competitor sites, docs)
• Triangulation goal: each key claim backed by 2+ independent sources

Track progress with TodoWrite.

---

Step 2 — Execute Research

Market Research

• Search: market size, TAM/SAM/SOM, growth CAGR, key trends, growth drivers
• Sources: Statista, Grand View Research, CB Insights, SEC filings, industry reports
• Quantify everything possible: dollar values, percentages, time frames

Competitive Research

• Search: top competitors, feature comparisons, pricing, user reviews, funding
• Sources: G2/Capterra (reviews), Crunchbase (funding/size), company IR pages,

product documentation, Reddit/HN community sentiment

• Build a feature comparison matrix

Technical Research

• Search: framework benchmarks, adoption rates, community health, known trade-offs
• Sources: Official docs, GitHub stars/issues, npm/PyPI stats, State of JS/CSS,

ThoughtWorks Radar, Stack Overflow surveys

• Evaluate: maturity, ecosystem, licensing, long-term viability

Domain Research

• Search: regulatory landscape, industry standards, key players, domain glossary
• Sources: Government databases, standards bodies, academic papers (Google Scholar,

arXiv), trade publications

**Citation discipline**: for every factual claim, record source URL + access date. When a claim cannot be verified across 2+ sources, mark it `[UNVERIFIED]`.

---

Step 3 — Update Mode

If mode is Update, read the existing report first. Then: 1. Identify sections with stale data (>6 months old, or marked `[UNVERIFIED]`) 2. Re-run targeted searches for those sections only 3. Append a "Last Updated" entry per section 4. Increment the report version

---

Step 4 — Validate Mode

If mode is Validate: 1. Extract all quantitative claims from the existing report 2. Spot-check each claim with a fresh WebSearch 3. Mark each claim: `[VERIFIED]`, `[CONTRADICTED source: …]`, or `[UNVERIFIED]` 4. Append a "Validation Summary" section noting overall confidence

---

Step 5 — Write the Report

Use the template:

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/bmad-research/templates/research-report.template.md

Fill all sections. Sections irrelevant to the research type may be omitted (mark as N/A). Write the completed report to:

bmad-output/research-report.md   # or a user-specified path

**Required sections regardless of mode:**

• Executive Summary with key findings and bottom line
• Research Scope (in/out of scope, time frame)
• Methodology (sources used, tools, limitations)
• Gaps & Opportunities
• Recommendations (planning actions, not implementation actions)
• Full source bibliography (Appendix B) with URLs and access dates

---

Step 6 — Handoff

After writing the report, tell the user:

• The output path
• The 3 most important findings in plain language
• Which BMAD planning skill should consume this report next:
• Market/Competitive → business-analyst or product-manager
• Technical → system-architect
• Domain → business-analyst

Record the research decision in `bmad-output/decision-log.md`:

## Research: [Topic] — [Date]
- Mode: [Create/Update/Validate]
- Types: [Market/Competitive/Technical/Domain]
- Key finding: [one sentence]
- Report: bmad-output/research-report.md
- Next skill: [skill name]

---

Subagent Strategy

For broad research covering multiple types simultaneously, fan out parallel agents:

**Agent 1 — Market Agent**

Read project-context.md, then conduct market research on [topic]:
TAM/SAM/SOM, growth rates, key trends. Write findings to
bmad-output/research-scratch/market.md with full citations.

**Agent 2 — Competitive Agent**

Read project-context.md, then research top 3-5 competitors for [topic]:
features, pricing, strengths/weaknesses, user sentiment. Write findings to
bmad-output/research-scratch/competitive.md with full citations.

**Agent 3 — Technical/Domain Agent**

Read project-context.md, then research technical landscape for [topic]:
technology options, ecosystem health, standards. Write findings