vibe-research-before-design

Before proposing any design, architecture, or technology choice — research first. "Other people's documented failures count as observed failure."

When to Use This Skill

• Designing a new feature or system
• Choosing between technologies, frameworks, or patterns
• Making architectural decisions with long-term consequences
• The user asks "how should we build X?"
• You're about to say "I recommend..." for a design choice

When NOT to Use This Skill

• Implementing an already-designed spec (the research was done at design time)
• Fixing a bug (use vibe-debugging-journal instead)
• Simple refactoring with no architectural implications
• The user has explicitly chosen a technology and wants implementation

Steps

1. Identify the design question — What decision are we making? What are the key constraints?

2. Dispatch research — For each major sub-problem, find:

   • 2+ named real-world projects/libraries with adoption metrics (GitHub stars, npm downloads, production users)
   • 1+ academic paper or technical blog with year and venue/source
   • The mechanism — how does it actually work? (Not marketing copy)
   • Known failures — what went wrong for others?
   • Applicability assessment — does this fit our constraints?

3. Synthesize findings — Present a comparison table:

   Option	Adoption	Mechanism	Known Failures	Fit

4. Make a recommendation — Based on evidence, not intuition. State confidence level.

5. Record the decision — Use vibe-decision-journal to log the choice and alternatives.

Red Flags

• "This is obvious, we should just use X" — If it's obvious, proving it takes 2 minutes
• "I've used X before" — Past experience ≠ current best option
• "Everyone uses X" — Popularity ≠ fitness for your constraints
• "Let me just start building and we'll figure it out" — The most expensive approach

Output Format

Research Summary

• Decision: [What we're deciding]
• Constraints: [Key constraints]
• Options Evaluated: X

Comparison Table

Recommendation

[Evidence-based recommendation with confidence level]

Sources

[Links to projects, papers, docs referenced]