Dispatch Exploration

Send a small batch of research queries to specialist agents in parallel, apply the cross-verify consent gate when a returned finding triggers it, and return a compressed findings list.

Input

A list of query objects:

[
  {"question": "what does Ethan want re: relocation healthcare costs?", "target": "vault", "hint": "projects/relocation"},
  {"question": "current state of Spain non-lucrative visa for US remote workers", "target": "web"}
]

• target — "vault" or "web". Required.
• hint (vault only) — optional slug-prefix scope to focus the search.

The input shape is stable — callers do not need to opt into the cross-verify gate; it is always on for target: "web" results.

Process

1. Dispatch one agent per query, all in parallel (single message, multiple Agent tool calls):
   • target: "vault" → vault-researcher
   • target: "web" → web-researcher
2. Wait for all results.
3. Cross-verify intercept for each web result. See Cross-verify orchestration below. This is the only step where this skill may pause for user interaction; vault results are pass-through.

4. Build a compressed findings list, one line (or short block) per query:

   Vault result:

   <query> → <slug> — <relevance> — <excerpt>

   or <query> → no match if the agent returned none.

   Web result (default):

   <query> → <summary> — <top 1-2 citations> — cohort: <cohort_spread> — flags: <flag list>

   Pass through cohort_spread and flags when present. Omit the cohort: / flags: segments when the agent returned no flags and a single-cohort spread (e.g. an evergreen-fact lookup with a clean sample).

   Web result (pricing mode, single tier):

   <query> → new: median $Y, range $A–$B (N reputable sources) — flags: <flags>

   Web result (pricing mode, tiered after consent):

   <query>
     new:  median $Y, range $A–$B (N sources, manufacturer-direct + major-retailer)
     used: median $Z, range $C–$D (M sources, marketplace-used / refurbished / etc.)
     flags: <flags>

   Web result (pricing mode, second axis — composite <tier>.<spec> keys):

   <query>
     new.m4:         median $599, range $599–$599 (2 sources, manufacturer-direct)
     used.m1:        median $375, range $300–$450 (2 sources, refurbisher-aggregated)
     marketplace.m4: range $700–$979              (1 source, shortage-inflated)
     flags: <flags>

   Tier token is the segment before the first .; the rest is a free-form spec slug (split on first dot, so open-box.m2 / used.rtx-4090 parse cleanly). Pass composite keys through verbatim.

   Web result (no useful data): <query> → no useful results.

Web-researcher findings shape

web-researcher returns a YAML-shaped finding. Default fields:

query: <original query>
summary: <2–5 sentences>
cohort_spread: "<count>× <cohort>, <count>× <cohort>, ... — <gap notes if any>"
flags: [<flag>, <flag>, ...]
citations:
  - {title: "...", url: "...", accessed: YYYY-MM-DD, type_tags: [<cohort>, <pricing-subtype-if-any>]}

In pricing mode, summary may be replaced by tiered new: and used: blocks (see Process step 4).

The cohort_spread string is human-readable, not structured — pass it through verbatim. flags is a list of short tokens (see Flag vocabulary). Each citation carries type_tags — preserve them when surfacing citations to the user.

If the agent returns summary: none (no useful sources), no flags or cohort information will be present; render as no useful results.

Flag vocabulary

The flags field uses a fixed vocabulary. Recipes treat these as machine-readable signals and surface them in finding presentation.

• single-source — only one usable source for the central claim or price; the finding is uncorroborated. For pricing this is framed as single-source — could not corroborate.
• cohort-gap: <slot> — one entry per unfilled cohort (e.g. cohort-gap: critical-adversarial). Means the agent ran a targeted query for that slot and still came up empty. Visible gap is the deliverable; do not interpret as agent failure.
• pricing-mode — pricing mode is active. Always present for pricing queries; downstream rendering keys off this.
• marketplace-listings-detected — the candidate set contained marketplace-used / auction / refurbished / private-listing sources while the reputable sample (manufacturer-direct + major-retailer) was thin (<3). Triggers the consent gate (see below) unless intent was explicit.
• cohort-homogeneity: <pattern> — multiple sources within a cohort share suspicious traits (near-identical phrasing, citation cycles to the same primary, all on recent-domains). Surface with the finding so the user can discount accordingly; no consent gate.

Cross-verify orchestration

The cross-verify consent gate lives in this skill so any caller doing inline research — /research, /design's research step, future /decompose info-gap fills — inherits the gate without duplicating logic. Recipes call dispatch-exploration and never see the consent prompt machinery directly.

Apply this orchestration once per web result, between the agent return and the build-findings step.

Used / marketplace consent gate

Trigger conditions (both must be true):

1. marketplace-listings-detected flag is present in the finding, OR the finding's citations include any type_tags from {marketplace-used, auction, refurbished, private-listing}.
2. The reputable sample size is thin: count of citations whose type_tags include manufacturer-direct or major-retailer is < 3.

Intent-recognition bypass: before surfacing the consent prompt, check the original question text for any of these keywords (case-insensitive, simple substring match — no NLU):

• used
• refurbished
• secondhand / second-hand / second hand
• marketplace
• eBay / Craigslist / Facebook Marketplace
• auction
• open box / open-box

If any keyword is present, skip the consent prompt — the user has already declared intent. Re-dispatch web-researcher with the original question (the agent's own intent recognition will trigger pricing-with-used mode and return the tiered output) only if the current finding does not already contain a tiered output. If the finding is already tiered, pass it through.

Consent prompt (when intent bypass does not apply):

I see used / refurbished / marketplace listings for <topic> in the search results, and the reputable-retailer sample is thin (only N sources). Include used / marketplace pricing in the sample, or stick to new-from-reputable-retailer? Current new-retail sample: median $Y across N sources.

Where <topic>, N, and $Y are filled from the finding. If the new-retail sample is empty, omit the "Current new-retail sample" sentence.

On user response:

• "Stick to new" / decline / silence → pass the existing single-tier finding through. Append a consent-declined-marketplace flag so downstream presentation can note the gate fired and was declined.
• "Include used" / "yes" / explicit consent → re-dispatch web-researcher with a refined question: original question + — include marketplace and used listings in the sample. Use the tiered output from the re-dispatch in the build-findings step.

Never silently widen. If the trigger fires and consent is neither given nor declined (e.g. the user redirects entirely), do not include marketplace listings in the sample.

Low retail sample escalation

Distinct from the marketplace gate. Fires when there is no marketplace-listings-detected flag (the candidate set was already retail-only) but the reputable sample is still thin.

Trigger:

• pricing-mode flag is present
• Count of manufacturer-direct + major-retailer citations is < 3
• marketplace-listings-detected is absent

When N == 1: do not offer widening. Surface as:

Only one usable retail source found for <topic> — single-source — could not corroborate. Treat the price as uncorroborated.

Pass through the finding with the existing single-source flag; no user action required (pure surfacing).

When N == 2: offer widening explicitly:

Only 2 reputable-retailer sources found for <topic>. Widen the search to include marketplace-new sources (third-party sellers on Amazon / eBay / Newegg), or report as-is with a low-sample flag?

• Widen → re-dispatch web-researcher with <original> — widen to marketplace-new sources. Use the new finding.
• Report as-is → pass through with an added low-sample flag.

This escalation never silently widens either — symmetry with the marketplace gate is intentional.

Calling-convention semantics

Input shape is unchanged: {question, target, hint?}. Callers don't pass a consent flag.

Return semantics now allow a mid-call user interaction window during the cross-verify intercept step. Callers should treat dispatch-exploration as potentially blocking on user input for web queries in pricing mode. In practice this only fires when one of the trigger conditions above is met; non-pricing web queries and pricing queries with healthy reputable samples return without any user-facing prompt.

Output

The compressed findings list, ready for the recipe to present to the user. The list reflects any consent decisions made during the cross-verify intercept step.

Constraints

• 1–3 queries per call. If the user wants more breadth, the recipe loops with new batches.
• Always parallel for the initial dispatch. Never sequential.
• Mix vault and web targets in a single batch when it's useful.
• Cross-verify orchestration applies to web results only. vault results are pass-through (single-author, injection risk negligible — no cohort discipline meaningful).
• Pass cohort_spread, flags, and citation type_tags through verbatim. Don't summarize them away — they're the visible deliverable of the cross-verify work.

Future scope

• Codebase exploration via general-purpose (target: "codebase") when /plan and /implement need it.
• Non-US major-retailer allowlist for international callers (currently a project-skill override of agents/web-researcher.md).