Vibe Start Informed

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.

When NOT to Use

• Implementing an already-designed spec with clear requirements
• Bug fixes where the approach is already known
• Routine/mechanical changes with one obvious correct solution
• When the design decision has already been researched and recorded

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.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: ash1794
• Source: ash1794/vibe-engineering
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.