research

/pm:research

Arguments: $ARGUMENTS Expected format: <project> <research-topic> (e.g., acme payment-landscape)

Setup

Parse $ARGUMENTS to extract project and research-topic. Convert research-topic to kebab-case if needed. If either is missing, stop and tell the user: "Usage: /pm:research "

Read the following for context (if they exist):

• <project>/CLAUDE.md: product context, users, tech stack
• <project>/pm-config.md: project config

If .claude/overrides/rules/frontmatter.md exists, Read and follow it instead of ~/.claude/pm/rules/frontmatter.md. Otherwise Read ~/.claude/pm/rules/frontmatter.md.

Gather research configuration

Use AskUserQuestion to collect the research parameters. Pre-fill what you can infer from the project context (e.g., industry, company name, geography). Only ask for what is missing or ambiguous.

Collect:

• Industry (required): e.g., Fintech, Retail, Healthcare
• Geography (required, default "Global"): e.g., Latin America, US, Europe
• Company (optional): the company being analyzed. Pre-fill from pm-config or CLAUDE.md if available.
• Competitors (required): 2-5 direct competitors, comma-separated
• Dimensions (optional, default: "market positioning, product capabilities, go-to-market, pricing"): what to compare across competitors
• Depth (optional, default "standard"): standard or deep
• Language (optional, default "English"): language for the report

Present the pre-filled values and ask the PM to confirm or adjust in a single AskUserQuestion call. Do not ask field by field.

Check for existing file

If <project>/research/<research-topic>.md already exists, ask the PM if she wants to overwrite it before continuing.

Launch the research agent

Build the configuration block from the collected values and launch the agent:

Task(
  description: "Product research",
  subagent_type: "product-researcher",
  prompt: "Produce a strategic research report with the following configuration:\n\nINDUSTRY: <industry>\nGEOGRAPHY: <geography>\nCOMPANY: <company>\nCOMPETITORS: <competitors>\nDIMENSIONS: <dimensions>\nDEPTH: <depth>\nLANGUAGE: <language>\n\nProject context:\n<summary of relevant context from CLAUDE.md and pm-config>"
)

Replace all placeholders with the actual values. Wait for the agent to return its report before continuing.

Save the report

Create the directory <project>/research/ if it does not exist.

Read .claude/overrides/templates/research-report.md if it exists, otherwise read ~/.claude/pm/templates/research-report.md. Use it for the frontmatter schema.

Write the agent's output to <project>/research/<research-topic>.md with the correct frontmatter filled in:

• title: "Research Report: "
• type: research-report
• status: draft
• created: today's date
• updated: today's date
• industry: the industry value
• geography: the geography value
• depth: the depth value

Finish

After writing, tell the PM:

• File saved at: <project>/research/<research-topic>.md
• A brief highlight of 2-3 key findings from the executive summary
• Suggested next steps:
  • Use /pm:outcome-brief to pressure-test a specific opportunity from the report
  • Use /pm:spec to spec a feature informed by the research