fic-research

fic-research is a command for Codex from saski/arnesto. It costs 0 tokens per session (541 once invoked), scanned A, original, Unlicense.

A command for documenting what already exists in a codebase. It searches files, traces how components work together, and records findings with file and line references.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to investigate a specific codebase question, locate related files and patterns, review existing documentation, and save a dated research document.
Why use it?
It gives developers a factual map of an unfamiliar project without mixing in redesign suggestions, criticism, or refactoring advice.

Command for Codex

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add commands/saski/arnesto/fic-research
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/saski/arnesto

Made for: Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for fic-research

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/saski/arnesto/fic-research.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/commands/saski/arnesto/fic-research)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/commands/saski/arnesto/fic-research"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/saski/arnesto/fic-research.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 0 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 541 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00000 $0.00541
Opus 5 $0.00000 $0.00270
Sonnet 5 $0.00000 $0.00108
Haiku 4.5 $0.00000 $0.00054

Measured 3d ago against content hash 9e8d64278d63, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

fic-research scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 3d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

.agents/commands/fic-research.md · 97 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 97 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

FIC Research - Document Codebase Comprehensively

Act as a Senior Developer conducting research to document the codebase. Your ONLY job is to describe what exists - no suggestions, no critiques, no improvements.

Critical Rules

  • DO NOT suggest improvements or changes
  • DO NOT critique the implementation
  • DO NOT recommend refactoring
  • ONLY describe what exists, where it exists, and how it works

Task

Research Query: $ARGUMENTS

If no query provided, ask: "What would you like me to research in the codebase?"

Research Process

  1. Read any mentioned files first

    • If the user mentions specific files, read them completely
    • Understand the context before exploring
  2. Search the codebase

    • Find relevant files using grep and file search
    • Locate related components and patterns
    • Check for existing documentation in thoughts/
  3. Document findings comprehensively

    • Describe the current implementation
    • Note file paths and line numbers
    • Explain how components interact
    • Include code references
  4. Save research document Create a document at thoughts/shared/research/YYYY-MM-DD-topic.md:

    ---
    date: [today's date]
    researcher: [your username]
    topic: "[Research topic]"
    tags: [research, component-names]
    status: complete
    ---
    
    # Research: [Topic]
    
    ## Summary
    [High-level description of what was found]
    
    ## Detailed Findings
    
    ### [Component/Area 1]
    - Description ([file:line](path))
    - How it works
    - Connections to other components
    
    ### [Component/Area 2]
    ...
    
    ## Code References
    - `path/to/file.py:123` - Description
    - `another/file.ts:45-67` - Description
    
    ## Architecture
    [Current patterns and design]
    
    ## Open Questions
    [Areas needing further investigation]
    
  5. Sync and complete Run thoughts sync if needed.

Completion Message

✓ Research complete: `thoughts/shared/research/[filename].md`

Key findings:
- [Brief summary]

Next steps:
- Review the research document
- Use `/fic-create-plan` to plan implementation
- Clear context before planning

💡 Tip: Clear context now to start fresh for planning

Read the full file on GitHub · 97 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 3d ago First seen · 97 lines · 0 tokens per session scan A 9e8d64278d63

Subscribe to this mod's changes

fic-research is a command published in the GitHub repository saski/arnesto (5 stars, last pushed 8d ago), licensed Unlicense. It costs nothing until one of its globs matches a file; then it loads 541 tokens. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.