Dispatches research agents to find real projects, papers, and documented failures before proposing any feature, architecture, or technology choice. Triggers on creative/design tasks, not on implementation of already-designed specs.

vibe-start-informed

Other people's documented failures count as observed failure. Research SOTA before proposing anything.

When to Use

Brainstorming new features or capabilities
Designing architecture for a new sub-system
Choosing between technology approaches
Any creative/design task where multiple valid approaches exist

Not for: Implementing already-designed specs, bug fixes, or tasks with clear requirements.

The Rule

BEFORE proposing any approach, dispatch a research agent to find real papers, real projects, and real production systems that solve the same (or adjacent) problem.

digraph start_informed {
    "Design question identified" [shape=doublecircle];
    "Decompose into sub-problems" [shape=box];
    "Dispatch research agent (WebSearch)" [shape=box];
    "For each sub-problem find:" [shape=box];
    "Synthesize imported failures" [shape=box];
    "NOW propose approaches" [shape=doublecircle];

    "Design question identified" -> "Decompose into sub-problems";
    "Decompose into sub-problems" -> "Dispatch research agent (WebSearch)";
    "Dispatch research agent (WebSearch)" -> "For each sub-problem find:";
    "For each sub-problem find:" -> "Synthesize imported failures";
    "Synthesize imported failures" -> "NOW propose approaches";
}

Research Requirements

For each sub-problem, find:

Requirement	Minimum	Example
Named projects	2+ with stars/adoption	"Graphiti (23k stars)"
Papers with venue	1+ with year	"RAPTOR (ICLR 2024)"
Mechanism described	What it actually does	Not marketing copy
Known failures	What went wrong	"Flat RAG failed at multi-hop"
Applicability assessment	How it maps to our system	Specific, not generic

Red Flags

Thought	Reality
"I already know the best approach"	You know ONE approach. Research finds others.
"This is too niche for research"	If someone built it, someone documented failures.
"Research will slow us down"	Uninformed design causes rewrites. Research prevents them.
"The textbook answer is obvious"	JK: "These are very very weak suggestions." Do real research.
"Let me just propose something"	Proposals without research are guesses with confidence.

Origin

Alien Chang-Unni Constitution v0.1, Law 5 (amended in Session 2):

Start Informed — leverage SOTA research as collective observed failure. Simplify only when observed complexity causes problems in practice. Other people's documented failures count as observed failure.

The amendment was triggered when a constitutional audit revealed every design decision violated the original "Start Stupid" law. The law was changed because importing proven approaches isn't premature complexity — it's standing on shoulders.