Getting it into your agent
It runs from inside its repository, so the clone comes first — what it calls does not travel with the file alone.
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/danielvm-git/bigpowersnpx agentmods add rules/danielvm-git/bigpowers/research-firstWrote 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.
[](https://agentmods.dev/rules/danielvm-git/bigpowers/research-first)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/rules/danielvm-git/bigpowers/research-first"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/danielvm-git/bigpowers/research-first/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/rules/danielvm-git/bigpowers/research-first"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/danielvm-git/bigpowers/research-first.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>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.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5.1 | $0.00051 | $0.00770 |
| Opus 5.5 | $0.00020 | $0.00308 |
| Sonnet 5.5 | $0.00010 | $0.00154 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00005 | $0.00077 |
Grade A, and why
research-first 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 1mo 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.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 87 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
story: e03s01
story: e21s02
Research First
HARD GATE — Do NOT implement until prior art is searched. Minimum outcome: adopt, extend, compose, or build — with evidence.
Process
- Read
specs/product/SCOPE_LATEST.yaml,specs/release-plan.yaml + epic shards, and the current task statement. - Search in order: this repo → bigpowers skills (
search-skills) → package registries → web docs. - Check opensrc cache — if the task integrates an external library, run
bash scripts/bp-opensrc-check.sh(ornpx opensrc search <pkg>) to find locally-cached source. Read thesrc/directory for API shapes before writing any integration code. - For each candidate: note name, URL/path, fit (adopt | extend | compose | build).
- Append
## Prior Arttorequirements/SCOPE_LATEST.yamlnotes or the active epic story.
opensrc Integration
opensrc is a local cache of 200+ open-source repos and npm/PyPI packages. Query it before building any external integration to avoid re-inventing documented API shapes.
# Check if a package is cached
npx opensrc search <package-name>
# Or use the bundled helper (checks all deps from package.json or requirements.txt)
bash scripts/bp-opensrc-check.sh [package.json|requirements.txt]
If opensrc finds a match, read its src/ or source directory and append findings to the Prior Art section:
opensrc: found <pkg> v<version> — exports <key classes/functions>
If opensrc is not installed or the package is not cached, fall through to web docs normally.
Outcome matrix
| Verdict | Action |
|---|---|
| adopt | Use as-is; link in plan; no new code |
| extend | Wrap or configure existing solution |
| compose | Chain existing skills/modules |
| build | New implementation — justify why others failed |
Verify
→ verify: grep -rq 'Prior Art' specs/product specs/release-plan.yaml specs/epics 2>/dev/null
See REFERENCE.md for search commands and registry checklist.
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.
- 1mo ago First seen · 87 lines · 51 tokens per session scan A 3a9118b5f350
research-first is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository danielvm-git/bigpowers (267 stars, last pushed 27d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 51 tokens to every session and 770 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5.5. 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 2026-09-03.
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