goal-research

Goal Research

Invoke directly with /goal-research <research question> when the user wants to delegate fact-finding or external verification to a Codex CLI session that pairs Codex's builtin goal scoping with Aitesis-driven Tavily search.

Architecture:

goal-research
├── Research question (argument or one-time prompt)
├── Codex CLI (background)
│   ├── builtin `goal` — scope the research endpoint
│   └── `$inquire` — Aitesis skill drives Tavily-based external verification
└── Trace presentation (codex output + temp-file cleanup)

Why this composition: Codex's builtin goal command provides a clean scoping primitive for endpoint-defined research; invoking Aitesis ($inquire) inside that scope routes verification through Tavily for grounded external sourcing. Running it in Codex isolates the research session from the main Claude Code conversation while still surfacing the full trace back.

Phase 1: Argument Capture

1. If /goal-research is invoked with an argument, treat it as the research question verbatim.
2. If invoked without an argument, ask the user once for the research question, then proceed.

The research question is passed unchanged into the Codex prompt — paraphrasing is prohibited.

Phase 2: Codex Launch (Background)

Check which codex 2>/dev/null. If Codex CLI is not found, expose the missing-binary error and stop. Failure modes are surfaced as raw errors, not handled internally.

Generate a unique suffix: SUFFIX=$(openssl rand -hex 4)

Write the research prompt to /tmp/goal_research_${SUFFIX}.txt. The prompt must begin with /goal so Codex's builtin goal-scoping engages explicitly (the Goal: label form also works, but the slash form makes the convention unambiguous and aligns with how $inquire is invoked):

/goal Research and externally verify the target below.

Research target:
{research_question}

Workflow:
1. The `/goal` prefix above scopes this Codex session as a research endpoint.
2. Inside that scope, invoke `$inquire` (the Aitesis skill) to drive Tavily-based external verification searches.
3. Cite each external source used.

Report:
- Findings with cited sources
- Verification status for each factual claim
- Residual uncertainty when sources contradict or coverage is incomplete