Wiki Research — Autonomous Multi-Round Research

You are running an autonomous research loop on a topic, synthesizing what you find, and filing the results into the Obsidian wiki as permanent knowledge.

Before You Start

Resolve the vault path (precedence, highest first): the OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH environment variable if set, else a .env in the current working directory (vault-scoped), else ~/.obsidian-wiki/config (global default). Set VAULT to that OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH.

1. Read $VAULT/_system/index.md to understand what's already in the wiki — don't re-research things the wiki covers well
2. Read $VAULT/_system/hot.md — surfaces recent context and active threads
3. Check $VAULT/_system/tags.md — use only the tags in the whitelist when writing new notes

Source Verification (mandatory before filing any note): For every claim you intend to write into a wiki page, you must be able to point to a URL you successfully fetched with WebFetch. Search snippets alone are not sufficient. Drop any claim whose source page cannot be verified.

Confirm the research topic with the user if it's ambiguous. Then proceed.

Research Configuration (optional)

If references/research-config.md exists in the vault, read it and apply any rules it defines:

• Source preferences (e.g., prefer academic sources, avoid certain domains)
• Domains to skip
• Confidence scoring adjustments
• Topic-specific constraints

If the file doesn't exist, proceed with defaults.

Round 1 — Broad Survey

Goal: Get a wide map of the topic.

1. Decompose the topic into 3-5 distinct angles (e.g., for "vector databases": what they are, when to use them, leading implementations, trade-offs, production gotchas)
2. For each angle, run 2-3 WebSearch queries using varied phrasing
3. For the top 2-3 results per angle, use WebFetch (or defuddle <url> if available — cleaner extraction) to get content
4. From each fetched page, extract:
   • Key claims — what the source explicitly states
   • Concepts — ideas, terms, frameworks introduced
   • Entities — tools, people, organizations mentioned
   • Contradictions — places where sources disagree with each other

Track what's covered and what's missing as you go.

Round 2 — Gap Fill

Goal: Close the holes left by Round 1.

Review what Round 1 produced:

• What questions did sources raise but not answer?
• Where do sources contradict each other?
• Which angles got thin coverage?

Run up to 5 targeted searches specifically addressing these gaps. Prefer primary sources, official documentation, and authoritative analyses over link aggregators.

Add findings to your working set. Update the contradiction list.

Round 3 — Synthesis Check

Goal: Resolve contradictions; confirm depth is sufficient.

If major contradictions remain unresolved:

• Run one final targeted pass (2-3 searches) to find authoritative resolution
• If resolution is impossible, flag the contradiction explicitly in the synthesis page

If contradictions are minor or the topic feels well-covered after Round 2, skip additional searching and proceed to filing.

Halt condition: Stop when depth is achieved or 3 rounds are complete — do not loop indefinitely.

Filing — Write Wiki Pages

Organize all findings into wiki pages across four output areas:

1. sources/ — One page per major reference

For each significant source (typically 4-8 pages total):

---
title: >-
  <Source title>
category: references
tags: [<2-4 domain tags>]
sources:
  - "<URL>"
source_url: "<URL>"
created: <ISO-8601 timestamp>
updated: <ISO-8601 timestamp>
summary: >-
  <1-2 sentences describing what this source covers, ≤200 chars>
provenance:
  extracted: 0.X
  inferred: 0.X
  ambiguous: 0.X
---

Body: title, URL, what it covers, key claims (with provenance markers), limitations.

2. concepts/ — One page per substantive concept

For each significant concept surfaced across sources:

Standard concept frontmatter + body. Link concepts to each other and to source pages.

3. entities/ — Tools, organizations, people

For each significant entity encountered (tools, libraries, companies, key authors):

Standard entity frontmatter. Link back to concepts that use the entity and sources where it appears.

4. synthesis/Research: [Topic].md — Master synthesis

The primary output: a structured synthesis of everything found.

---
title: >-
  Research: <Topic>
category: synthesis
tags: [<3-5 domain tags>, research]
sources: [<list of source URLs or page paths>]
created: <ISO-8601 timestamp>
updated: <ISO-8601 timestamp>
summary: >-
  Synthesis of <N>-round research on <topic>. Covers <core findings in ≤200 chars>.
provenance:
  extracted: 0.X
  inferred: 0.X
  ambiguous: 0.X
---

# Research: <Topic>

## Overview
<2-4 sentence executive summary of what the research found>

## Key Findings
<Bulleted list of the most important claims, each with a [[source page]] citation>

## Core Concepts
<Links to concept pages created, with one-line descriptions>

## Entities & Tools
<Links to entity pages, with one-line descriptions>

## Contradictions & Open Questions
<Where sources disagree or where the research hit limits>

## Sources Consulted
<Linked list of all source pages>

Cross-linking

After filing all pages:

• Every concept page should link to at least 2 source pages
• Every source page should link to the concept pages it informed
• The synthesis page should link to all concept, entity, and source pages produced

Check index.md for existing pages on the same topics — merge into existing pages rather than creating duplicates.

Update Tracking Files

.manifest.json — Add a research entry:

{
  "type": "research",
  "topic": "<topic>",
  "researched_at": "TIMESTAMP",
  "rounds_completed": 3,
  "sources_fetched": N,
  "pages_created": ["..."],
  "pages_updated": ["..."]
}

index.md — Add all new pages under their respective sections.

log.md — Append:

- [TIMESTAMP] WIKI_RESEARCH topic="<topic>" rounds=N sources_fetched=N pages_created=M

hot.md — Update Recent Activity with the research topic and core finding. Update Active Threads if this is ongoing. Update updated timestamp.

Quality Checklist

• 3 rounds completed (or halted at sufficient depth)
• Synthesis page exists at synthesis/Research: [Topic].md
• Source pages written for major references
• Concept and entity pages written for significant items
• Contradictions flagged in synthesis page
• All pages cross-linked
• index.md, log.md, hot.md, .manifest.json updated