Discovery Workflow Skill

When to Use

• Competitive analyses and market research
• Architecture comparisons and ADR scaffolding
• Literature reviews and vendor evaluations
• Design research that does NOT feed into implementation planning

When NOT to Use

• If the deliverable includes code changes → use

  /exarchos:oneshot

  or

  /exarchos:ideate

• If you need TDD enforcement → use any other workflow type
• If the research feeds directly into implementation → use

  /exarchos:ideate

  (which includes a design phase)

Phases

Phase 1: Gathering (initial)

1. Define the research question or deliverable scope
2. Identify and collect sources (URLs, documents, code references)
3. Record sources in workflow state:

mcp__exarchos__exarchos_workflow({
  action: "set", featureId: "<id>",
  updates: { "artifacts.sources": ["<source1>", "<source2>", "..."] }
})

1. Create an outline of the deliverable

artifacts.sources

synthesizing

Phase 2: Synthesizing

1. Write the document based on gathered sources and outline
2. Commit the document to the repo (typically under

   docs/research/

   or

   docs/designs/

   )
3. Record the report path:

mcp__exarchos__exarchos_workflow({
  action: "set", featureId: "<id>",
  updates: { "artifacts.report": "<path-to-document>" }
})

artifacts.report

completed

Optional: Escalation to Implementation

1. Note the finding in the report
2. After completing the discovery workflow, start a new workflow:
   bash

   /ideate <implementation-topic>

   Reference the discovery report as design input.

Event Emissions

mcp__exarchos__exarchos_event({
  action: "append", stream: "<featureId>",
  event: { type: "discovery.sources_collected", data: { sourceCount: N } }
})

mcp__exarchos__exarchos_event({
  action: "append", stream: "<featureId>",
  event: { type: "discovery.report_committed", data: { path: "<report-path>" } }
})