research-init

To initialize a new research topic, provide a topic name and optional seed papers. The system then derives a slug, ingests seeds, establishes a minimal scaffold, and updates AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md guidance when requested.

Topic scaffolding establishes a minimal, guided structure for a new research project by generating a topic slug, repository metadata, and initial guidance files, reducing setup time and ensuring consistent agent alignment across sessions.

You ingest seed papers by providing them alongside your topic name during initialization. The workspace uses these references to seed initial provenance and establish the foundational context for your research topic.

Updating AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md occurs when explicitly requested during the topic integration process. This guidance integration aligns the workspace configuration with your newly established research topic scaffold.

When missing metadata occurs during setup, the system records assumptions to maintain traceability across sessions. This audit-ready approach ensures your research topic initialization remains fully documented without blocking the scaffold creation.

You do not need to provide a topic slug before bootstrapping. The initialization process automatically derives the topic slug from your provided topic name if one is not explicitly supplied during setup.