/updating-knowledge

name: updating-knowledge
description: Systematic research methodology for building comprehensive, current knowledge on any topic. Requires web_search tool. Use when questions require thorough investigation, recent developments post-cutoff, synthesis across multiple sources, or when Claude's knowledge may be outdated or incomplete. Triggered by "Research", "Investigate", "What's current on", "Latest info on", complex queries needing validation, or technical topics with recent changes.
metadata:
  version: 1.1.0

Updating Knowledge

Core Principles

• **Systematic > ad-hoc** - Follow research methodology, don't scatter searches randomly
• **Cross-validate** - Verify claims across multiple independent sources
• **Confidence tracking** - Explicitly flag single-source claims and gaps
• **Concise output** - Present findings efficiently, introspection in thinking blocks

Preflight Check

This skill requires web_search tool access.

Verify it's available before proceeding. If it isn't, tell the user immediately — "I need web search enabled for research tasks. Please toggle on 'Web search' in the feature menu." — and stop there rather than researching from memory alone or spending context on workarounds.

Trigger Disambiguation

Avoid triggering on generic action verbs like "update" (which could mean file/code changes instead) — trigger on the explicit knowledge-gathering requests named in the description above.

Research Workflow

1. Scope Definition (internal)

Identify in thinking block:

• What specifically needs investigation
• Current knowledge baseline
• Known gaps
• Required depth (overview vs comprehensive)

2. Source Gathering (2-10 tool calls)

**Source priority:** 1. Official documentation, project repos, company announcements 2. Academic papers, technical blogs with clear expertise 3. Community discussions (for ecosystem context only)

**Tool selection:**

• `web_search` - Find authoritative sources
• `web_fetch` - Extract complete content from any URL (no prior search required)
• Internal tools (GitHub, Drive, etc.) - Company/personal context
• Multiple tool types as needed

**Gather 3-5 diverse sources minimum** for cross-validation.

3. Synthesis (internal)

In thinking block:

• Cross-validate major claims across sources
• Note contradictions explicitly
• Track publication dates
• Assess source credibility
• Identify remaining gaps

4. Output (concise)

Present findings concisely:

## [Topic]

**Key findings:**
[2-3 sentence summary with most important updates]

**Current state:**
[Concise description of what's true now]

**Changes since cutoff:**
[Only if relevant - what's different]

**Gaps:**
[Only if user needs to know - what wasn't found]

Sources: [URLs]

**Confidence indicators:**

• State explicitly when claims are single-source
• Note contradictions between sources
• Flag unverified information
• Quantify confidence (high/medium/low) when uncertain

Quality Standards

**Minimum requirements:**

• 3+ independent sources consulted
• Major claims cross-validated
• Explicit confidence assessment
• Remaining gaps identified when relevant

**Avoid:**

• Single-source claims presented as definitive
• Ignoring publication dates
• Marketing language as fact
• Verbose deliberation in final output (use thinking blocks)
• Over-explaining research process to user

Tool Usage Notes

**web_fetch capabilities:**

• Can fetch ANY URL directly - doesn't require prior search results
• Use for complete documentation pages, technical articles
• Effective for deep content extraction after search identifies sources

**web_search patterns:**

• Start specific, broaden if needed
• Never repeat similar queries - make each unique
• Use the actual current date when relevant — check it rather than assuming

**Internal tools:**

• Prioritize for company/personal data
• Combine with web tools for comparative analysis

Example Outputs

**Technical documentation inquiry:**

TypeScript 5.3 (Nov 2023) added import attributes for JSON modules. The syntax uses `with` instead of deprecated `assert`. Runtime performance unchanged—validation happens at parse time.

Gap: No official benchmarks comparing validation overhead across bundlers.

Sources: [TS release notes, GitHub issue #54242, esbuild docs]

**Conflicting information:**

React Server Components ship in Next.js 13.4+ (stable) and Remix 2.0 (experimental). 

Contradiction: Meta's blog claims "production-ready" while Remix docs flag "breaking changes expected." Cross-validation shows Meta refers to Next.js implementation only.

Confidence: High on Next.js status, medium on Remix timeline.

Sources: [Next.js changelog, Remix docs, React.dev]

**Avoid narrating process:**

❌ "After conducting extensive research and cross-validating multiple authoritative sources..."
✓ Just present findings with source attribution