Build Outline

---
name: build-outline
description: Decompose a research question into the sub-questions a thorough answer must address. Builds the outline that `/source-map` then populates and `/desk-research` then synthesises against. Grounded in STORM's outline stage (multi-perspective topic decomposition) and PRISMA's PICO framework (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome — the systematic-review decomposition). Produces `<topic-slug>-outline.md` listing each sub-question with a brief rationale. Depth cues — `quickly`, `top three`, `briefly`, `summary only` for the must-answer few; `comprehensively`, `exhaustively`, `in depth`, `extensive` to chase second-order sub-questions.
---

# /build-outline

The pre-research scaffold. Decomposes a question into sub-questions so
the synthesis step has a structure to fill.

## Output rendering

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Lead with the useful outcome or next action. Use warm, non-blaming language and everyday words. Define an unfamiliar term in a few plain words before naming it; keep proper names and exact technical terms intact.
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Shape the answer to the facts: one fact needs one sentence; related facts use prose; separate items use bullets; real sequences use numbered steps.
For prose artifacts, use descriptive headings, short resumable sections, one fact per sentence, and no repeated summary. Emphasize at most one load-bearing point per section. Group long inventories instead of truncating them.
Make the result stand alone. Do needed arithmetic, give real dates or times, and say what a file or link establishes instead of making the reader inspect it.
For code and comments, prefer obvious structure and names. Comment on intent, constraints, or trade-offs that the code cannot state clearly.
Use a table, tree, flow, or other visual only when it makes a relationship materially easier to understand.
Report the current state, not the path taken. Omit dead ends, resolved trade-offs, hedges, and advice the user did not request.
When editing maintained prose, consolidate repeated rules and navigation before adding another caveat.
Silence and brevity never reduce the work, checks, or requested coverage. Preserve depth, evidence, constraints, warnings, code, diffs, errors, and exact names, paths, and counts.
Keep verification compact: pass or fail, count, and runtime. Name a suite when it failed or when the name changes what the reader should do.
Before sending, check that the reader can act without counting, converting, opening a file, or asking what a line means.
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Rationale / narrative — Use short ## headings and 2–3 sentence paragraphs. Don't force narrative into a table.

## When to invoke

- Before standard or deep `/desk-research` on a broad question.
- As the first step in the survey pipeline (`/build-outline` →
  `/source-map` → `/desk-research`).
- Not for narrow factual questions — those go straight to `/desk-research`.

## Methodology

Two convergent disciplines:

1. **STORM outline stage** — STORM (Stanford's Synthesis of Topic
   Outlines through Retrieval and Multi-perspective question-asking)
   builds Wikipedia-style outlines by surveying adjacent topics, then
   asking what sections such an article would need. The pack borrows
   the *survey-then-decompose* shape: decomposition follows from what
   adjacent material covers, not from what the model assumes.

2. **PRISMA PICO** — the systematic-review framework decomposes a
   clinical question along four axes: Population, Intervention,
   Comparison, Outcome. PICO generalises beyond medicine: every
   research question has a target, a variable, an alternative, and a
   criterion. The pack borrows the *axis-decomposition* shape.

## Procedure

1. **Restate the question.** Identify the axes that matter — PICO is
   the medical case; for a software question the axes might be
   "system / change / alternative / failure mode".
2. **Survey adjacent material** (STORM step) — what do good answers to
   adjacent questions look like? What sections do they have?
3. **Enumerate sub-questions** — each one is a question the final
   `<topic-slug>-survey.md` must answer. Tag each with a one-sentence rationale.
4. **Order the sub-questions** — context-first, then comparisons, then
   trade-offs, then conclusions.
5. **Write `<topic-slug>-outline.md`** — `<topic-slug>` is the kebab-case topic
   slug; the naming rule lives in the `/desk-research` skill body (§ Typed,
   topic-named artifacts).

## `<topic-slug>-outline.md` output schema

```markdown
# Outline — <main question>

## Sub-question 1: <question>

**Rationale:** <one sentence on why this matters to the main question>.

## Sub-question 2: <question>

(same shape)

## Open / second-order sub-questions

- <question the main answer might raise but doesn't itself answer>.
```

## Citation discipline

Sub-question rationales are arguments, not assertions — mark
`[synthesis]` when they integrate across cited material, `[inference]`
when they deduce from precedent. Citations attach when a sub-question
is justified by a specific source (e.g., "PRISMA recommends this
decomposition" → cite the PRISMA handbook).

## Depth cues

- `quickly`, `top three`, `briefly`, `summary only` — return the
  must-answer few sub-questions only; skip open / second-order.
- `comprehensively`, `exhaustively`, `in depth`, `extensive` — chase
  second-order sub-questions; surface the questions a thorough answer
  raises but doesn't itself resolve.