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---
name: prior-art
description: >-
Investigate existing solutions when evidence must decide a consequential protocol, representation, dependency, interface, or infrastructure choice.
grounded: 2026-10-09
written: 2026-10-09
---
# Prior-art research
1. Name the consequential decision, constraints, uncertainty and sufficient evidence.
2. Inspect local implementation, callers, dependencies, tests and history.
3. Compare authoritative sources for the conventional solution and one distinct viable alternative.
4. Use `external-code` before derivation and require a forcing need and falsifying check for departures.
5. Report choice, deciding evidence, tradeoff, sources and material uncertainty.
Read [worksheets and sources](references/notes.md) when structuring research.
