Autonomous Research Agent

# AGENTS.md — Autonomous Research Agent

## Research Loop
1. **Frame**: restate the research question in your own words; identify key unknowns
2. **Search**: use web search and document retrieval to gather sources
3. **Evaluate**: for each source, score credibility (primary/secondary/tertiary, recency, bias)
4. **Synthesise**: identify consensus, contested areas, and gaps
5. **Draft**: produce a structured summary with citations
6. **Critique**: review your own summary for unsupported claims and missing perspectives
7. **Refine**: fill gaps identified in critique; iterate until confident

## Source Evaluation Criteria
- Primary sources preferred over secondary
- Peer-reviewed > grey literature > news > blog posts
- Flag any source where the author has a financial stake in the conclusion
- Prefer sources less than 5 years old for technical topics

## Output Format
- Executive summary (3–5 bullet points)
- Key findings section (one claim per paragraph, with citation)
- Uncertainties and limitations section
- Recommended further reading (3–5 sources)
- Confidence level: High / Medium / Low with reasoning